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)
Dear Mr. President
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To send you greetings from my home town,
And send you best wishes from all the friends I know
In Texas, Alabama, Ohio,
And affiliated places. Brooklyn, Mississippi.
I'm an ordinary guy, worked most of my life,
Sometime I'll settle down with my kids and wife,
I like being free to say what I think,
Sort of runs in the family...
My grandpa crossed the ocean for the same reason.
Now I hate Hitler and I can tell you why,
He's caused lots of good folks to suffer and die.
He's got a way of shoving folks around,
I figure it's about time we slapped him down,
Give him a dose of his own medicine...
Lead poisoning.
Now Mr. President, we haven't always agreed in the past, I know,
But that ain't at all important, now,
What is important is what we got to do,
We got to lick Mr. Hitler, and until we do,
Other things can wait,
In other words, first we got a skunk to skin.
War means overtime and higher prices,
But we're all willing to make sacrifices,
Hell, I'd even stop fighting with my mother-in-law,
'Cause we need her too, to win the war...
Old battle axe.
Now as I think of our great land,
Of the cities and towns and farming land,
There's so many good people working every day,
I know it ain't perfect but it will be some day,
Just give us a little time.
This is the reason that I want to fight,
Not because everything's perfect or everything's right.
No. it's just the opposite... I'm fighting because I want
A better America with better laws,
And better homes and jobs and schools,
And no more Jim Crow and no more rules,
Like you can't ride on this train 'cause you're a Negro,
You can't live here 'cause you're a Jew
You can't work here 'cause you're a union man.
There's a line keeps running through my head,
I think it was something Joe Louis once said,
Said, "There's lots of things wrong,
But Hitler won't help 'em."
Now Mr. President, you're commander-in-chief of our armed forces,
Ships and planes, and the tanks and horses.
I guess you know best just where I can fight,
All I want to be is situated right...
To do the most damage.
I never was one to try and shirk,
And let the other fellow do all the work,
So when the time comes, I'll be on hand,
And make good use of these two hands.
Quit playing this banjo around with the boys,
And exchange it for something that makes more noise.
So Mr. President, we've got this one big job to do,
That's lick Mr. Hitler and when we're through,
Let no one else ever take his place,
To trample down the human race.
So what I want is you to give me a gun,
So we can hurry up and get the job done.
The song Dear Mr. President by Pete Seeger is an open letter to the President of the United States during World War II. Seeger begins the song by introducing himself as an ordinary man who resides in different states and appreciates the freedom of speech. Seeger then talks about his hatred for Hitler and the need to defeat him regardless of political differences. This motive is a significant driving force for him and the country to fight the war. However, Seeger also highlights that the war comes with overtime work, higher prices, and hardships, but these sacrifices are necessary to win the war.
Seeger highlights the need to improve America for a better future. The country has flaws, including racism, discrimination against Jews and people from unions, and segregation rules against black people. The song is a call to the President to lead the country in fighting against these injustices. It ends with Seeger requesting a gun to get the job done and a promise to work hard to defeat Hitler and make America better.
Overall, Dear Mr. President is an inspirational song that urges unity and patriotism in the face of despair. It expresses the need to fight for a better world for everyone, regardless of individual differences. It highlights the strong desire to defeat Hitler and bring about a brighter future for all.
Line by Line Meaning
Dear Mr. President, I set me down,
I am writing to you from my hometown to express my greetings.
And send you best wishes from all the friends I know
I am conveying best wishes from my friends in various parts of the country.
In Texas, Alabama, Ohio, And affiliated places. Brooklyn, Mississippi.
I have friends from various states including Texas, Alabama, Ohio, Brooklyn, and Mississippi.
I'm an ordinary guy, worked most of my life,
I have had a regular job for most of my life and I am an average person.
Sometime I'll settle down with my kids and wife,
At some point, I plan to settle down with my spouse and kids.
And I like to see a movie or take a little drink.
I enjoy watching movies and sometimes drinking.
I like being free to say what I think,
I appreciate the freedom to express my opinions.
Sort of runs in the family...
This trait runs in my family as well.
My grandpa crossed the ocean for the same reason.
My grandfather travelled across the ocean for the same purpose of finding freedom.
Now I hate Hitler and I can tell you why,
I strongly dislike Hitler and I have concrete reasons for my hatred.
He's caused lots of good folks to suffer and die.
Hitler has been the cause of suffering and death for many innocent people.
He's got a way of shoving folks around,
The way Hitler treats people is degrading and oppressive.
I figure it's about time we slapped him down,
I believe it's high time that we take a strong and necessary action against him.
Give him a dose of his own medicine...
Hitler deserves to experience the same pain and suffering he has caused others.
Now Mr. President, we haven't always agreed in the past, I know,
I understand that we have had disagreements in the past, Mr. President.
But that ain't at all important, now,
However, our previous disagreements are insignificant right now.
What is important is what we got to do,
Our current task is of utmost importance.
We got to lick Mr. Hitler, and until we do,
Our primary goal is to defeat Hitler, and until that happens,
Other things can wait,
Other matters can be deferred until victory is won.
In other words, first we got a skunk to skin.
In simple terms, we need to complete the task of defeating Hitler.
War means overtime and higher prices,
War results in longer work hours and an increased cost of living.
But we're all willing to make sacrifices,
Despite the hardships, we are all ready to make sacrifices.
Hell, I'd even stop fighting with my mother-in-law,
I am willing to go to the extent of putting aside personal differences, like with my mother-in-law.
'Cause we need her too, to win the war...
As winning the war is essential, we need even those we don't necessarily like to achieve this goal.
Old battle axe.
A humorous reference to the mother-in-law.
Now as I think of our great land,
I contemplate our vast country, Mr. President.
Of the cities and towns and farming land,
Our land encompasses cities, towns, and farmlands.
There's so many good people working every day,
There are numerous hard-working, honest individuals who contribute to our nation every day.
I know it ain't perfect but it will be some day,
I am aware that our country isn't perfect, but I believe we can work towards making it better.
Just give us a little time.
We need time to achieve our goals.
This is the reason that I want to fight,
This is the reason why I am willing to fight, Mr. President.
Not because everything's perfect or everything's right.
I am not fighting because everything is perfect and right.
No. it's just the opposite... I'm fighting because I want
In fact, it's quite the opposite - I am fighting because I want
A better America with better laws,
I want to create a better America, which will achieve this through better laws.
And better homes and jobs and schools,
I want to ensure that we have better homes, jobs, and schools as a part of this improvement process.
And no more Jim Crow and no more rules,
This better America should not have to abide by old and oppressive rules, like Jim Crow.
Like you can't ride on this train 'cause you're a Negro,
We must eliminate discriminatory practices - such as blacks being denied the right to travel on trains.
You can't live here 'cause you're a Jew
Similarly, we must ensure that Jews are not discriminated against when it comes to housing.
You can't work here 'cause you're a union man.
We must also eliminate anti-union practices, such as union members being denied job opportunities.
There's a line keeps running through my head,
I have a quote that is always on my mind.
I think it was something Joe Louis once said,
I believe this quote is attributed to Joe Louis.
Said, "There's lots of things wrong,
Joe Louis said, "There are many things that are wrong.
But Hitler won't help 'em."
However, Hitler is not the solution to any of these problems.
Now Mr. President, you're commander-in-chief of our armed forces,
As our leader, you have the ultimate responsibility for our military forces, Mr. President.
Ships and planes, and the tanks and horses.
This includes managing our ships, planes, tanks, and horses.
I guess you know best just where I can fight,
I trust that you have a good understanding of where I can be of most use in the fight against Hitler, Mr. President.
All I want to be is situated right...
All I wish for is to be in the right place at the right time to make a significant contribution.
To do the most damage.
I want to do the maximum amount of damage possible to eliminate Hitler's oppression.
I never was one to try and shirk,
I have always been diligent in my work, Mr. President.
And let the other fellow do all the work,
I never shy away from hard work and leave it all to others.
So when the time comes, I'll be on hand,
When the opportunity arises, I will be present and ready to uphold my patriotic duties.
And make good use of these two hands.
I will utilize my physical abilities and resources to the best of my ability.
Quit playing this banjo around with the boys,
I will stop wasting time playing the banjo with my friends.
And exchange it for something that makes more noise.
Instead, I will replace the banjo with something that will make a bigger impact on our fight against Hitler.
So Mr. President, we've got this one big job to do,
Mr. President, we have one major responsibility that we need to fulfill.
That's lick Mr. Hitler and when we're through,
Our primary goal is to defeat Hitler, and once we have accomplished that task,
Let no one else ever take his place,
We must ensure that no other tyrant will take Hitler's place in the future.
To trample down the human race.
Such tyrants oppress the entire human race.
So what I want is you to give me a gun,
Therefore, I request a gun from you, Mr. President.
So we can hurry up and get the job done.
With this gun, I will be able to contribute towards the prompt completion of our task.
Contributed by Chase W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Siberia!
Take a moment to love that line at 1:12"Hell, I'd even stop fighting with my mother-in-law 'cause we need her too to win the war"
EJC
RIP TO A REAL PATRIOT
Eduardo Cunha de Carvalho
Thank you very much for posting this. Pete was a really great man!
Brandon King
Exactly. This is what Conservatives don't understand. Its not so much that we hate America, we are true believers in the founding ideals but honest enough to admit we've never lived up to them. We want America to be better.
Vgaming
Never heard this one before. Musta written it when he was in the army.
Jawstaysun
Thanks for posting!