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)
Get Up And Go
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My get up and go has got up and went
But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
And think of the places my get up has been
Old age is golden so I've heard said
But sometimes I wonder as I crawl into bed
With my ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup
As sleep dims my vision I say to myself
Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?
But though nations are warring and business is vexed
I'll stick around to see what happens next
How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get up and go has got up and went
But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
And think of the places my get up has been
When I was young my slippers were red
I could kick up my heels right over my head
When I was older my slippers were blue
But still I could dance the whole night thru
Now I am older my slippers are black
I huff to the store and I puff my way back
But never you laugh; I don't mind at all
I'd rather be huffing than not puff at all
How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get up and go has got up and went
But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
And think of the places my get up has been
I get up each morning and dust off my wits
Open the paper and read the obits
If I'm not there I know I'm not dead
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed
How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get up and go has got up and went
But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
And think of the places my get up has been
Pete Seeger's song "My Get Up and Go" is a witty and relatable reflection on aging and the loss of youthful energy. The first verse describes the feeling of "youth all spent" and the loss of motivation: "My get up and go has got up and went." Despite this, the singer maintains a sense of humor and reminiscence of the past, focusing on the "places my get up has been." The second verse describes the conflicting emotions of aging, where old age is said to be "golden," but the reality of dependence on hearing aids and walking aids is acknowledged. The singer still maintains a positive outlook, choosing to "grin" and keep going. The third verse is a nostalgic reflection on the loss of physical ability as the singer recounts the colors of their slippers through the years, and how even though they may need to huff and puff to get around, they still value their ability to keep moving. The final verse takes a darkly humorous tone as the singer checks the obituaries to make sure they are still alive, preferring to stay in bed and rest up for whatever comes next.
Seeger's song is a poignant reflection on the human experience of aging, and the bittersweet emotions that come with it. The flippant humor and hopeful tone of the lyrics makes the message more palatable and relatable, encouraging listeners to see the value in every stage of life.
Line by Line Meaning
How do I know my youth is all spent?
I wonder if I’ve used up all my young years
My get up and go has got up and went
My energy and enthusiasm are long gone
But in spite of it all I'm able to grin
Despite feeling old and tired, I still manage to smile
And think of the places my get up has been
I reminisce about my youthful adventures
Old age is golden so I've heard said
People say growing old is a valuable time of life
But sometimes I wonder as I crawl into bed
But at nighttime I have doubts about it
With my ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup
I take out my hearing aids and dentures before sleeping
My eyes on the table until I wake up
I leave my glasses on the table and can't see clearly until I get them
As sleep dims my vision I say to myself
As I get drowsy, I talk to myself
Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?
I wonder if there's anything I should stop doing altogether
But though nations are warring and business is vexed
Even though the world is in chaos
I'll stick around to see what happens next
I plan to live long enough to see what develops
When I was young my slippers were red
In my youth, I had red slippers
I could kick up my heels right over my head
I was agile and nimble
When I was older my slippers were blue
In middle age, my slippers were blue
But still I could dance the whole night thru
But I could still dance for hours on end
Now I am older my slippers are black
Now that I'm elderly, my slippers are black
I huff to the store and I puff my way back
I struggle to walk to the store and back
But never you laugh; I don't mind at all
But please don't laugh at me, I don't care
I'd rather be huffing than not puff at all
I prefer to struggle than give up completely
I get up each morning and dust off my wits
I wake up every day and sharpen my mind
Open the paper and read the obits
I read the obituaries in the newspaper
If I'm not there I know I'm not dead
If I'm not mentioned in the obituaries, I know I'm still alive
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed
So I have a satisfying meal and go back to sleep
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: PETE SEEGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@CatalinaThePirate
😃 Ah, I love Pete Seeger! He left behind an amazing legacy of wonderful songs and music, worked together with legends, and became one, himself. 😊 He was a rare and gentle human being, and someone who never let fame give him a swelled head. I have many fond memories... 💕
@ThomasBias
I heard Pete Seeger sing this back in 'eighty-one
He had many more years before his work was done.
He was sixty-two then; I'm sixty-four now.
I've made this far; I've got no idea how!
@benjaminwhitestone8884
Thank you Pete. No one shouted out the words we needed like you!
@banjostead
Write to > joe@joestead.com < to read my eulogy/obituary. I worked with Pete both on stage and in the recording studio. He was a friend to anybody who needed help. Peace to you. Joe Stead.
@jadamscdale
I heard Pete Seeger sing this to an audience in Iowa City in 1966 or thereabouts. It always stuck with me. I think of it as 2018 turns to 2019 and it's a whole lot closer to matching my abilities than it was back then! He kept going to the ripe old age of 94, seeming to never huff and puff.
@douglasmcconnell8116
Herd this song for the first time, can't get enough of it thank you. Mr. Seeger.
@TraciStyner
I heard Pete Seeger do this song at a magical show in Monterey, CA. 1980? The venue told him it was time to end the show, so he went outside and continued playing for those of us who wanted to stick around. Extraordinary. He was always an inspiration.
@anindyaroychowdhury
I'd rather be huffing than not puff at all...
So long, and thank you for the music.
@banjostead
Write to > joe@joestead.com < to read my eulogy/obituary. I worked with Pete both on stage and in the recording studio. He was a friend to anybody who needed help. Peace to you. Joe Stead
@elijaguy
Old age is golden So I've heard said, But sometimes I wonder As I crawl into bed, With my ears in a drawer My teeth in a cup My eyes on the table, Until I wake up, As sleep dims my vision I say to myself Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf But though nations are warring And business is vexed, I'll still stick around To see What happens and next.