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)
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, what did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
And who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded in hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
And, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
And the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it,
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it,
And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Pete Seeger's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is a powerful song that was written at the height of the Cold War. The lyrics of this song depict a world in crisis, full of environmental and social disasters. The song is a dialogue between a father and his son, with the father asking the son where he has been, what he has seen, and what he has heard. The son answers, and the answers he gives paint a bleak picture of a world in chaos.
The first verse of the song describes the son's travels through mountains, highways, forests, and oceans, suggesting that he has been to many dangerous and unpredictable places. The second verse describes what he has seen, such as a newborn baby surrounded by wolves and a room full of men with hammers bleeding. The third verse refers to what he has heard, such as the sound of thunder and a wave that could drown the entire world.
The fourth and final verse is the son's response to his father's questions. He says that he will keep going out into the world, despite the hard rain that is coming. He will go to the darkest forests and to places where people are suffering, and he will tell the world what he has seen and heard. The son is determined to speak out against the injustices that he has experienced, and he will do so through his music.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Where have you been wandering, my son?
And where have you been, my darling young one?
Where have you been, my dear?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've struggled through obstacles and difficulties.
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highways,
I've been through many roads, sometimes walking, sometimes crawling.
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been through many dark and depressing places.
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've seen the destruction of many lands and oceans.
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
I've been where death and despair prevail.
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
The coming times will be difficult.
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
There will be challenges and difficult times ahead.
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
What have you witnessed on your journey, my dear son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
And what have you seen, dear one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw innocence threatened by danger.
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a path of beauty and richness that is empty and without value.
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw the pain and suffering of many.
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I witnessed injustice and oppression.
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw a barrier that is insurmountable.
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw the silence of those who are not heard.
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
I saw the atrocities of wars fought by the young.
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
The challenges coming are difficult.
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
The difficult times are coming soon.
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
What did you hear while you were away, my son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
Tell me what you heard, my dear.
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
I heard signs of imminent danger.
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
I heard of the destructive force that could engulf us all.
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
I heard of the energy and passion of those who fight for justice.
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
I heard the loneliness of those who have no voice.
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
I heard the contrast between the suffering and the insensitivity of others.
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
I heard of the tragic end of an artist who was left to die on the street.
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
I heard the sadness of those who hide their pain behind a smile.
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
We are about to face hard times.
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
The storm is coming.
Oh, what did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who have you encountered on your journey?
And who did you meet, my darling young one?
And whom did you meet, dear?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met an innocent child next to death and despair.
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met those who see color in every aspect of life.
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met those who suffer pain and torture.
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met those who give hope and color in a world full of darkness.
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met those who were harmed by the pain of love.
I met another man who was wounded in hatred,
I met those who were damaged by the cruelty of hate.
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
The times ahead will be difficult.
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
The storm is coming, and it will not be easy.
And, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
What are you going to do now?
And, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
And what are you going to do, dear?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I will go back out before the storm arrives.
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest,
I will go deep into the unknown parts of the world.
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where there are many people, but none has anything.
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where people are being poisoned to death.
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where poverty and oppression live side by side.
And the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where those in power hide their true intentions.
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten,
In a place where hunger and suffering is rampant, where people are disregarded.
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
In a place where darkness rules, and people are nothing but numbers.
And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it,
I will voice out the truth in every way possible.
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it,
I will speak so loud that everyone will hear the truth.
And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
I will not falter or give up even when facing the greatest challenges.
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
I am ready and prepared to fight because I know what is right.
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
The times ahead might be difficult, but I will stand strong.
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Challenges will come, but I am ready to face them.
Contributed by Caroline O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@rodinalmondbloom8562
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Oh, what did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
And who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded in hatred
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
And, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my song well before I start singin'
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
@jimbishop8667
You could clearly see by the faces of the audience they were very uncomfortable, confused and not ready for the depth of darkness in this song. Yet when he was done they all clapped enthusiastically, I think because they knew they had just witnessed a profound moment even if they didn't really understand it!
@fionnmcnessa
I think they were getting the message and it frightened them . sadly it would havegone right over today's teenagers heads .
What a preformance amazing
@gabbyhyman1246
Also, audiences didn't have mosh pits then. This looks like a college audience from in the day where you sat quietly at a performance until the song ended. Lots of stuffy professor types. 😆
This is the same audience that went insane and murderous when Dylan broke out the fender at the folk festival. 🤣
@HoyaSaxaSD
I’ll respectfully disagree. On all the videos I watched of Dylan and others at Newport and other folk festivals during this period, the audience is almost completely still and silent throughout the song. While that’s a bit foreign to us, it seemed perfectly normal in that setting. I think they really were studying and pondering each word. (The Beatles’ fan base would drop a nuclear bomb on any such reserved model of concertgoer, just a year or two later, lol. Couldn’t hear a single word of their singing over the interminable shrieking, which is what led the Beatles to quit playing live and focus on creating masterpieces in the studio.)
@alexisbourdages1666
Bob wrote this during the Cuban misile crisis ....the hard rain was the close possibility of nuclear war over the ego of america
@alexisbourdages1666
They knew the song was right
@charlesdavenport6094
Pete brings another dimension to this song, a sense of urgency. He makes it an anthem, a call to battle.
@edited7382
Too bad he didn't know his song well before he started singing.
@oreally8605
What battle? Good vs. Evil? And just who is good? And who is the evil?
@charlesdavenport6094
@@oreally8605 The battle of metaphors vs. similes