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)
Which Side Are You On
Pete Seeger Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You'll either be a union man
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
My dady was a miner,
And I'm a miner's son,
He'll be with you fellow workers
Until this battle's won.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Come all you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Pete Seeger’s song “Which Side Are You On” was written in 1931 and it is a powerful call-to-action for listeners to choose sides and participate in the labor movement. The song poses a question: which side are you on? It is a question that leaves no neutral ground, according to Seeger. He suggests that people must either stand with the working class or side with the “thugs” and corporations that oppose their cause.
Seeger sets the scene in Harlan County, a major coal-producing area in Kentucky. The lyrics state that there are “no neutrals” in this county - one is either a “union man,” supporting workers' rights to unionize, or a “thug” working for wealthy and powerful individuals like J. H. Blair, a coal company owner. The singer reveals that his father was a miner and he is a miner's son, emphasizing his personal stake in the fight for workers' rights.
With a sense of urgency, Seeger demands that the listeners choose their side. He asks if they will be a “lousy scab” and undermine their fellow workers, or if they will stand strong and be a “man” for the cause. The chorus serves as a rallying cry, inviting all good workers to join the union’s fight and support the labor movement.
In summary, Pete Seeger's song "Which Side Are You On" is a call-to-action that demands the listener to choose which side they stand on: with workers or against them. The song describes the labor movement and the choice that a person must make to either support their fellow workers, or support the wealthy and powerful individuals that oppose them. The song's chorus serves as an encouraging rallying cry for workers to stand united for their cause.
Line by Line Meaning
Which side are you on boys?
Which group do you identify with and support?
Which side are you on?
Which party do you support in the ongoing issue?
They say in Harlan County
As per the people in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You have to be part of a group and can't stay neutral.
You'll either be a union man
You will either be with the union people
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.
Or support the employers like J. H. Blair and act violently towards the union people.
My dady was a miner,
My father worked in a mine.
And I'm a miner's son,
I too am part of a miner's family.
He'll be with you fellow workers
My father will fight for workers' rights along with you.
Until this battle's won.
Until the strike ends and their demands are fulfilled.
Oh workers can you stand it?
Workers, can you tolerate this situation?
Oh tell me how you can?
Please tell me how you can put up with this.
Will you be a lousy scab
Will you betray your union brethren and work as a scab?
Or will you be a man?
Or will you stand up for your rights and be a responsible person?
Come all you good workers,
All good workers are welcome.
Good news to you I'll tell
I have some good news for you.
Of how the good old union
About the good old workers' union.
Has come in here to dwell.
The union has started its work here to support workers' rights.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: FLORENCE REECE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@poloniusmonk733
Every year Pete Seeger figured out how much money he would need to support his family for the coming year and he gave that dollar figure to Harold Leventhal, his manager, and asked him to book concerts that would earn him that much money. Pete filled up the rest of his year playing for free at benefits, fundraisers, schools, union halls, rallies and every other kind of movement gathering and venue he could play and he did that for as long as he could. That's the kind of guy he was and that's what side HE was on. A real stand-up guy who wouldn't name names, and was ready to go to prison for it. He was convicted of contempt of Congress for his refusal, but it was reversed on appeal. One of the best people ever and one of my heroes.
@robertowen1956
A committed communist. Admirable.
@ryanchungus8972
@@robertowen1956 I wouldn't even say a communist, just a decent person, unlike those sniffling fascists and authoritarians. I'm not a communist, but when I get my business set up, I plan on respecting my employees, and implementing the closest to direct democracy as I can. After I make enough to live my dream life, I'll attempt and raise wages to the point where my employees can follow my route. Democracy is the best option, and business owners are mere fascists. (Libertarian, if you're wondering)
@robertowen1956
@@ryanchungus8972 That explains it. Libertarians are self-absorbed idealists without a plan.
@ryanchungus8972
@@robertowen1956 lol, says the commie
@ryanchungus8972
@@robertowen1956 how did the Spanish civil war work out, btw
@danielrausch5434
Modern Americans have become so detached from the class struggle, most of us have no idea it's still going on
@fintherebel5000
you should go a little south were still here but we are keeping a low profile cause if we dont we will be slaughtered like cattle.
@bokonoo77
>class struggle
stop there smart boy
@circ7077
@@fintherebel5000 We'll get 'em one day brother