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Pete Seeger at 90
Singing the "greatest song about America ever written" (Bruce Springsteen's words) before 500,000 people live and tens of millions more on television, the then-89-year old legend crooned two little-known verses of his friend Woody Guthrie's 1940 patriotic standard, "This Land is Your Land" -- both about Depression-era poverty -- restoring the song to its former glory over the sanitized version that ruled for too many years.
Over the course of a remarkable lifetime, Seeger has been an ambassador for peace, social justice and the best kind of patriotism. A uniquely American mix of blueblood and bluegrass -- a product of Harvard University and the son of a violinist mother and musicologist father -- Seeger has lived the story of the American left in the 20th century. The celebrations of his 90th birthday on Sunday offer a good opportunity to showcase and celebrate the causes to which he's devoted his great life.
Defiantly leftist, pacifist--and for a decade or so, Communist--Seeger has embraced and supported virtually every major progressive advance of the 20th century. He's sung and spoken out for organized labor, against McCarthyism, in support of racial justice, on behalf of nuclear abolition and against the Vietnam War; his voice put early wind into the sails of the environmental movement.
The right to dissent in a democracy has been a cornerstone of Seeger's activism. In the fourth episode of the video series This Brave Nation Seeger talked about the infamous 1949 riot in Peekskill, NY, and the impact it made on his political development and commitment to free speech.
Seeger's songs have engaged people, particularly the youth, to question the value of war, to ban nuclear weapons, to work for international solidarity and against racism wherever it is practiced, and to assume ecological responsibility.
A particular hero to the civil rights movement on whose behalf he's worked so tirelessly, Seeger made his first trip south at the invitation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1956, and returned in '65, again at King's personal invitation, to join the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Amid the tension and heat, Seeger went from campfire to campfire when the marchers stopped for the night, raising morale with rollicking sing-alongs of new freedom songs.
Seeger also vigorously joined protests against the Vietnam war, playing countless benefits and protests and recording "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," the lyrics of which have renewed relevance today: "But every time I read the papers/That old feeling comes on/We're waist deep in the Big Muddy/And the big fool says push on."
Sometime soon after King's assassination in 1968, Seeger began to focus his energies locally around the town of Beacon, New York and the notoriously polluted Hudson River. Gathering together friends and colleagues, he picked up a literal hammer, this time to build the sort of sailing ship that hadn't been seen on the river in decades to raise consciousness of environmental issues. They named it the Clearwater. Seeger also established Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a group which sponsors annual eco-festivals and acts as a bulwark against polluters in the area. Today, people can swim in the Hudson again.
Seeger birthed a folk revival that remains strong and relevant, and the music he championed is still sung on marches and picket lines coast to coast. As he moves into his tenth decade, it's worth celebrating the music he has made--and the changes he has helped to bring about.
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22 Comments so far
Show AllWith all due respect to Mr Seeger this song epitomises where man kind went wrong and what may well be our undoing.
This Land Does not belong to us.
WE belong to this land.
And we are like a latch key kid who has been brought ou with out guidence, or under the gguidence of the wrong elements, we simply do not understand what life is all about.
I think this song means the opposite of what you believe. In none of the words does it say it belongs to you and me...it says it was made for you and me....my interpretation being that the powers that own it now are the exploiters....
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
Chorus
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
Chorus (2x)
©1956 (renewed 1984), 1958 (renewed 1986) and 1970 TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (
BMI)
Lyrics Connection ArloNet Homepage Feedback Search
Great Point! Native Americans knew this! They never had a written language.
Their teachings were about being keen observers of nature and "The Great Spirit". Life on earth was the teacher!
I love to read the Oratory of many of the Native leaders. Even with English not being their first language they had an almost magical ability with words.
It my belief that this partly due to the lack of a written language. Customs, laws, legends myths all had to be passed down via speech.
Words were very important to the Aboriginals. This probably also has something to do with them being so much less likely to tell a LIE when they did speak.
The corporate version;
This land's not your land, this land is my land
To rape and pillage, just because I can
I sell the forest, to by a gulfstream airplane
This land was made not for you but for me
It will be a shame if the comments here become criticism of one song. Paragraph 3 states 'Over the course of a remarkable lifetime,...'. Pete Seeger's life and full body of songs are huge to me. I listen to him when I am at my lowest. I wind up singing. I listen to him when I feel good, and I wind up singing louder.
The documentary 'The Power of Song' is worth a watch.
Never mentioned in all the tributes to Pete Seeger are two fantastic appearances totally unknown to most everyone but cherished forever by we few, we happy few.
On the Great Peace March across the United States in 1986 Pete joined us twice: once in the mud of Red Rocks, Colorado where all through a rainy night he led us in song. Again in Lake Anita, Iowa where he magically appeared – singing with banjo - from behind the porta-pottie backdrop to our own production of “Twelfth Night.” Shakespeare and Seeger! Two of the greatest ever.
Shakes - Olivia from "Twelfth Night" here. And, yes, Pete Seeger was/is The Man of All Seasons.
I look back now, and it seems a much more innocent time as we walked to stop the insanity of possible to imminent nuclear holocaust, and became true foot soldiers and part of an enormously strong movement that circled the world.
Then Gorby came along and and he and Reagan made some progress. For a little while, the world seemed a little saner and there was a moment of breathing room.
Twenty-three years later, the issues are broader and deeper, and it seems to me if we embarked on a Peace March now, it would rquire a general slogan "to end the insanities," and we'd have to pass out a long list of those insanities that are relentlessly carving us and our earth into little pieces.
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Nice to connect, Shakes. And, yes, what unforgettable memories a coast-to-coast Peace March yields, including the dramatic decision whether Pete & his banjo should make his surprise entrance from within a Porta-Pottie or from behind it.
peace, cm
Happy Birthday to a fine, courageous human who is an inspiration to millions!
Today we are still afflicted with the echoes and reverberations of the mind-numbing, brainwashing of the McCarthy era that deprived our so-called greatest democracy of the very idea that Critical Thought and Dissent were to be allowed.
But Pete is still around to remind us to stand up and speak out.
I'd like to say we were coming out of this lingering McCarthyism with a renewed citizen energy and a new Administration, but this secretive, biased, and hateful mind-set still holds most of the cards—and the media. It is still so hard to see or hear any creative, constructive, consensual ideas that are not pundit-approved.
Time to get together and stand up once again to those who have so abused this nation and stolen our morals as well as our treasure. New vision, new path.
Keep inspiring, Pete!
A great tribute to a wonderful person and also to Woody Guthrie. Our kids and their cousins grew up on Pete Seeger music. He has been a shining light to keep our spirits up through the worst of times. What a man of courage and sharing of his talent. And Blessings to Woody Guthrie too.
Until I saw the "American Masters" film on Pete Seeger, I had no idea that he'd used his time on the blacklist basically to sow the seeds for the folk & radical revival of the following decade.
90 already? Now I know why the face in the mirror is so wrinkled.
"Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."
Chief Seattle, 1854.
Whenver it claimed that the United States of America is a Champion of Human rights and liberty , it important to remember that It comes from individuals LIKE a Pete Seeger, or a Martin Luther King.
It is not from the Government of the United States of America.
The GOVERMENT of the United States of America in fact tries to imprison and blacklist and demonize and or assassinate the voices that speak up for Social Justice and Human rights.
If the Government of the USA was truly the Champion of such, they would have supported the Pete Seegers and Martin Luther Kings, not spied on them or label them as communists and enemies of the state.
If you look the world over behind every movement in support of Human rights, are invidual peoples. These people exist in every society .
There are only the smallest handful of Governments that would fall into this category.
Bear in mind that it is the right-wing forces within the United States government, the McCarthy's, the Nixons, Reagans and Bush's, the paranoid element, the Rush ditto-heads in government that give the United States government it's cantankerous elements. Not "the government" itself.
Those people are power-hungry people who are hell-bent on making life a hell for those who value peace, freedom and individual liberty. Their agenda is always self-serving.
In my opinion they are the truly "un-American" among us. And they have plenty of supporters out there among the easily deceived voting population.
There is an equal, if not greater force gathering strength on the left side as evidenced by the mere fact that Pete Seeger and The Boss were out there singing in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the inauguration of our first African American President last January.
Government is a tool. It is made up of people, human beings, like you and me. It's not us and them unless we make it so. It could be us, if we make it so.
Then, when the government is in our hands, it really can be a champion of human rights and liberty. We just got to get involved to make it so.
We're seeing what can happen when the people rise up and actually vote for a change. The times they are a changing. Power to the people!
pete is the best
this is one life that should be studied in school as real americana
integrity honesty spirituality
god love ya pete
"Granted no word means the same thing to everybody. nor does any word mean the same thing at different times. But exploring how things change and how we differ is part of the fun. Getting that world of peace and justice will involve millions of smiles as we recognize and treasure our diversity, our different paths, our different paths, our different values.
and when one person taps out a beat while another leads into the melody, or when three people discover a harmony they never knew existed, or a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher, then they also know: there's hope for the world.
A singing movement is a winning movement. we're putting a world together before it blows itself apart. over the years you'll find the magic made by the right song at the right place at the right time.
Musicians can teach the politicians : it's fun to swap the lead. Musicians can teach the planners -- economists, engineers, lawyers: plan for improvisation.
our greatest songs are yet unsung, maybe some of the users of this book will put them together.
rise up singing" - pete seeger, introduction to Rise Up Singing - the group singing songbook.
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happy birthday pete -
there's no way i could adequately explain how mr seeger has, throughout my short lifetime, influenced me in a positive way. pete is the direct line from woody to the 1960's. keeping the flame alive during the dark hours of mccarthyism. and when i sing songs from the blue book (guantanamera, turn - turn - turn, step by step, where have all the flowers gone).
i often remember that these songs were sung at demonstrations by a man carrying a banjo that had the words 'This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It To Surrender' written across the head of the instrument. to me - an american hero.
...peace...
Once again Pete will be headlining at the Clearwater Festival in Croton-on-Hudsin on June 20th and 21st.
Its a short train ride from Grand Central Station - a great day out of the city and a great way to get some environmental education.
It's the fortieth anniversary of the festival and Pete will be there.
harvey wasserman---
Pete also came to Seabrook in 1978 to sing to 20,000 of us who had occupied the nuke site there. He sang with Arlo Guthrie and Jackson Browne and really helped solidify the event as a major step forward in stopping atomic energy and moving us toward a green-powered Earth.
We are forever graced by the huge and loving souls of Pete & Toshi Seeger.
"A uniquely American mix of blueblood and bluegrass"
Blueblood? As if we need to be celebrating THAT! Rothberg is using Seeger to grease the Hollywood gears, probably to get himself free tickets to something. Instead of celebrating blueblood, let's celebrate 6 billion peasants rising!
Once War Raged overseas, flags burned w/ draft cards
Seeger Fogarty Hendrix Dylan Grace Slick Carlos Garcia
Fires Raged in Our Music that Lived because of the Wars Raging overseas, the Poet cried, we all did.
Then in 1975 Peace. Music, Demonstrations, Violent Protest key factors.
And Now Nickleback is big? Young people? War? Can I get money if I join? Do they drug test? Maybe it would be fun. Do you have to have a GED.
Another Seeger is Warm in the Womb,
He'll Serenade DC's Consecration,
From a Temple to a Tomb.
So friends we spell Hope, ess oh oh en, let's help it be Soon, let's Make it soon.
Acoustic guitar players-Martin SP+ bronze/laminated strings. brilliant, bright sound, put all other strings to shame. list for near 30 a set. everyone takes 15. to love.
The Cuban singer and poet Silvio Rodriguez was denied a visa to attend Pete Seegers´s 90 celebration. Here is his letter
Mensaje de Silvio Rodríguez a su hermana, y gerente, en La Habana:
Es viernes 1º de mayo, son las 8 y 40 de la noche en París y me acabo de conectar al sitio web donde la embajada de Estados Unidos en Francia publica noticias sobre las visas solicitadas. L a mía figura en estado de trámites, como ha figurado desde que la solicité. Como hoy era el día en que debía volar a Nueva York y la visa no ha aparecido, mañana parto hacia La Habana.
Puedes pasarle este correo a Tao el nieto de Pete y a Bill el abogado, con mi gratitud por sus esfuerzos y con mi pesar por el poco respeto que el Departamento de Estado ha mostrado a la invitación que me hicieron para celebrar los 90 años del querido Pete Seeger, leyenda viva de la canción norteamericana.
Creo que la actitud del Departamento de Estado es muy contradictoria con el deseo expresado por el presidente Obama de un acercamiento con Cuba. Como trabajador de la cultura cubana me sigo sintiendo tan bloqueado y discriminado como por otros gobiernos. Ojalá esto cambie de verdad algún día. Gracias por tu ayuda.
Silvio
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Too bad the State Department chose to do that.
Pete, his family and his friends would have been happy to have Silvio there