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)
Bells of Rhymney
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Is there hope for the future?
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr
Who made the mine owner?
Say the black bells of Rhonda
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina
They will plunder willy-nilly,
Cry the bells of Caerphilly
They have fangs, they have teeth,
Say the loud bells of Neathe
Even God is uneasy,
Say the moist bells of Swansea
They will plunder willy-nilly,
Say the bells of Caerphilly
Put the vandals in court,
Say the bells of Newport
All would be well if, if, if,
Cry the green bells of Cardiff
Why so worried, sisters, why?
Sang the silver bells of Wye
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
The Bells of Rhymney is a protest song written by Welsh poet Idris Davies and later adapted to music by Pete Seeger. The song paints a bleak picture of the Welsh mining industry in the mid-20th century, with each set of bells representing different aspects of the struggles faced by the miners and their families. The opening lines, "Oh what can you give me? Say the sad bells of Rhymney" could be interpreted as a cry for help or a call to action from those who have the power to help the miners.
The brown bells of Merthyr ask "Is there hope for the future?" which implies a sense of hopelessness and despair. The black bells of Rhonda then ask "Who made the mine owner?" suggesting that the miners are victims of a wider system that exploits them. The grim bells of Blaina then cry "And who robbed the miner?" which is a direct accusation of exploitation and mistreatment. The song is essentially an indictment of the coal industry and the powers that be who profit from the dangerous and grueling work required of the miners.
Throughout the song, the bells continue to express the struggles of the miners, with the bells of Caerphilly crying that the miners will be plundered willy-nilly, and even God feeling uneasy according to the moist bells of Swansea. The silver bells of Wye offer a hopeful question to the sisters, asking "Why so worried, sisters, why?" but ultimately the sad bells of Rhymney return, asking again "And what will you give me?" The song is a powerful statement of protest, highlighting the political and economic struggles faced by the miners in Wales during this time.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh what can you give me?
The singer asks what the bells of Rhymney can give to him.
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
The bells of Rhymney respond to the singer's query in a melancholy way.
Is there hope for the future?
The bells of Merthyr wonder if there is any hope for the future.
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr
The bells of Merthyr cry out in sorrow.
Who made the mine owner?
The artist questions who created the mine owner.
Say the black bells of Rhonda
The bells of Rhonda answer the singer's question about who made the mine owner.
And who robbed the miner?
The singer asks who is responsible for stealing from the miner.
Cry the grim bells of Blaina
The bells of Blaina cry out in sadness at the plight of the miner.
They will plunder willy-nilly,
The bells of Caerphilly warn that the plunderers will take everything without regard.
Cry the bells of Caerphilly
The bells of Caerphilly cry out as they express this warning.
They have fangs, they have teeth,
The loud bells of Neathe speak about the aggressiveness of the plunderers.
Say the loud bells of Neathe
The bells of Neathe repeat this warning to the artist.
Even God is uneasy,
The moist bells of Swansea suggest that even God is disturbed by this injustice.
Say the moist bells of Swansea
The bells of Swansea declare this fact to the singer.
They will plunder willy-nilly,
The bells of Caerphilly repeat their warning to the singer.
Say the bells of Caerphilly
The bells of Caerphilly reiterate their warning yet again.
Put the vandals in court,
The bells of Newport suggest that the vandals responsible for the injustice should be held accountable by the legal system.
Say the bells of Newport
The bells of Newport express this idea to the singer.
All would be well if, if, if,
The green bells of Cardiff offer a conditional statement, suggesting that if certain changes were made, things would improve.
Cry the green bells of Cardiff
The bells of Cardiff cry out in hope for change.
Why so worried, sisters, why?
The silver bells of Wye ask why the artist and others are so concerned.
Sang the silver bells of Wye
The bells of Wye sing out this question.
And what will you give me?
The singer repeats his initial question to the bells of Rhymney, wondering what they have to offer.
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
The bells of Rhymney offer no answer, as they remain resigned to their sadness.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Idris Davies, Pete Seeger
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gaynor Rogers
As a Welsh woman living here in Wales this song is awesome, especially when I think it's been heard all over the world and sung by so many. Thanks Mr Seeger. X
Joshua Woods
it's really special isn't it. Cymru am byth!
Gianvittore De Boni
I love Wales. Here Pete gives the welsh people a wonderful gift.
Terry Donegan
My friend Jason does a version of this. Please checkout Faithman meets world
banjoonthelump
This song is a poem titled, XV, written by injured Welsh miner, Idris Davies, and published in a book of poetry in 1938 titled, Gwalia Deserta. Thank you Pete for putting it to music.
Mark Sisto
He took ownership, copyrighted it, like he did Turn Turn Turn, and like he Guantanamera , and Lion Sleeps.. The communist copyrighted the way to the capitalist bank. $ $ $ $
Potemkin0
@Mark Sisto Perhaps ... but reading recently if my memory serves me correctly I believe he did ask Mrs Davies (Idris' widow) for permission to use the poem to write the song. If I'm wrong here, then please correct me.
Potemkin0
Just checked in his "Bells of Rhymney" songbook:- Words by Idris Davies, Music by Pete Seeger Copyright 1959 by Ludlow Music Inc. Used by permission
Also the authors and composers of Guantanamera are credited together with Used by permission
For Turn, Turn, Turn the words are from the Book of Ecclesiastes with music by Pete Seeger Copyright 1962 by Melody Trails Inc. Used by permission.
No information on Lion Sleeps
(Although of course both 'Inc' companies could have been owned by Pete at the time ...)
Roger Davies
@Potemkin0 Why did the person above want to believe the worst of a left wing person? Is it out of a reflexive hatred of the left? Why assume Seegar would not have used the words with permission without even bothering to check?
Marianne from Abergavenny near Merthyr using Roger's computer with permission.
Potemkin0
@Roger Davies For an definitive answer to your question Marianne from Aber, you must ask Mark, but personally, I think he's got an axe to grind. My attempt to vocalize 'Rhymney' derives from listening to the Cardiffians who would put pronounce the 'h' after the 'R' to sound posher than folks from the Valleys!