Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer, p… Read Full Bio ↴Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer, political activist and author, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. He is particularly loved as the author (or co-author) of the songs Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, and Turn, Turn, Turn. One of his brothers is Mike Seeger; Peggy Seeger is his half-sister.
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)
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)
The Foolish Frog
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
There was once a farmer, walking down the road whistling a tune to himself.
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!
He landed, splash! in the water and got himself all wet.
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"
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"
In Pete Seeger's song "The Foolish Frog," the lyrics tell the story of a farmer who is inspired by a melody he is whistling to create a song about a frog. The frog, in turn, decides to show off, takes an extra special big hop, and lands in the water getting all wet. This prompts the farmer to start singing a tune about the frog, much to the amusement of the listeners. From there, the story snowballs into the entire town gathering and joining in the singing and celebration. Even the animals, cows, chickens, and grass, make their way to the corner store to join in the festivities. Unfortunately, the excitement and pride lead to a disastrous ending. The frog explodes, causing chaos and destruction, and everyone comes back to reality, feeling foolish for getting carried away.
The lyrics of the song have several underlying themes. It is important for people to have something to occupy their time; otherwise, they might end up doing foolish things. Additionally, the song is about pride, and how getting caught up in it can lead to bad consequences. The story shows how the desire for attention and recognition can lead to a loss of control.
One of the interesting facts about this song is that it was originally recorded and released by The Weavers, a folk group that Seeger was a member of, but it was later released as a solo track by Seeger in 1958. The tune is of African American origin, and it was introduced to Pete by Lead Belly. The song is meant to be interactive and is often sung at gatherings where everyone can join in. It is considered one of Pete Seeger's most popular and well-known songs.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: CHARLES SEEGER, PETER SEEGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
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.😀