CNN: Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger dies at 94

[Stadium-Armory]

Pete was an extraordinary man, I only wish there were more like him around today.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/28/showbiz/pete-seeger-death/

 

 

 

(CNN) -- Pete Seeger, the man considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary folk music who inspired legions of activist singer-songwriters, died Monday.

He was 94.

Seeger's best known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)."

But his influence extended far beyond individual hits.

 

Folk icon Pete Seeger dies at 94ple we lost in 2014

His grandson Kitama Cahill Jackson told CNN that the singer died of natural causes at New York Presbyterian Hospital on Monday evening.

Familiar with controversy

In a career spanning more than 70 years, Seeger frequently courted controversy.

"He lived at a time when so many things hadn't been done yet, the idea of making music about something hadn't really been done," Jackson said. "And now people do it all the time."

Seeger's opinions didn't always sit well with authorities.

"From the start, he aspired to use folk music to promote his left-wing political views, and in times of national turmoil that brought him into direct confrontation with the U.S. government, corporate interests, and people who did not share his beliefs," William Ruhlmann wrote in a biography on allmusic.com. "These conflicts shaped his career."

Early career

In 2009, Seeger talked to CNN about the beginnings of his music career in the late 1930s.

"I come from a family of teachers, and I was looking for a job on a newspaper and not getting one," he said in the interview. "I had an aunt who said, 'Peter, I can get five dollars for you if you come and sing some of your songs in my class.' Five dollars? In 1939, you would have to work all day or two days to make five dollars. It seemed like stealing."

But Seeger said he took his aunt up on the offer.

"Pretty soon I was playing school after school, and I never did work on a newspaper," he said "You don't have to play at nightclubs, you don't have to play on TV, just go from college to college to college, and the kids will sing along with you."

Last days

Jackson, Seeger's grandson, said the singer-songwriter had heart surgery in December to replace a valve, which had gone well and had nothing to do with his death.

He said Seeger was in the hospital for six days before his death.

He couldn't speak for the last three days, Jackson said, but his mind never went away and he continued to recognize people.

"He was a second father to me, he was a friend, he was a best friend," Jackson said. "He was just this wonderful, genuine person."

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I like the story of how Springsteen invited him to play at Obama's inaugural concert and Pete insisted that they sing "all the verses" to This Land in Your Land - the lines about no trespassing and the relief office. Pete wanted to remind people that this cute children's sing-a-long is actually a radical socialist anthem.

[Stadium-Armory]

Pete was one of the first singer to sing about social political causes (if not the first).  What might seem common-place today was ground breaking in the 40s /50s.

 

Nobody loved America like Pete.

[Elessar78]

Sorry Predicto, NOT Bob Seger.

[Rocky21]

A great American.  He walked the walk.  RIP.  

[grego]

i didnt know much about seeger, but he did write some good songs. i've always had a soft spot for 60's folk music. good stuff.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

i didnt know much about seeger, but he did write some good songs. i've always had a soft spot for 60's folk music. good stuff.

 

Seeger was middle-aged when the 60s folk explosion happened. His commercial success happened in the 40s.

 

He was certainly the kindly uncle of all those folk groups though. 

[Stadium-Armory]

Thanks Pete!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBUPr8oDRL8

[Burgold]

In my interview about him today I was told by Jeff Place, a friend, that he liked hip hop and thought that rap artists were the folk musicians of today. I wouldn't have thought that'd be his way of thinking

[zoony]

that this cute children's sing-a-long is actually a radical socialist anthem.

That's taking it a bit far I think

[EersSkins05]

That's taking it a bit far I think

 

Hardly, considering the times it was written in.  In 1950, this was radical stuff:

 

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.

[zoony]

So people are hungry during the Depression and there is a no trespassing sign?

Radical for the time, maybe. Socialist anthem? Not sure i see the evidence

[Burgold]

Funny.  This Land was a protest song and Pete Seeger did sing it, but Woody Guthrie wrote it and first performed and popularized it.  Seeger was "If I had a hammer"

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

That's taking it a bit far I think

 

Well, it was written at the height of his radical socialist days in New York in response to the trite "God Bless America." It certainly didn't become that, but that's the beauty of a folk song.

 

It's not a criticism to say that Woody Guthrie was a communist sympathizer. He wrote a column for The Daily Worker after all.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Funny.  This Land was a protest song and Pete Seeger did sing it, but Woody Guthrie wrote it and first performed and popularized it.  Seeger was "If I had a hammer"

 

I know. But it's kind of impossible to talk about Seeger without talking about Woody. I think Seeger saw continuing Woody's legacy as one of his main tasks in life.

 

I can't link to Youtube at work, but I recommend that people look up Seeger's performance of "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" from The Smothers Brothers.

 

There are a lot of tv controversies that you look at through modern eyes and say "I don't get it." This is not one of them. You watch it today and say, "Wow....I can't believe they did that."

[Burgold]

Crazy thing about that was Seeger was coming off a nearly 20 year ban from TV when he did that.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Crazy thing about that was Seeger was coming off a nearly 20 year ban from TV when he did that.

 

The other amazing thing to me is his appearance in that. He looks and sounds like a Methodist Sunday School teacher. Of course, the Smothers Brothers looked like two insurance salesmen and they were running the most radical tv show in history up to that point.

 

Here is Pete Seeger's story about the show and the song:

 

http://www.peteseeger.net/givepeacechance.htm

[TradeTheBeal!]

Thank you, Pete.

 

RIP.

[LeesburgSkinFan]

Daily Beast:  "Pete Seeger’s love of Stalinist ideals endured through the nightmare of pogroms and purge trials in the Soviet Union. His totalitarian sympathies should not be whitewashed."

 

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/29/the-death-of-stalin-s-songbird0.html#url=/articles/2014/01/29/the-death-of-stalin-s-songbird0.html

[Burgold]

Daily Beast:  "Pete Seeger’s love of Stalinist ideals endured through the nightmare of pogroms and purge trials in the Soviet Union. His totalitarian sympathies should not be whitewashed."

 

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/29/the-death-of-stalin-s-songbird0.html#url=/articles/2014/01/29/the-death-of-stalin-s-songbird0.html

He also apologized for that and said he was wrong.  Lot of people coming out of the Depression developed some sympathies for communism... thinking about it in ideal terms, not what the Soviets created.

[Burgold]

So, here's my chat with Grammy winning folk artist Macie Marxer about her friend Pete Seeger.  Some pretty cool stories and insight into the man and community.  Marcie's local too.  Plays pretty often in the area and at least once a year at Strathmore.  Really sweet lady.

 

http://voiceofrussia.com/us/2014_02_01/Ice-skating-while-playing-the-drum-Remembering-Pete-Seeger-5347/

[TradeTheBeal!]

Daily Beast:  "Pete Seeger’s love of Stalinist ideals endured through the nightmare of pogroms and purge trials in the Soviet Union. His totalitarian sympathies should not be whitewashed."

 

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/29/the-death-of-stalin-s-songbird0.html#url=/articles/2014/01/29/the-death-of-stalin-s-songbird0.html

 

Stalin's brand of communism is no more representative of Seeger's beliefs than Justin Bieber's brand of pop music is representative of The Beatles.