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)
Hard Times in the Mill
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You hear the cooks hop on the floor
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
Every morning just at five
Gotta get up, dead or alive
It's hard times in the mill my love
Every mornin' right at six
Don't that ol' bell make you sick
Hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
The pulley got hot, the belt jumped off
Knocked Mr Guyan's derby off
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
And ol' Pat Goble thinks he's a Hun
He puts me in mind of a doodle in the sun
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
Section hand he thinks he's a man
He ain't got sense to pay off his hands
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
They steal his ring, they steal his knife
Steal everything but his big fat wife
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
My bobbin's all out, my end's all down
The doffer's in my alley an' I can't get around
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
The section hand, standin' at the door
Ordering the sweepers to sweep up the floor
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
An' every night when I go home
A piece o' cornbread an' an ol' jawbone
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
Ain't it enough to break your heart
Have to work all day, an' at night it's dark
It's hard times in the mill my love
Hard times in the mill
Pete Seeger's song "Hard Times in the Mill" depicts the daily struggles of the factory workers during the industrial revolution. The lyrics describe the early start of the day for the workers, with the cooks beginning their work at half-past four, along with the hardships they face during the day. The workers must "get up, dead or alive" every morning by five, and the constant sound of the bell ringing at six is described as making one sick. The song also highlights the accidents that could occur in the factory, such as the pulley getting hot and the belt jumping off, leading to Mr. Guyan's derby being knocked off. Besides, the song mentions the thefts happening within the factory, with the workers stealing from each other, including a man's ring and knife, but not his big, fat wife. The song additionally touches upon the financial struggles of the workers as they are underpaid, and their lack of power as they are unable to stand up to their boss or even pay their own workers' wages.
Seeger's song expresses the hardships faced by the industrial workers, describing the miserable conditions and the long working hours, highlighting the lack of power and exploitation of the workers by the factory owners. The song touches upon various themes of mistreatment, struggle, and oppression, leaving an impression of the difficulties and challenges the workers went through every day.
Line by Line Meaning
Every mornin' at half-past four
Every morning at 4:30 AM
You hear the cooks hop on the floor
The sound of the cooks' footsteps can be heard
It's hard times in the mill my love
Difficult, trying times in the factory
Hard times in the mill
Repeating chorus
Every morning just at five
Every morning at 5:00 AM
Gotta get up, dead or alive
Must wake up, one way or another
Every mornin' right at six
Every morning at 6:00 AM
Don't that ol' bell make you sick
The sound of the bell is nauseating
The pulley got hot, the belt jumped off
The pulley became overheated and the belt came loose
Knocked Mr Guyan's derby off
Mr. Guyan's hat was knocked off
And ol' Pat Goble thinks he's a Hun
Pat Goble fancies himself as a warlike German (a Hun)
He puts me in mind of a doodle in the sun
He reminds me of a foolish, harmless creature
Section hand he thinks he's a man
A laborer (section hand) who believes he is important
He ain't got sense to pay off his hands
He does not know how to pay his workers
They steal his ring, they steal his knife
Thieves steal the laborer's possessions
Steal everything but his big fat wife
The thieves cannot steal the section hand's wife due to her size
My bobbin's all out, my end's all down
The spindle is empty, the thread is tangled
The doffer's in my alley an' I can't get around
A worker is blocking the way and I cannot pass
The section hand, standin' at the door
The laborer, positioned at the entrance
Ordering the sweepers to sweep up the floor
Telling the cleaners to tidy up the work area
An' every night when I go home
Every evening when I leave
A piece o' cornbread an' an ol' jawbone
Only a simple meal awaits me at home
Ain't it enough to break your heart
Is this not a situation that would make you miserable?
Have to work all day, an' at night it's dark
Toiling all day, and when finished, it is nighttime
It's hard times in the mill my love
Difficult, trying times in the factory
Hard times in the mill
Repeating chorus
Contributed by Alexander A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.