I'd venture to say that the majority of people on EC either don't know who Pete Seeger was, or don't know much about him. And that's a bit of a shame, because Pete was one of the earliest activists for civil rights in the 1940s and 50s... and in later years, he appeared at rallies for LGBT rights, and was an important early influence in the the development of the careers of Holly Near and numerous other lesbian feminist musicians who helped pave the way for many of the freedoms that LGBT people enjoy today. I just wrote something for my Facebook friends about what Pete's music and activism meant to me, and figured I'd post it here to give a little insight into who he was and how his work influenced me. Spoiler So word just came that legendary folksinger/activist Pete Seeger has passed away at 94. Several of my Facebook friends have already written about this, and I thought I might also share some thoughts. I went to elementary school in the midst of the folk music boom of the mid-1960s and remember "hootenanny" gatherings every Friday afternoon at my elementary school. That's where I was first exposed to Pete Seeger's songs "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone". As a young teen, I bought a ton of his records -- I owned about 25 or 30 of his albums at one time -- and I also bought copies of all of the back-issues of "Sing Out" magazine, in which he was involved in co-founding and wrote a column for many years. I learned a lot about McCarthyism, the blacklist, and the early civil rights movement from reading Seeger's columns and the other articles and songs in those old Sing Outs, and even more from learning to perform many of Seeger's songs. At the age of 14 or so, I wrote a letter to Pete expressing interest in folk music and activism, and he was kind enough to write back a pretty long handwritten letter, encouraging me to spend time at the Archive of Folksong at the Library of Congress... which I did, spending many hours there over one summer, and learning a lot about the history of folk music and a lot about many different musical cultures. I first met Seeger in person 1978 or so, when I was working tech staff at a benefit where he performed. He was friendly and gracious to my youthful, starstruck communications with him. I saw him numerous times at various rallies for causes in the DC area in the 1970s and 80s, and probably 3 or 4 times with Arlo Guthrie at the Wolftrap amphitheater in suburban Virginia. His work in creating the Hudson River Clearwater Project started another amazing aspect of his life, raising funds to start an organization that, today, has multiple sailboats that cruise up and down the Hudson River, educating students and adults about the Hudson. The organization has been instrumental in forcing a major clean-up of the river. A friend and I drove up to one of the first Great Hudson River Revival festivals in upstate New York in 1980. This was a huge folk music festival -- still goes on every year -- with tens of thousands of people and dozens of performers. Seeger was present at the festival, helping out at the Clearwater booth, educating people... and performing multiple times. His message was always one of hope, optimism, and his constant, always evolving interest in advocating for the rights of minorities, disabled people, persecuted people, supporting union drives and the working person. He and Holly Near performed one of Holly's songs celebrating lesbian relationships and the power of women to an audience of some 10,000 people. When I attended Oberlin, our concert board was charged with booking a musical act for the 60's era alumni weekend. Our first choice was Pete Seeger, but his booking agency never responded to our request. I subsequently made a request through Sing Out! magazine to get in touch with him, and they, in turn, passed on the request to Pete. His wife Toshi responded by mail, and told us that the date we wanted, Pete was already obligated elsewhere... but that he was heartbroken, as he really wanted to come back to Oberlin. She invited me to call him myself to find a date. I did, and after talking for a bit about how important Oberlin was to helping him "break" the McCarthy-era blacklist, he gave us a date and the deal was done. Pete wrote several books and extended articles that were all autobiographical, but also gave great insights into the politics and history of the US in the 1900s, and I still have two of his books. Most recently, I saw him, just last year, perform one of his favorite songs and be interviewed on the Colbert Report. At 93, he was still sharp as a tack, and though his singing voice wasn't nearly as strong as it had once been, his magical ability to engage the twentysomething Colbert Report audience into singing along was still in fine form. In his interview, Pete said that one of the things that kept him young was that he still -- at 93 -- was out chopping wood to heat his log-cabin home almost every day. Pete was truly a national treasure, a voice of integrity and conscience, a masterful musician/storyteller, a tireless activist, and a kind and thoughtful human being. I didn't realize until reading of his death earlier tonight how much he impacted my life. I hope those of you who may not know much about him might take a few minutes to read about him, to listen to some of his music (there's a bunch on Youtube) and to continue sharing the values and legacy he's left us. Here's one of his songs focused on our culture of disposability... written in the 1970s, but just as (if not more so) applicable today. [YOUTUBE]0ZesRAo5PBg[/YOUTUBE] Rest in peace, Pete.
Chip, I cried reading your post. It was the first report I'd seen of his death. I'm much older than you, and never met Pete. I was in my late teens and early twenties when I became aware of his music. I came of age listening to his music, and it probably had a big influence on my values and career path. I still sing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" to myself when I'm alone, and I'll never forget "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy." Thanks for the post.
I was very saddened to read the news of Pete Seeger's passing this morning. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer" are two of my favorites. That was a really nice post you made on Facebook, Chip - thanks for sharing it here.
