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)
Huddie Ledbetter
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Huddie got his music from the heart of the land.
In his voice you could hear John Henry's hammering
While his hands would "buck and wing" upon the big 12-string.
Sometimes a lion, sometimes a lamb,
Huddie Ledbetter was a helluva man.
CH0RUS
He's a long time gone but his songs live on.
Down in Louisiana, 1888,
There was a black baby born into a white man's state;
He saw the cane and cotton stretch for miles around,
He heard his mama's voice a-singing when the sun went down.
Into a world where having dark skin was a crime,
Huddie was born — and started serving his time.
CHORUS
Teenage Huddie went to Shreveport town,
There he got in trouble, was jailhouse bound.
The odds were slim that he would get out alive,
But somehow Huddle and his music survived.
He escaped just once, was put back again.
He was called Leadbelly by the rest of the men.
CHORUS
A collector, name a' Lomax, brought a record machine,
Huddle sang 'em sweet and high, he sang 'em low and mean:
For years to come, they would tell the tale
Of how Huddie Ledbetter sang his way out-a jail.
Sayin', "If I had you. Governor, like-a you got me.
I'd awake up in the morning and I'd set you free."
CHORUS
He got his farewell ticket back in '49.
He caught the Midnight Special on the Rock Island Line;
But I bet you when he wakened from his earthly dream
He was wakened by a kiss from a gal named Irene.
Now millions of people the whole world around
Are taking Huddie's hammer up and swinging it down!
Repeat first verse and chorus
The song "Huddie Ledbetter" by Pete Seeger is a tribute to the great American folk and blues musician Lead Belly, whose real name was Huddie Ledbetter. The song begins with the line "Huddie Ledbetter was a helluva man," which sets the tone for the rest of the song. The lyrics describe Ledbetter as a powerful and charismatic figure whose music was deeply rooted in the experiences of his fellow African Americans. Through his music, Ledbetter conveyed the struggles and hardships of his people, and he drew inspiration from the folk traditions of the South.
The chorus of the song emphasizes that although Huddie Ledbetter is no longer with us, his music lives on. The lyrics suggest that his contributions to American folk and blues music were so significant that his legacy will continue to be felt for generations to come. The verses go on to describe Ledbetter's early life, his experiences in prison, and his eventual rise to fame as a musician. Despite facing racism and discrimination throughout his life, Ledbetter persevered and used his music as a means of expressing his identity and fighting for justice.
Line by Line Meaning
Huddie Ledbetter was a helluva man.
Huddie Ledbetter was a remarkable man of great courage and talent.
Huddie got his music from the heart of the land.
Huddie was a musician who drew inspiration from his cultural roots.
In his voice you could hear John Henry's hammering
Huddie's singing conveyed the sound of John Henry's hammer striking.
While his hands would "buck and wing" upon the big 12-string.
While playing his 12-string guitar, Huddie would exhibit fanciful footwork known as "buck and winging".
Sometimes a lion, sometimes a lamb,
At times Huddie could be strong and fierce, and at other times mild and gentle.
Huddie got his music from the heart of the land.
Huddie was a musician who drew inspiration from his cultural roots.
He's a long time gone but his songs live on.
Although Huddie has passed away, his music continues to endure.
Down in Louisiana, 1888,
At the time of Huddie's birth, in the state of Louisiana in the year 1888,
There was a black baby born into a white man's state;
Huddie was born into a political state where he, as a black person, was oppressed by those in power who were white.
He saw the cane and cotton stretch for miles around,
Huddie saw the vast fields of sugarcane and cotton that dominated the agricultural landscape of the region.
He heard his mama's voice a-singing when the sun went down.
Huddie was comforted by the sound of his mother's voice singing as the sun set.
Into a world where having dark skin was a crime,
Huddie was born into a society where the color of his skin was stigmatized and criminalized.
Huddie was born — and started serving his time.
From the moment of his birth, Huddie was vulnerable to the injustices perpetuated against black people in America at the time.
He's a long time gone but his songs live on.
Although Huddie has passed away, his music continues to endure.
Teenage Huddie went to Shreveport town,
As a teenager, Huddie went to the town of Shreveport.
There he got in trouble, was jailhouse bound.
While in Shreveport, Huddie found himself in trouble with the law and was incarcerated.
The odds were slim that he would get out alive,
It was unlikely that Huddie would leave jail alive due to the racism and brutality of the justice system.
But somehow Huddle and his music survived.
Despite the odds stacked against him, Huddie and his music continued to persevere.
He escaped just once, was put back again.
Huddie was able to escape from jail briefly but was recaptured and returned to confinement.
He was called Leadbelly by the rest of the men.
Huddie was given the nickname Leadbelly by his fellow inmates.
He's a long time gone but his songs live on.
Although Huddie has passed away, his music continues to endure.
A collector, name a' Lomax, brought a record machine,
A music collector named Lomax brought a recording machine to Huddie.
Huddle sang 'em sweet and high, he sang 'em low and mean:
Huddie's singing was both tender and powerful, with a wide range of expression.
For years to come, they would tell the tale
Huddie's story would continue to be celebrated and shared for generations.
Of how Huddie Ledbetter sang his way out-a jail.
Huddie's musical talent was so exceptional that it helped earn him his eventual release from prison.
Sayin', "If I had you. Governor, like-a you got me.
Huddie spoke to the governor, saying, "If our roles were reversed, and you were in my position,"
I'd awake up in the morning and I'd set you free."
"I would find the compassion and ability to grant you your freedom."
He's a long time gone but his songs live on.
Although Huddie has passed away, his music continues to endure.
He got his farewell ticket back in '49.
Huddie was granted permission to leave prison for the last time in 1949.
He caught the Midnight Special on the Rock Island Line;
Huddie took a train called the Midnight Special on a line known as the Rock Island Line.
But I bet you when he wakened from his earthly dream
After Huddie's death, it's likely that he awoke to a new reality beyond his earthly existence.
He was wakened by a kiss from a gal named Irene.
Huddie was received into the next world with a loving embrace from a woman named Irene.
Now millions of people the whole world around
Today, Huddie's music has an audience in the millions who come from all over the world.
Are taking Huddie's hammer up and swinging it down!
People are embracing Huddie's musical legacy and using their own talents to keep his songs alive.
Huddie Ledbetter was a helluva man.
Huddie Ledbetter was a remarkable man of great courage and talent.
He's a long time gone but his songs live on.
Although Huddie has passed away, his music continues to endure.
Contributed by Mateo P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.