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)
Little Boxes
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes
Little boxes
Little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And the people in the houses all go to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
There's a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
The lyrics to Pete Seeger's song "Little Boxes" describe the suburban lifestyle and culture of conformity. The little boxes represent the mass-produced suburban houses that all look the same, made of "ticky-tacky" materials. The people who live in the houses are also described as all being the same - they all go to university, are doctors, lawyers, or business executives, and have pretty children who go to school and summer camp, before ultimately also being put in boxes of conformity.
The repetition of "little boxes all the same" emphasizes the lack of individuality and sameness of the suburban lifestyle. The use of colors to describe the houses further reinforces this theme, since even though the colors may be different, the houses themselves are all identical. The reference to golf courses and martinis highlights the privileged lifestyle of the suburban elite, who have achieved success through their conformist ways.
Overall, the song is a critique of the suburban lifestyle, which values conformity and sameness above all else, and encourages people to pursue a certain path in life, without questioning whether it's truly what they want.
Line by Line Meaning
Little boxes on the hillside
Housing developments cropping up on the hillsides, each with identically structured, tiny homes.
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
The houses are so similar, they appear to be mass-produced from cheap, low-quality materials.
Little boxes
Repeating the phrase underlines the ubiquity of these small, boring homes.
Little boxes all the same
Emphasizing how identical each home is, making for a cookie-cutter landscape.
There's a green one and a pink one
Despite the various colors, each home is still structurally the same.
And a blue one and a yellow one
Introducing more colors to illustrate they are all identical despite the superficial variations.
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
Highlighting that the homes are cheap and poorly made.
And they all look just the same
Restating the point above, that these homes are indistinguishable from each other.
And the people in the houses all go to the university
All the residents are highly educated and privileged, yet lack diversity.
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
Despite their education and success, they still fit into the same mold as everyone else.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
Naming well-paying, respected professions that still fit into this pattern.
And business executives
Naming another high-powered, well-compensated career that still fits into this pattern.
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same
Restating that the homes and those who live there are all ultimately homogenous.
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
Symbolizing certain lifestyles that are only accessible to those in this particular socioeconomic class.
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
Reinforcing the idea that this is an ideal, uniform lifestyle for this particular group.
And the children go to summer camp
Further emphasizing that these children are expected to have certain experiences.
And then to the university
Finally reaching the culmination of this specific path to success and privilege.
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
The cycle starts anew with a new generation, reinforcing the unchanging nature of this particular group.
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
Describing a specific path that many men in this group are expected to follow.
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
Reinforcing that the pattern never really changes, regardless of specific details.
There's a green one, and a pink one
Repeating the same line as earlier.
And a blue one and a yellow one
Repeating the same line as earlier.
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
Repeating the same line as earlier.
And they all look just the same
Repeating the same line as earlier.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Peter in Private
I remember this from when I was a small child. Never understood what tickytacky was, but I got the point about uniformity. Looking back over more than 50 years, I like to think I didn't turn out just the same. And if that is true, it's at least in part thanks to this song.
Osvaldo Schilling
I have just listened to this song for the first time and I think Peter has described todays society quite perfectly from almost 60 years ago. The applause in the end says everything.
Linda Berg
It's still true today! What a treasure Pete Seeger was!
Miss A Peal
It is still true today but Pete did not write this song, Malvina Reynolds did.
Mary Ann Vitelli
Love this song. Absolutely my top 10
Lynn's INTENTION
THis song chilled me to the core as an 8 year old child and I determined at that moment that I was not going to be turned into tickytaki!! LOL
Roy Ferguson
Pure magic
ferret756
takes me back to my childhood happy days
Georg Söderback
Yes, he was a genius in his way!
Jean Phillips
This song is still true today.