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)
Water is Wide
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And neither have I wings to fly,
Give me a boat that can carry two,
And both shall row, my love and I.
A ship there was, and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in,
I leaned my back up against some young oak,
Thinking he was a trusty tree,
But first he bended and then he broke,
And thus did my false love to me.
I put my hand into some soft bush,
Thinking the sweetest flower to find.
I pricked my finger to the bone,
And left the sweetest flower alone.
Oh, love is handsome, love is fine,
Gay as a jewel, when first it is new,
But love grows old, and waxes cold,
And fades away, like summer dew.
The seagulls wheel, they turn and dive,
The mountain stands beside the sea.
This world we know turns round and round,
And all for them - and you and me.
The song "Water is Wide" by Pete Seeger is a poignant ballad that speaks volumes about love and how fickle it can be. It follows the story of an individual who is unable to cross over water as they do not have wings to fly nor a boat that can carry them. Hence, they ask for a boat that can carry two people so their love can join them.
The lyrics "A ship there was, and she sails the sea, she’s loaded deep as deep can be, but not so deep as the love I’m in" beautifully describe the depth of the singer's sentiments. The love they feel is so strong, it can't be measured by the depth of the ship sailing on the sea. They are uncertain about whether they will sink or swim, which brilliantly depicts the never-ending struggle of love.
Furthermore, the song portrays the message that love is not always as it seems. The persona is led into a false sense of security by leaning against a tree, only for it to eventually break and betray them. Similarly, they also learn that not every pretty flower is worth picking when they are pricked by a bush. Moreover, the lyrics convey the message that love is volatile and fades away, leaving nothing behind but memories.
Line by Line Meaning
The water is wide, I cannot cross over,
The passage is impassable, and I am unable to make it through.
And neither have I wings to fly,
I have no other means of crossing the water body.
Give me a boat that can carry two,
Provide me a boat that can ferry two individuals at once.
And both shall row, my love and I.
Let both of us row the boat to the other side, together.
A ship there was, and she sails the sea,
There was a vessel that sailed across the ocean, far and wide.
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
The ship was loaded with cargo, as much as she could carry.
But not so deep as the love I'm in,
The depth of the love I have for someone goes much beyond that.
And I know not how, I sink or swim.
I don't know if this would make me rise or fall.
I leaned my back up against some young oak,
I lent against a seemingly strong oak, expecting it to support me.
Thinking he was a trusty tree,
Believing that the tree would live up to my expectations.
But first he bended and then he broke,
The oak first bent, and then completely gave way.
And thus did my false love to me.
Just like the tree, my supposed love turned out to be untrue.
I put my hand into some soft bush,
I reached out for a bush that looked harmless.
Thinking the sweetest flower to find.
Hoping to discover the most desirable blossom.
I pricked my finger to the bone,
But instead, I ended up harming myself.
And left the sweetest flower alone.
Consequently, I had to abandon my sweetest hope.
Oh, love is handsome, love is fine,
At the outset, love is charming and alluring.
Gay as a jewel, when first it is new,
As attractive as a brand new and glittering piece of jewelry.
But love grows old, and waxes cold,
Over time, love grows old and starts becoming distant.
And fades away, like summer dew.
Eventually, it disappears, like the dew evaporates as days grow warm.
The seagulls wheel, they turn and dive,
The seagulls fly around, circling over and diving into the waters.
The mountain stands beside the sea.
Amidst this, the mountain stands firm, alongside the ocean.
This world we know turns round and round,
Our planet keeps spinning and rotating endlessly.
And all for them - and you and me.
This doesn't matter to them, the seagulls, or the mountain, though. This entire universe is constantly revolving around 'us'.
Lyrics © AUDIAM, INC
Written by: JEAN-PAUL CABRIERES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ahmed noor e rabbi
The water is wide
I can't cross o'er
And neither have I wings to fly
build me a boat that can carry two
and both shall row my love and I
There is a ship
and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep
as deep can be
but not so deep as the love i'm in
i know not how I sink or swim
O love is handsome and love is fine
the sweetest flower when first it's new
but love grows old and waxes cold
and fades away like summer dew
Build me a boat that can carry two
and both shall row
my love and I
and both shall row
my love and I
S Valentine
The water is wide, I cannot cross over
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row - my love and I
A ship there was, and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not so deep as the love I'm in
And I know not how, I sink or swim
I leaned my back up against some young oak
Thinking he was a trusty tree
But first he bended and then he broke
And thus did my false love to me
I put my hand into some soft bush
Thinking the sweetest flower to find
I pricked my finger to the bone
And left the sweetest flower alone
Oh, love is handsome, love is fine
Gay as a jewel, when first it is new
But love grows old, and waxes cold
And fades away, like summer dew
The seagulls wheel, they turn and dive
The mountain stands beside the sea
This world we know turns round and round
And all for them - and you and me
Yuki o miru hito Praf
Hi , people !
Aquesta cançó la comparteixo amb els meus amics més preuats.
Però, la dedico... a l'amic més antic que conservo, l'amistat del qual ha viatjat fidel més enllà de tots els anys i paranys que ens ha deparat la vida, cadascú fent el seu camí.
I he triat aquesta cançó perquè, ja fa molts anys, li vaig cantar en un dels dies més feliços de la seva vida - adaptant la lletra a l'ocasió, micròfon en mà i dempeus davant d'una multitut de persones, les quals em van seguir en la lletra formant un cor molt gran.
Res ha importat que ens hàgim retrobat més sovint o menys.
Donçs, com la resta d'amics autènticament fidels, hem estat sempre allà.
I, molts de vosaltres, també teniu l'honor de ser amics d'ell i ell de vosaltres.
El seu nom és... Ricard Bernad Pascual !!
I des d'aquí... li vull enviar tot cridant... el vers d'aquesta cançó...
Benvolgut amic... No ho dubtis mai !!
" L'Aigua es Ampla "
Gregor D
If this song does not bring a tear to your eye, then I fear you haven't a soul. RIP Pete Seeger.
Laura Long
I saw Pete Seeger in concert twice. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to see him; a iconic legend of my time.
Derek B
I love Pete Seeger and wish I could meet him because his songs have made me break down in tears thinking about the condition of the world, but also tears of joy in how beautiful it is that we can choice to do something about it.
Elaine Powell
Pete Seeger (May 3 1919 ~ January 27 2014) woke up the best conscience of a free country, sang "We Shall Overcome" during civil rights era...sang "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" during the Vietnam war...and sang "The Water Is Wide" to bring attention to pollution of the Hudson River...Thanks, Pete...Rest in Peace.
Christopher Hill
A very fitting, gentle tribute to a man whose love for the earth and all of its citizens, human and otherwise was powerful and an inspiration we will certainly miss.
Insert Redletter Media Meme Here
Christopher Hill Fuck, I didnt know he died. Horrible, he was a true American that supported the working class, sad to hear hes dead.
The Shadow
I heard Pete sing this in concert in a small hall a hundred years ago it seems. The crowd got into it and it was one of the most moving experiences I've ever had at a concert.
Emmett Hoops
This version always gives me goosebumps. Love it.
wyooilpatch
Absolutely beautiful, a great singer and a man of compassion. Pete was truly one of the greatest. Thanks for all the songs.
otakte
beautiful! Thank you Pete for all you gave me during my 65 years of life....Rest in peace...God must me pleased to have you.....