Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer, p… Read Full Bio ↴Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer, political activist and author, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. He is particularly loved as the author (or co-author) of the songs Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, and Turn, Turn, Turn. One of his brothers is Mike Seeger; Peggy Seeger is his half-sister.
As a member of The Weavers, Seeger had a string of hits, including a 1949 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" that topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. He was formerly a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America and was a major contributor to folk and protest music in the 1950s and the 1960s.
Perhaps best known today as the author or co-author of the songs Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, and Turn, Turn, Turn, songs that have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and which are still sung all over the world. Flowers was a hit recording for The Kingston Trio (1962), Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962), and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while The Byrds popularized "Turn, Turn, Turn" in the mid-1960s.
Early work
Seeger dropped out of Harvard (where he had been studying journalism) in 1939, and he took a job in Washington, D.C. at the Archive of American Folk Song in the Library of Congress. In that capacity, he met and was influenced by many important musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. He met Woody at a "Grapes of Wrath" migrant workers concert on March 3, 1940 and the two thereafter began a musical collaboration.
In 1948, Seeger wrote the first version of his now-classic How to Play the Five-String Banjo, a book that many banjo players credit with starting them off on the instrument. He went on to invent the Long Neck or Seeger banjo. This instrument is three frets longer than a typical banjo, and slightly longer than a bass guitar at 25 Frets, and is tuned a minor third lower than the normal 5-string banjo.
As a self-described "split tenor" (between an alto and a tenor), he was a founding member of the folk groups the Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie and the Weavers with Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman. The Weavers had major hits in the early 1950s, before being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era.
On August 18, 1955, Pete was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) where he refused to name personal and political associations stating it would violate his First Amendment rights... "I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this." Seeger's refusal to testify led to a March 26, 1957 indictment for contempt of Congress; for some years, he had to keep the federal government apprised of where he was going any time he left the Southern District of New York. He was convicted in a jury trial in March 1961, and sentenced to a year in jail, but in May 1962 an appeals court ruled the indictment to be flawed and overturned his conviction.
Seeger started a solo career in 1958, and is known for songs such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "If I Had a Hammer" (co-written with Lee Hays), "Turn, Turn, Turn," adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and "We Shall Overcome" (based on a spiritual and later became the unofficial anthem for the civil rights movement). Seeger became influential in the 1960s folk revival centered in Greenwich Village. He helped found Broadside Magazine and Sing Out!. He was strongly associated with Moses Asch and Folkways Records. To describe the new crop of folk singers, many of whom were politically minded in their songs, he coined the phrase "Woody's children", alluding to his former bandmate Woody Guthrie, who by this time had become a legendary figure. He has often sung and is associated with the song "Joe Hill".
In the mid-sixties he hosted a regional folk music TV show called Rainbow Quest which featured folk musicians playing traditional folk music. Among his guests were Johnny Cash, June Carter, Mississippi John Hurt, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Roscoe Holcomb, The Stanley Brothers, Doc Watson, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, Richard Fariña and Mimi Fariña, and many others. Thirty-eight hour-long programs were recorded at new UHF station WNJU's Newark studios in 1965 and 1966, produced by Seeger and his wife Toshi with Sholom Rubinstein.
An early advocate of Bob Dylan, Seeger was supposedly incensed over the distorted electric sound Dylan brought into the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, especially with the inability to clearly hear the lyrics. There are many conflicting versions of exactly what ensued, some claiming that he actually tried to disconnect the equipment. He is often cited as one of the main opponents to Dylan at Newport 1965, but claimed in 2005:
"There are reports of me being anti-him going electric at the '65 Newport Folk festival, but that's wrong. I was the MC that night. He was singing 'Maggie's Farm' and you couldn't understand a word because the mic was distorting his voice. I ran to the mixing desk and said, 'Fix the sound, it's terrible!' The guy said 'No, that's how they want it.' And I did say that if I had an axe I'd cut the cable! But I wanted to hear the words. I didn't mind him going electric.
Later work
Seeger achieved some notoriety in 1967 and 1968 for his song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy", about a captain—a "big fool"—who drowned while leading a platoon on maneuvers in Louisiana during World War II. Seeger performed the song on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour after some arguments with CBS about whether the song's lyrics were objectionable. Although the song was cut from the Smothers Brothers show in September 1967, Seeger returned in January 1968 and sang the entire song. It was clearly an allegory about the U.S. under the leadership of Lyndon Johnson which was in over its head in the Vietnam War.
Another slight against Lyndon Johnson can be heard in his singing of Len Chandler's seemingly juvenile song, "Beans in My Ears" from his 1966 album Dangerous Songs!? in which he accuses "Mrs. Jay's little son Alby" (Alby Jay is meant to sound like LBJ) of having beans in his ears, or of not listening to the people.
In 1998 a double-CD tribute album was released - "Where Have All the Flowers Gone: the Songs of Pete Seeger". It contained contributions from Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Eliza Carthy, Bruce Springsteen, Roger McGuinn, Judy Collins, Indigo Girls, Dick Gaughan, Martin Simpson, Odetta and others.
Pete Seeger still performed occasionally in public until his death, and for a number of years appeared at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough Tennessee to tell stories, mostly children's stories such as Abiyoyo. He performed at MerleFest April 27-30, 2006 in Wilkesboro, NC.
On March 16, 2007, the 88-year old Pete Seeger performed with his siblings Mike Seeger and Peggy Seeger, and other Seeger family members at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where he had been employed as a folk song archivist 67 years earlier.
In April 2006, Bruce Springsteen released a collection of songs associated with Seeger or in Seeger's folk tradition, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Bruce Springsteen performed a series of concerts based on those sessions, to sellout crowds. Springsteen had previously recorded one Seeger favorite, "We Shall Overcome," on the 1998 "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" tribute album.
Seeger lived in the hamlet of Dutchess Junction in the Town of Fishkill, NY and remained very politically active in the Hudson Valley Region of New York, especially in the near-by City of Beacon, NY. He and Toshi purchased their land in 1949, and lived there first in a trailer, then in a log cabin they built themselves, and eventually in a larger house. Seeger joined the Community Church (a church practicing Unitarian Universalism), is considered a famous Unitarian Universalist, and often performed at functions for the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Seeger died in 2014 of natural causes.
Awards
Seeger has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions throughout his career, including:
A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1993)
The National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts (1994)
Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Honor (1994)
The Harvard Arts Medal (1996)
Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1996)
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album of 1996 for his record "Pete" (1997)
As a member of The Weavers, Seeger had a string of hits, including a 1949 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" that topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. He was formerly a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America and was a major contributor to folk and protest music in the 1950s and the 1960s.
Perhaps best known today as the author or co-author of the songs Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, and Turn, Turn, Turn, songs that have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and which are still sung all over the world. Flowers was a hit recording for The Kingston Trio (1962), Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962), and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while The Byrds popularized "Turn, Turn, Turn" in the mid-1960s.
Early work
Seeger dropped out of Harvard (where he had been studying journalism) in 1939, and he took a job in Washington, D.C. at the Archive of American Folk Song in the Library of Congress. In that capacity, he met and was influenced by many important musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. He met Woody at a "Grapes of Wrath" migrant workers concert on March 3, 1940 and the two thereafter began a musical collaboration.
In 1948, Seeger wrote the first version of his now-classic How to Play the Five-String Banjo, a book that many banjo players credit with starting them off on the instrument. He went on to invent the Long Neck or Seeger banjo. This instrument is three frets longer than a typical banjo, and slightly longer than a bass guitar at 25 Frets, and is tuned a minor third lower than the normal 5-string banjo.
As a self-described "split tenor" (between an alto and a tenor), he was a founding member of the folk groups the Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie and the Weavers with Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman. The Weavers had major hits in the early 1950s, before being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era.
On August 18, 1955, Pete was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) where he refused to name personal and political associations stating it would violate his First Amendment rights... "I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this." Seeger's refusal to testify led to a March 26, 1957 indictment for contempt of Congress; for some years, he had to keep the federal government apprised of where he was going any time he left the Southern District of New York. He was convicted in a jury trial in March 1961, and sentenced to a year in jail, but in May 1962 an appeals court ruled the indictment to be flawed and overturned his conviction.
Seeger started a solo career in 1958, and is known for songs such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "If I Had a Hammer" (co-written with Lee Hays), "Turn, Turn, Turn," adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and "We Shall Overcome" (based on a spiritual and later became the unofficial anthem for the civil rights movement). Seeger became influential in the 1960s folk revival centered in Greenwich Village. He helped found Broadside Magazine and Sing Out!. He was strongly associated with Moses Asch and Folkways Records. To describe the new crop of folk singers, many of whom were politically minded in their songs, he coined the phrase "Woody's children", alluding to his former bandmate Woody Guthrie, who by this time had become a legendary figure. He has often sung and is associated with the song "Joe Hill".
In the mid-sixties he hosted a regional folk music TV show called Rainbow Quest which featured folk musicians playing traditional folk music. Among his guests were Johnny Cash, June Carter, Mississippi John Hurt, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Roscoe Holcomb, The Stanley Brothers, Doc Watson, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, Richard Fariña and Mimi Fariña, and many others. Thirty-eight hour-long programs were recorded at new UHF station WNJU's Newark studios in 1965 and 1966, produced by Seeger and his wife Toshi with Sholom Rubinstein.
An early advocate of Bob Dylan, Seeger was supposedly incensed over the distorted electric sound Dylan brought into the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, especially with the inability to clearly hear the lyrics. There are many conflicting versions of exactly what ensued, some claiming that he actually tried to disconnect the equipment. He is often cited as one of the main opponents to Dylan at Newport 1965, but claimed in 2005:
"There are reports of me being anti-him going electric at the '65 Newport Folk festival, but that's wrong. I was the MC that night. He was singing 'Maggie's Farm' and you couldn't understand a word because the mic was distorting his voice. I ran to the mixing desk and said, 'Fix the sound, it's terrible!' The guy said 'No, that's how they want it.' And I did say that if I had an axe I'd cut the cable! But I wanted to hear the words. I didn't mind him going electric.
Later work
Seeger achieved some notoriety in 1967 and 1968 for his song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy", about a captain—a "big fool"—who drowned while leading a platoon on maneuvers in Louisiana during World War II. Seeger performed the song on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour after some arguments with CBS about whether the song's lyrics were objectionable. Although the song was cut from the Smothers Brothers show in September 1967, Seeger returned in January 1968 and sang the entire song. It was clearly an allegory about the U.S. under the leadership of Lyndon Johnson which was in over its head in the Vietnam War.
Another slight against Lyndon Johnson can be heard in his singing of Len Chandler's seemingly juvenile song, "Beans in My Ears" from his 1966 album Dangerous Songs!? in which he accuses "Mrs. Jay's little son Alby" (Alby Jay is meant to sound like LBJ) of having beans in his ears, or of not listening to the people.
In 1998 a double-CD tribute album was released - "Where Have All the Flowers Gone: the Songs of Pete Seeger". It contained contributions from Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Eliza Carthy, Bruce Springsteen, Roger McGuinn, Judy Collins, Indigo Girls, Dick Gaughan, Martin Simpson, Odetta and others.
Pete Seeger still performed occasionally in public until his death, and for a number of years appeared at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough Tennessee to tell stories, mostly children's stories such as Abiyoyo. He performed at MerleFest April 27-30, 2006 in Wilkesboro, NC.
On March 16, 2007, the 88-year old Pete Seeger performed with his siblings Mike Seeger and Peggy Seeger, and other Seeger family members at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where he had been employed as a folk song archivist 67 years earlier.
In April 2006, Bruce Springsteen released a collection of songs associated with Seeger or in Seeger's folk tradition, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Bruce Springsteen performed a series of concerts based on those sessions, to sellout crowds. Springsteen had previously recorded one Seeger favorite, "We Shall Overcome," on the 1998 "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" tribute album.
Seeger lived in the hamlet of Dutchess Junction in the Town of Fishkill, NY and remained very politically active in the Hudson Valley Region of New York, especially in the near-by City of Beacon, NY. He and Toshi purchased their land in 1949, and lived there first in a trailer, then in a log cabin they built themselves, and eventually in a larger house. Seeger joined the Community Church (a church practicing Unitarian Universalism), is considered a famous Unitarian Universalist, and often performed at functions for the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Seeger died in 2014 of natural causes.
Awards
Seeger has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions throughout his career, including:
A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1993)
The National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts (1994)
Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Honor (1994)
The Harvard Arts Medal (1996)
Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1996)
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album of 1996 for his record "Pete" (1997)
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22Union Hoot: The Scabs Crawl In / We Pity Our Bosses Five / Keep That Line A-Moving / Join the Picket Line Today5:46Pete Seeger
23You Can All Join In: It Takes Everybody to Build This Land / Indian Deer Hunting / Yankee Doodle / Old Chisholm Trail / The Farmer Is the Man / Erie Canal (Low Bridge) /John Henry6:16Pete Seeger
24Sea Chanties: Boston "Come-All-Ye" (Blow Ye Winds Westerly) / New Bedford Whalers / The Bigler/ Johnny Come Down to Hilo 5:47Pete Seeger
37Banjo Medley: Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss / Cripple Creek / Ida Red / Old Joe Clark 2:39Pete Seeger
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Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
Pete Seeger Lyrics
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son? And where have…
Abiyoyo Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo Abiyoyo, yoyoyo, yoyoyo …
All Mixed Up You know this language that we speak, Is part German, Latin…
Arrange and Rearrange Just a few winters ago, I was out in the…
Banks Of Marble I've traveled around this country From shore to shining shor…
Barbara Allen Twas in the merry month of May When green buds all…
Battle Of Maxton Field Now brave the Klansmen rallied there In Maxton town that nig…
Battle of New Orleans BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS (Jimmy Driftwood; tune: Eighth of Janu…
Black and White Oh, the ink is black, the page is white Together we…
Blue Mountain Lake Come all you bold fellers Where'er you may be Come set down…
Bottle Up and Go How do I know my youth is all spent? My get…
Bourgeois Blues Lord, in a bourgeois town It's a bourgeois town I got the…
Buffalo Gals As I was walking down the street Down the street, down…
Casey Jones (The Union Scab) Come all you rounders if you wanna hear The story of…
Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase Away, away, we're bound for the mountain, Bound for the…
Deep Blue Sea Deep Blue Sea, Baby, Deep Blue Sea (3x) It was Willy…
Dink's Song If I had wings like Noah's dove I'd fly up the…
Down by the Riverside I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, Down by the…
Down in the Valley Down in the valley valley so low Hang your head over…
Eight-Hour Day We're brave and gallant miner boys, who work in underground …
Estadio Chile We are 5,000 - here in this little part of…
Follow The Drinking Gourd When the Sun comes back And the first quail calls Follow the…
Foolish Frog There was once a farmer, walking down the road whistling…
From Way Up Here From way up here the earth looks very small, It's just…
Garbage Mister Thompson calls the waiter, orders steak and baked pot…
Go Tell Aunt Rhody Go tell Aunt Rhody go tell Aunt Rhody Go tell Aunt…
God Bless the Grass God bless the grass that grows through the crack. They roll…
Goofing Off Suite: Opening Theme Ooh what a mixture Sunshine vivid picture Ooh what a mixture…
Guantanamera The words mean, I am a truthful man From the land…
Hard Times in the Mill Every mornin' at half-past four You hear the cooks hop on…
Hold On Let me tell you the story of A line that was…
House of the Rising Sun There is a house in New Orleans You call the…
I Had a Rooster I had a rooster, my rooster pleased me I fed my…
If I Had a Hammer If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning…
In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down I want you, be around When that evening sun goes down I…
Jam On Jerry's Rocks Come all ye trueborn shanty boys Wherever you may be Come si…
Joe Hill I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, Alive as you…
John Riley As I went out one morning early, To breathe the sweet…
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine When I was a young man I'd never been kissed; I…
Kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my…
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream Last night I had the strangest dream I'd ever dreamed…
Letter To Eve Oh Eve, where is Adam, now you're kicked out of…
Listen Mr. Bilbo Listen, Mr. Bilbo, listen to me I'll give you a lesson…
Little Boxes Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky tack…
Living In The Country You know the guitar came to Europe with the gypsies…
Midnight Special Oh, let the midnight special, shine her light on me Oh,…
Moorsoldaten Far and wide as the eye can wander Heath and bog…
Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter Dear Mister Editor, if you choose Please send me a copy…
Mrs. McGrath "Mrs. McGrath," the sergeant said, "Would you like a soldier…
My Father's Mansion's Many Rooms My father's mansion's many rooms Have room for all of His…
My name is Lisa Kalvelage My name is Lisa Kalvelage, I was born in Nuremberg And…
Of Time and Rivers Flowing Of time and rivers flowing The seasons make a song And we…
One Grain Of Sand One grain of sand, One grain of sand in all the…
Passing Through Passing through, passing through, Sometimes happy, sometime…
Quite Early Morning Don't you know it's darkest before the dawn And it's this…
Shenandoah The Missouri, she's a might river Away you rolling river The…
So Long It's Been Good To Know You I've sung this song, but I'll sing it again, Of the…
St. James Hospital In a corner by the square The drinks were served as…
Strawberry Roan I was lopin" around town just a-spendin′ my time, Out of…
Talking Atom Well, I'm gonna preach you a sermon 'bout Old Man…
Talking Blues I went down to the fishing hole And I set down…
Talking Union Now, if you want higher wages let me tell you…
The Bells Of Rhymney Oh what can you give me? Say the sad bells of…
The Big Rock Candy Mountain One evening as the sun went down And the jungle fires…
The Death of Harry Simms Come and listen to my story, come and listen to…
The Sinking Of The Reuben James Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben…
The Water Is Wide The water is wide, I cannot cross over, And neither have…
This Land Is Your Land This land is your land, this land is my land From…
To My Old Brown Earth To my old brown earth And to my old blue sky I'll…
Viva La Quince Brigada Viva la quince brigada Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala Que se …
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy It was back in nineteen forty-two, I was a member of…
Wasn't That a Time Our fathers bled at Valley Forge. The snow was red with…
We Shall Overcome We shall overcome We shall overcome We shall overcome, some …
Well May The World Go [Chorus] Well may the world go, The world go, the world go, …
What Did You Learn In School Today What did you learn in school today Dear little boy of…
When I First Came to This Land When I first came to this land I was not a…
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing Where hav…
Which Side Are You On? Which side are you on boys? Which side are you on? Which…
Wimoweh Oh, wimoweh Wimoweh Wimoweh Wimoweh Wimoweh Wimoweh Wimow…