A 50-year Memory: A Video for December

As November ended, The Supremes were supreme, ending a two-week run at #1:

On December 4, the Byrds landed and spent three weeks leading the charts with the Pete Seeger version of Ecclesiastes:

Video of the Month

Today begins meteorological spring.  (Please tell the weather.)

Not a minute too soon.

So I chose this video for it's one line:

de colores se visten los campos en la primavera.
(In colors the fields are dressed in the springtime.)

(I also happen to love the song!)

Here is Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and his grandfather, Pete.

Remembering Pete- Part 7

Some final thoughts:
Perhaps the work that Pete did with Arlo Guthrie and friends was the most visible of his musical work these past 30 years. From two albums together and countless concerts, they have brought folk music full circle and brought it to new listeners. I have been a big fan of Arlo Guthrie since he began. To have him united with Pete is a folk music gift to the world. Here are some of the videos that have touched me from their collaboration.

First, from a video that talked about Woody's heritage, a song that Woody and Pete often sang. Here it's with Arlo:

Pete and Arlo's concerts were an international affair. One of Pete's most favorite songs was the Cuban poem set to music- Guantanamara. Pete took the words and set them to the tune as a peace song during the Cuban missle crisis. Pete continued to sing it and his passion for the song never seemed to dampen. Here he sings with his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.

One more with Arlo, old and young, reaching back in musical time and bringing it forward.

The day Pete died, Arlo Guthrie had one of his truly remarkable spiritual-based posts on Facebook. Who better than Arlo to say this:

I usually do a little meditation and prayer every night before I go to sleep - Just part of the routine. Last night, I decided to go visit Pete Seeger for a while, just to spend a little time together, it was around 9 PM. So I was sitting in my home in Florida, having a lovely chat with Pete, who was in a hospital in New York City. That's the great thing about thoughts and prayers- You can go or be anywhere.

I simply wanted him to know that I loved him dearly, like a father in some ways, a mentor in others and just as a dear friend a lot of the time. I'd grown up that way - loving the Seegers - Pete & Toshi and all their family.

I let him know I was having trouble writing his obituary (as I'd been asked) but it seemed just so silly and I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound trite or plain stupid. "They'll say something appropriate in the news," we agreed. We laughed, we talked, and I took my leave about 9:30 last night.

"Arlo" he said, sounding just like the man I've known all of my life, "I guess I'll see ya later." I've always loved the rising and falling inflections in his voice. "Pete," I said. "I guess we will."

I turned off the light and closed my eyes and fell asleep until very early this morning, about 3 AM when the texts and phone calls started coming in from friends telling me Pete had passed away.

"Well, of course he passed away!" I'm telling everyone this morning. "But that doesn't mean he's gone."

I was originally going to end here with the old standard, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh." But I decided instead to pay attention to Arlo's words. Pete's not gone. In this world of communications and videos and who knows what else, Pete Seeger will continue to touch many. His words will live.

So I end with words of his that first struck me in 1971 when the album of the same name first came out. It was a time of war and a time of awakening ecology. We were becoming more and more aware of the dangers to our world from more than just the scourge of hatred and war. We were poisoning ourselves with the destruction of our planet to support a lifestyle of greed and conflict, fed by hatred and discrimination.

Over these 40 years we have learned a lot, but we still need to relearn. We are reminded by this song of Pete's from 1971 that  we must pass this on to the next generation or we may not have much to pass on at all.

Tell the children, tell everyone, it may be our last to chance to share.

Give it one more try

To show my rainbow race

It's too soon to die

One blue sky above us

One ocean lapping on  our shore

One earth so green and brown

Who could ask for more.

Pete- thanks.

Remembering Pete- Part 6

Some classics:


It all started with The Almanac Singers and their pro-union songs (along with a lot of other "left-wing" songs.) Many of these are very dated now, living in a different world, but maybe it's essential to keep the awareness of what was important then may still be important today.

We can't forget The Weavers:

Here's their classic, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena:

Back in the days when Pete was blacklisted and unable to be on TV, "educational TV" gave him a chance with a series called Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest. Here are a couple of videos from that. First, with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, blues/folk icons in their own right.

Here he showcases the remarkable Ramblin' Jack Elliot:



And now for a young Tom Paxton:

1970 with Johnny Cash:

This next one has been revived, again, by the Coen Brothers movie, Inside Llewyn Davis. Originally recorded in 1908 in the field by musicologist John Lomax as it was being sung by an African-American woman named Dink. Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song.)

Finally for today, a recording of Pete on his 90th birthday leading the audience in singing (of course) Amazing Grace.

Remembering Pete- Part 5

Pete's Influence

Pete didn't just bring the past to today's issues. He had an impact on what others thought about music.

Take Bruce Springsteen, for example. A number of years ago he put out two albums, one a studio recording and the other a live set. He called them "The Seeger Sessions." He didn't use Pete's music, he used Pete's inspiration and songs that met that standard. They were unlike any of Springsteen's other albums and they brim with life overflowing.

Here's Bruce Springsteen at Pete's 90th Birthday:




Conservation
Pete lived on the hill overlooking the Hudson River. In the 60s and 70s it was anything but a healthy river. So Pete decided to do something about it. He formed a coalition, built a sailing sloop and proceeded to lead the forces to clean up the river.  It worked.

Not amazing when you consider Pete's intensity and commitment.



Occupy Wall Street
On October 21, 2011 Pete joined others to march as part of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Still marching, still protesting, still working to make this country better and the world a safer place. When they got to Columbus Circle they sang a song that Pete had once made famous. Here is an earlier version of Pete and "We Shall Overcome."




Amnesty International and (of course)
Bob Dylan:
A few years ago Amnesty International released a compilation of Bob Dylan songs covered by others, "Chimes of Freedom." It was only fitting that one of those covers was done by Pete. He was the Grandfather of folk music and one of his children was Dylan. The Greenwich Village scene into which Dylan arrived would not have had nearly the chance of success it had without Pete. Pete was obviously more than happy to oblige.

He sang the perfect song for him and his legacy. It was Dylan's beautiful benediction-style anthem, "Forever Young." As Pete proved over and over for 75 years:

You're never too old to change the world...

Forever.... Young

Remembering Pete - Part 4

Needless to say Pete's strong social conscience led him into some difficult spots politically. But he never backed down!

Controversies

 We live in a country where we have the right to be wrong. That's the essence of the Freedom of Speech to Pete. In the midst of the anti-communist witch-hunts of the 1950s Pete, who had been a member of the Communist Party, was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

He refused to answer the questions or give any information. Unlike others in similar situations, though, he did not use his 5th Amendment right to not self-incriminate. Instead, since he was sure he did nothing wrong- and therefore there was nothing to incriminate himself on- he took the First Amendment instead.

Freedom of Speech is the freedom not to speak as well.

He was held in contempt of Congress, a charge that was later overturned by the courts. But the damage was done. Pete was blacklisted. There was no work for him on network TV. The Weavers did continue to perform- but Pete felt he needed to leave the group when they were hired to do a cigarette commercial.

Vietnam and the Smothers Brothers

He finally got his chance with the Smothers Brothers. The comedy/variety show was given permission to have Pete as a guest in September 1967. But Vietnam was in the news and Pete had written this song about that war. He sang it on the show. When the show was aired, the song wasn't there.

The Smothers fought CBS and eventually won. The whole song was sung on another show in February 1968. I remember that evening. Many of us were gathered around a TV somewhere on campus. (I am not sure where on campus I was. I tended to roam) I do remember the electricity in the room as Pete stood there proud and sincere and sang about being "Waist deep in the big muddy as the big fool said to push on."

Don't forget that this was an era when you shouldn't trust anyone over 30. So the whole incident, with Pete as an elder statesman kind of folk hero even at the (then) seemingly over-the-hill age of 48, brought to light the depth of the political divide over the war. That year, 1968, would be the year of a radical shift in the country with King and Kennedy's deaths, Chicago's Democratic Convention and LBJ not running for president again. There was Pete!

Pete's voice was never polished or particularly smooth, as that clip shows. It didn't need to be. He wanted to get people involved. No sitting with a neutral position at his shows.

Salvador Allende and Chile

The September 11, 1973 military coup in Chile that ousted (and killed) the freely elected Marxist leader, Salvador Allende, became a flashpoint for many in Pete's world. Pete being among them. Pete had often been more than mildly interested in the sad history of American interference in Latin America. Chile and the stories heard of the horrors there in the coup only made him more incensed.

One of the martyrs who became well known in the world after the coup was Chilean poet Victor Jara. Pete's friend, Arlo Guthrie would write a song about Victor. Pete took one of Jara's poems and turned it into a song in Victor's honor. The terror of those days must not be forgotten, thought Pete. He made sure it wasn't.

Over the past week I have heard Pete's version of Jara's poem, Estadio Chile, a number of times on the Pete Seeger sidestream on Folk Alley. Like so much of Pete's work, the intensity and conviction is ever present.

One of the haunting lines in the original Spanish:

Canto qué mal me sales cuando tengo que cantar espanto!

Pete sings it:

O you song, you come out so badly when I must sing — the terror!

It could also be translated as

"O song, how hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror."

Pete never backed away from that. He knew that the power of song could change the world- or at least not let the pain and injustice go unheard.

But Pete was no ideologue. He saw himself as an American and a patriot. He firmly believed in the principles on which this nation was built. He insisted that we not lose them. He did not fight for a political revolution, but something far deeper and more lasting than that. Perhaps one could call it the ongoing strengthening of the American revolution, bringing to light any injustice still be done- and calling us to our better nature. He wanted the truth to be known and honesty to be real.

And he was always ready to be wrong. Just give him the chance to do so and not shut him up.

“I still call myself a communist,” Seeger told The New York Times 20 years ago, “because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it. But if by some freak of history communism had caught up with this country, I would have been one of the first people thrown in jail. As my father used to say: ‘The truth is a rabbit in a bramble patch. All you can do is circle around and say it’s somewhere in there.’ ”
-quoted at blood,dirt,and angels

Remembering Pete - Part 3

"Once upon a time, wasn't singing a part of everyday life, as much as talking, physical exercise, and religion? Our distant ancestors, wherever they were in the world, sang while pounding grain and paddling canoes, or walking long journeys.

"Can we begin to make our lives, once more, all about peace? Finding the right song and singing it over and over is a great way to start.

"And when one person taps out a beat while another leads into the melody, or when three people discover a new harmony they never new existed, or a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher, then they also know there is hope for the world."
--Pete Seeger

Singing along. That's what Pete wanted the world to do. Sing along with him; sing along with each other; sing along with the tune of the universe. Singing would break down the barriers that kept people apart. Singing would express the depths of emotion and hope and Pete wanted people to do that. He wanted people to overcome the distances between them and the music, the wall of indifference that kept people sitting in the audience while the "pros" entertained.

In that sense Pete wasn't an entertainer- he was a music leader. Even when he was on his own with some of the more complex melodies he would devise, he was singing with us, not for us. The melody lines, the words, and ultimately the message of the music brought people together.

This video shows that in all the joy and wonder that Pete could bring to a song. Woody Guthrie's American anthem, This Land is Your Land being sung with Bruce Springsteen at the Inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009, just a few months prior to his 90th birthday. Watch Pete and Bruce, watch the singers, but most importantly, watch the people as music highlighted the historic significance of the event.

THIS is what Pete's life was all about. I am sure he was grateful that he lived long enough to be able to see this event become reality.

Remembering Pete- Part 2

Early pictures of Pete.

When I see a picture of Pete, I see both an average, nothing-special-about-him human being and a man filled with intensity, commitment and passion.

The first disarms you. The second grabs you and is what makes Pete "dangerous" and effective at what he did so well- sing, get others to sing, and finally to make a difference in the world.

He took Woody Guthrie's music, the folk music of rural America, and his own talent and brought about the "folk revival" that still is a staple of American music. He accomplished that with the Weavers, hitting the Top 10 and taking their music into places that were certainly not used to that style- night clubs and concert venues. 


Here's a link to Smithsonian Folkways Tribute to Pete.

In 1958, Pete wrote a song for the funeral of a friend. He said he had no suitable song, so he wrote one. The song was used at the end of the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.

From the Albany, NY Times Union:

The final song Pete Seeger heard in a New York City hospital as he died peacefully of natural causes on Jan. 27 at 94 was "To My Old Brown Earth," which he wrote in 1958.

Singer-songwriter Pat Humphries led a sing-along with a few close friends and Seeger's family, who held his hands and encircled his bed. They sang:

To my old brown earth
And to my old blue sky
I'll now give these last few molecules of "I."

And you who sing,
And you who stand nearby,
I do charge you not to cry.

Guard well our human chain,
Watch well you keep it strong,
As long as sun will shine.

And this our home,
Keep pure and sweet and green,
For now I'm yours
And you are also mine.

Remembering Pete- Part 1

To call Pete a folk music icon is to make an understatement. His life and career made more of a difference than we will ever know. Over the past week since he died at age 94, the tributes have been coming from far and wide. I noted in passing that there were even those from people I know did not and would never approve of his politics.

I never met Pete, or even saw him in concert. Yet his music has been a presence in my life- even a defining presence- for the past 50 years since I first heard Where Have All the Flowers Gone sung by him- and, believe it or not, a haunting version in German sung by Marlene Dietrich.

I was not yet the "hippie peacenik" I would become. The song, in and of itself, didn't make me into one. Instead what it did was introduce me to a type of music that was not yet in my consciousness- American Folk Music. It showed me that before rock and roll protest songs, there was another type of song that could touch the soul with awareness and conviction.

I am going to spend some time reflecting on Pete Seeger this week. He was a man whose life and music crossed three-quarters of a century and more changes than we could have even dreamed possible in 1938 when he settled in New York and began a remarkable career.

He was controversial at many different times in these 75 years. He faced stiff opposition and great pressure to conform. His stubborn opinion that he lived in a great and FREE nation never left him. He kept singing about it and making sure it remained so.

So to start a series of remembering Pete, a tribute posted on You Tube by the wonderful people at the Newport Folk Festival:

And thanks to the wonders of the Internet and You Tube, here is Marlene Dietrich asking Pete's eternal question:

Wann wird man je versteh´n, wann wird man je versteh´n?

When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?