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)
Foolish Frog
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He said, "Dog-gone, I wish I had some words to that tune.
But all I've got is the melody." Just then he came to a little bridge,
And he leaned on the railing looking down at the brook.
There was a big old bullfrog, hopping from bank to bank.
Well, the bullfrog looked up and saw the farmer and decided to show off.
He took an extra special big hop - z-z-z-z-tt!
The farmer laughed and laughed and started singing
"Way down south in the yankety-yank, a bull frog jumped from bank to bank,
Just because he'd nothing better for to do!
He stubbed his toe and fell in the water,
You could hear him yell for a mile and a quarter,
Just because he'd nothing better for to do."
Now the farmer went walking down the road
Feeling mighty proud of himself for making up a song.
He went down to the corner store, bought himself some groceries,
A pair of work gloves and a plug of chewing tobacco, and said,
"Oh, before I go, I have to sing you my new song."
"Go on home," says the storekeeper,
"I'm busy here, can't you see all these customers?"
"I won't pay you any money unless you let me sing you my song!"
"Well, sing it and get it over with then,"
Said the storekeeper.
The farmer began to sing and the man in the store cried out,
"That's a w-o-o-nderful song, gather round everybody,
We'll have a party." And he passed round the free Coca Colas
And the free soda-crackers, and everyone was stamping on the floor.
Meanwhile, all the wives and children back home
Were sitting down to supper, and, where's father?
The mother said,
"Children, you better run down to the corner store and fetch your old man.
He's probably down there wasting his time as usual."
So all the children run down the road.
They run inside the corner store.
You know, they heard all that music,
They forgot about coming home.
The children started singing
And they were passing around the free Coca-Colas and
Now, in every farmhouse it was the same situation.
The mother said to themselves, "This has gone far enough.
Supper's getting cold. 'Spect us to work all the day nobody show up?"
They reached over on the stove
And grabbed some heavy frying pans
And start down the road with a mad look in their eyes.
Somebody's going to get beaned.
Well, they get near and they hear all that pretty music,
And they forget all about being mad.
They drop the frying pans in the gutter,
Walk into the store, and the mothers start singing!
Way down yonder in the yankety-yank,
A bullfrog jumped from bank to bank
And they're passing round the free Coca-Colas
And the free soda crackers,
And everybody is stamping on the floor!
Meanwhile out in the barns all the cows started talking,
"Where is everybody? We're supposed to be milked and it's getting mighty uncomfortable!"
So the cows left their stalls, they wobbled out of the barn,
And down the road right into the corner store.
And the cows started singing,
"Moo, moo, moo, moo, moo moo, moo, moo, moo, moo."
And the cow's tails were swishing out the windows,
And they were stamping on the floor,
And drinking the free Coca-Colas and eating the free soda
Out in the barnyard all the chickens said,
"Where is everybody? We're supposed to be fed and we're getting hungry!"
So the chickens hopped over the fence,
Hopped down the road, hopped into the store,
And the chickens started; (Chicken imitation to tune).
And the chicken were stamping on the floor and drinking the free Coca C
Meanwhile all the barns started talking to each other.
"We feel mighty lonely," they said, "without any cows or any chickens.
I guess we'll have to go find them."
So the barns picked themselves off their foundations and galumphed down the road,
And s-q-u-e-e-z-e-d themselves into that corner store,
Believe it or not. Did you ever hear a rusty hinge on a barn door?
That's the way the barns sang
Out in the fields all the grass says,
"Where is everybody? The cows are supposed to come and eat us.
I guess we'll have to go find them."
And the grass picked itself up and swished off down the road,
And swished right into the store and started singing
Of course, when the grass was gone, the fields were gone,
So the brook didn't have any banks to flow between.
It said, "I've got to go someplace,"
So it bubbled down the road.
It bubbled right up into the corner store and the brook started
Bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl.
The brook was bubbling up and down the stairway!
The grass was growing out the chimney!
Feathers flying through the air!
Cows tails swishing through the windows!
Everybody stamping on the floor
And drinking the free Coca-Cola
And eating the free soda-crackers!
Meanwhile, there's the bullfrog in mid-air!
He looks down, there's nothing underneath him.
He looks over and there's no bank to land on.
He says, "Where am I?"
And he starts hopping down the road.
Hop! Hop! Hop! Hop! Hop!
"Hey, what's all that racket down at the corner store?" says the frog.
"Why
They're singing!
They're singing about ME!"
And he was so proud he puffed himself up with pride.
And he puffed,
And he puffed,
And he puffed,
And he boom!
He exploded.
Cows, barns, chickens, farmers, the whole corner store went up in the air,
And everybody floated down
And landed right where they were supposed to have been all the time.
They all sat down eating supper again,
Feeling kind of foolish for themselves.
Next day they went out to find the frog.
They looked high, they looked low.
Coca-Cola bottles and soda crackers in all directions.
But no frog.
So all there is left of the frog is the song.
We might as well sing 'er once again.
"Way down yonder in the yankety-yank"
The song "Foolish Frog" by Pete Seeger appears to be a rather nonsensical tale on the surface, but it contains underlying themes about the power of music to bring people together and the need to find enjoyment and lightness in life. The story begins with a farmer who has a tune in his head but no lyrics to fit it. Along his way, he encounters a bullfrog who decides to show off with a big jump but ends up falling into the water. The farmer is amused and begins to sing a song about it, which catches on and leads to a party with free Coca-Colas and soda crackers.
As the song continues, it takes on a fantastical turn as more and more creatures join the party, including cows, chickens, grass, and even the brook itself. The absurdity of the situation continues to escalate until it reaches its climax with the explosion of the frog, causing everyone to realize how foolish they have been.
Line by Line Meaning
There was once a farmer, walking down the road whistling a tune to himself.
Once upon a time, a farmer was walking and whistling a tune.
"Dog-gone, I wish I had some words to that tune.
But all I've got is the melody."
The farmer felt frustrated that he knew the tune but not the words.
Just then he came to a little bridge,
And he leaned on the railing looking down at the brook.
The farmer leaned over a bridge and watched the brook below.
There was a big old bullfrog, hopping from bank to bank.
Well, the bullfrog looked up and saw the farmer and decided to show off.
A bullfrog was jumping along the banks of the brook when it saw the farmer and started to show off.
He took an extra special big hop - z-z-z-z-tt!
He landed, splash! in the water and got himself all wet.
The bullfrog took a big hop and landed in the water, getting itself wet.
The farmer laughed and laughed and started singing
The farmer laughed a lot and then started singing.
"Way down south in the yankety-yank, a bull frog jumped from bank to bank,
Just because he'd nothing better for to do!
He stubbed his toe and fell in the water,
You could hear him yell for a mile and a quarter,
Just because he'd nothing better for to do."
The farmer made up a song about a bullfrog who had nothing better to do than jump from bank to bank and then fell into the water, yelling loudly.
Now the farmer went walking down the road
Feeling mighty proud of himself for making up a song.
The farmer walked down the road, feeling proud of himself for making up the song.
He went down to the corner store, bought himself some groceries,
A pair of work gloves and a plug of chewing tobacco, and said,
"Oh, before I go, I have to sing you my new song."
The farmer went to the store, bought some items, and then wanted to sing his new song to the storekeeper before leaving.
"Go on home," says the storekeeper,
"I'm busy here, can't you see all these customers?"
"I won't pay you any money unless you let me sing you my song!"
The storekeeper told the farmer to leave, but the farmer insisted on singing his song before paying for his items.
"Well, sing it and get it over with then,"said the storekeeper.
The storekeeper finally agreed to let the farmer sing his song.
The farmer began to sing and the man in the store cried out,
"That's a w-o-o-nderful song, gather round everybody,
We'll have a party." And he passed round the free Coca Colas
And the free soda-crackers, and everyone was stamping on the floor.
The storekeeper liked the song and started a party, serving free Coca Colas and soda crackers while people danced.
The mother said,
"Children, you better run down to the corner store and fetch your old man.
He's probably down there wasting his time as usual."
Mothers at home realized the fathers had not returned and told the children to go fetch them from the store.
They run inside the corner store.
You know, they heard all that music,
They forgot about coming home.
The children started singing
The children went to the store and started singing and dancing instead of going back home.
And they were passing around the free Coca-Colas and
Now, in every farmhouse it was the same situation.
The children continued to enjoy the free Coca-Colas, and the same thing was happening in each farmhouse.
"This has gone far enough.
Supper's getting cold. 'Spect us to work all the day nobody show up?"
The mothers were frustrated that their families had not come home for dinner and were not helping with chores.
They reached over on the stove
And grabbed some heavy frying pans
And start down the road with a mad look in their eyes.
Somebody's going to get beaned.
The mothers got angry and grabbed frying pans, ready to hit someone.
Well, they get near and they hear all that pretty music,
And they forget all about being mad.
They drop the frying pans in the gutter,
Walk into the store, and the mothers start singing!
The mothers let go of their anger and started singing along with everyone else.
Meanwhile out in the barns all the cows started talking,
"Where is everybody? We're supposed to be milked and it's getting mighty uncomfortable!"
The cows were getting uncomfortable because no one was milking them.
So the cows left their stalls, they wobbled out of the barn,
And down the road right into the corner store.
And the cows started singing,
The cows left their stalls and went to the store, where they started singing.
"Moo, moo, moo, moo, moo moo, moo, moo, moo, moo."
And the cow's tails were swishing out the windows,
And they were stamping on the floor,
The cows sang and danced, their tails swishing outside the windows, and they stomped on the floor.
And drinking the free Coca-Colas and
In the barnyard all the chickens said,
"Where is everybody? We're supposed to be fed and we're getting hungry!"
The cows drank the free Coca-Colas, and the chickens were getting hungry because no one was feeding them.
So the chickens hopped over the fence,
Hopped down the road, hopped into the store,
And the chickens started; (Chicken imitation to tune).
The chickens left their enclosure and went to the store, where they started singing like chickens.
And the chicken were stamping on the floor and drinking the free Coca C
Meanwhile all the barns started talking to each other.
"We feel mighty lonely," they said, "without any cows or any chickens.
I guess we'll have to go find them."
The chickens drank the free Coca-Colas and danced, and the barns were feeling lonely without cows and chickens, so they decided to go look for them.
So the barns picked themselves off their foundations and galumphed down the road,
And s-q-u-e-e-z-e-d themselves into that corner store,
Believe it or not. Did you ever hear a rusty hinge on a barn door?
That's the way the barns sang
The barns moved and squeezed themselves into the store, creating a loud, creaking sound like a rusty door hinge.
"Where is everybody? The cows are supposed to come and eat us.
And the grass picked itself up and swished off down the road,
And swished right into the store and started singing
The grass was wondering where everyone was, and it started to move and go to the store, where it began singing.
Of course, when the grass was gone, the fields were gone,
So the brook didn't have any banks to flow between.
It said, "I've got to go someplace,"
So it bubbled down the road.
When the grass was gone, so were the fields, and this caused the brook to lose its banks. The brook bubbled down the road to find a new place to flow.
It bubbled right up into the corner store and the brook started
Bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl-bubbl.
The brook was bubbling up and down the stairway!
The brook made its way into the store, where it started to bubble and create a commotion, even on the stairs.
The grass was growing out the chimney!
Feathers flying through the air!
Cows tails swishing through the windows!
Everybody stamping on the floor
And drinking the free Coca-Cola
And eating the free soda-crackers!
In and around the store, everything was in chaos. Grass was growing out of the chimney, cows' tails were swishing through windows, and people were dancing, drinking free Coke and eating free crackers.
"Hey, what's all that racket down at the corner store?" says the frog.
"Why
They're singing!
They're singing about ME!"
And he was so proud he puffed himself up with pride.
The bullfrog heard the loud music and went to check it out. When he learned they were singing about him, he felt very proud and puffed himself up.
And he puffed,
And he boom!
He exploded.
Cows, barns, chickens, farmers, the whole corner store went up in the air,
And everybody floated down
And landed right where they were supposed to have been all the time.
They all sat down eating supper again,
Feeling kind of foolish for themselves.
The bullfrog became so proud and puffed himself up so much that he exploded, causing everyone to float back to where they were supposed to be and eat dinner as usual. Everyone felt foolish for getting so caught up in the excitement.
Next day they went out to find the frog.
They looked high, they looked low.
Coca-Cola bottles and soda crackers in all directions.
But no frog.
The next day, they searched for the bullfrog but couldn't find it. They searched everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found.
So all there is left of the frog is the song.
We might as well sing 'er once again.
"Way down yonder in the yankety-yank"
All that was left of the bullfrog was the song, and they decided to sing it again: "Way down yonder in the yankety-yank..."
Lyrics © THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: CHARLES SEEGER, PETER SEEGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
buffodave
This was one of my favorite songs when I was a kid...my dad used to sing it to me. RIP Pete Seeger--you brought a lot of joy to a lot of people
i.am.sherane
I remember when I was in first grade the music teacher made us sing this song in class. We sang it over and over until we remembered all the words to it. Ever since elementary I have never forgotten about that song. I even still remembered all the words to it and I'm in college now. This is my first time hearing it again since over twelve years.
SesameFan
Whimsical, terrific song!
R.I.P. Pete Seeger 1919-2014
violachic
I had this album on cassette as a child, and this was my absolute favorite song on it! Happy 94th birthday, Pete! Thank you, Steve Johnson, for putting this up.
Ruth McVeigh
I brought up the page this is on and bookmarked it so I can listen to Pete whenever I feel like it -- which is often! Here's another: Abiyoyo!!
Webkelpie
I was brought up in Scotland and I remember my Mum and Dad, but my Dad in particular, singing this song to me. My parents listened to folk music of many varieties, particularly Scots, English and American. They frequented the folk clubs in Glasgow in their younger days and met a lot of good people. My Dad played guitar and banjo, still did as I was growing up, and they both loved listening to other people playing. This was one of the more light-hearted records he had and this brings back good memories. Fond memories and I miss them dearly.
THIS CHANNEL HAS BEEN RETIRED
Thanks for the wonderful childhood song Pete!!!
Dano Pierce
One of my all time favorites! I just love the silliness of it and all the crazy ani las that come to the little store.
Daniel Langlois
I love this song and story so much!! I had an animated video tape of this as a child!!
Randyicdl
I stillsing the beginning part of this song today and whistle it at work, but could not remember the name of it. Thanks for posting it and keeping it posted.😀