RIP Pete Seeger

[HanSenSE]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/arts/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94.html?_r=0

 

[Starman]

Turn, turn, turn.


One of the giants of the giants.

 

[Boom_70]

Pete does not deserve the SJ RIP treatment. Header should be "Pete Seeger died."

 

[The Big Ragu]

I read about his passing and came on here because I wanted to post before cranberry.

RIP.

 

[vicd]

RIP to one of my favorite socialists. I imagine he's yelling at Jesus to turn down that damn electric guitar right now.

 

[JR]

The world needs more Peter Seegers today than ever before

RIP

 

[albert77]

Pete Seeger was a little too far to the left for my tastes, but there's no denying his impact on his times. And unlike some of the genre, he walked the walk. After Woody Guthrie, Seeger was the godfather of American folk music in the 20th century. Yeah, he deserves an RIP.

 

[cranberry]

I read about his passing and came on here because I wanted to post before cranberry.

RIP.

I caught a late train this morning but, sure, I teared up a little reading the obits on the way.

Obviously, I've been a fan forever. I had the opportunity to see him up-close in 1990 when he played at a rally for the striking Daily News workers (Lou Reed played that day, too). In recent years, I've been a regular at the Clearwater Festival on the Hudson River where he focused on the kids' program, trying to inspire the next generation of environmental activists.

I loved that Seeger's activism was never an angry activism, even though he probably had good reason to be angry in the '50s and early '60s when he was standing up to House Un-American Activities Committee and subsequently blackballed from network television. Gentle, idealistic and optimistic are good words to describe him.

 

[The Big Ragu]

It's hard to believe we actually had the House Un-American Activities Committee terrorizing people the way it was in the 1950s. Pete Seger handled it as beautifully as anyone could have, and without cowering at all to the bully tactics.

http://www.peteseeger.net/HUAC.htm

"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. I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it."

. ... and when they kept at it. ...

"I feel that in my whole life I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature and I resent very much and very deeply the implication of being called before this Committee that in some way because my opinions may be different from yours, or yours, Mr. Willis, or yours, Mr. Scherer, that I am any less of an American than anybody else. I love my country very deeply, sir."

 

[cranberry]

Seeger then offered to sing some of his songs for the committee, which apparently wasn't amused.

 

[Boom_70]

It's hard to believe we actually had the House Un-American Activities Committee terrorizing people the way it was in the 1950s. Pete Seger handled it as beautifully as anyone could have, and without cowering at all to the bully tactics.

http://www.peteseeger.net/HUAC.htm

"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. I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it."

. ... and when they kept at it. ...

"I feel that in my whole life I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature and I resent very much and very deeply the implication of being called before this Committee that in some way because my opinions may be different from yours, or yours, Mr. Willis, or yours, Mr. Scherer, that I am any less of an American than anybody else. I love my country very deeply, sir."

They wouldn't have to ask now. They could just go to the NSA to find out.

 

[YankeeFan]

He didn't seem very proud to be a -- big or little "c" -- communist.

Hard to believe the Times could write his obit without including the name "Stalin".

But, hey, he realized 40 years later he was wrong about Uncle Joe.

 

[cranberry]

Yeah, plus hundreds of songs in Seeger's catalog and not a single one in which he sticks up for transgenders. What gives?

 

[Boom_70]

Yeah, plus hundreds of songs in Seeger's catalog and not a single one in which he sticks up for transgenders. What gives?

Pete was a big fan of the LPGA.

 

[Drip]

He wrote some great tunes. RIP.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Cleveland Plain-Dealer music critic recalls 1996 interview:

When I called, he was late coming to the phone because he was out chopping wood. He was in his late 70s then, but an exercise fanatic. We had a great interview about music, politics, history, life. And when it was over, he asked me whether I enjoyed working in journalism. I said I did. And then he scolded me. "Worst damn thing that ever happened to America was the invention of the Sports pages!," he said. "Turned us all into a nation of watchers and couch potatoes!"

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/01/28/pete-seeger-sports-pages-turned-us-into-a-nation-of-watchers-and-couch-potatoes/

The man might have a point.

 

[YankeeFan]

There's a little railroad depot known quite well
By all the people
Called Zhankoye, Dzhan, Dzhan, Dzahn.
Now if you look for paradise
You'll see it there before your eyes
Stop your search and go no further on
There we have a collective farm
All run by husky Jewish arms
At Zhankoye, dzhan, dzhan, dzhan

 

[Boom_70]

The NY Post Editorial today is their version of "Pete Seeger died."

http://nypost.com/2014/01/28/when-he-had-a-hammer/

"‘Songs are weapons,” Pete Seeger used to say. For more than seven decades, he led America in sing-alongs, even as most of his audiences remained blissfully unaware of the messages behind many of his songs.

Take the now-iconic “If I Had a Hammer.” Today, it is admired as a call to justice. In fact, it was written for a 1949 testimonial dinner for top leaders of the US Communist Party, then on trial for advocating the violent overthrow of our government.

Such facts are missing from the tributes to the former Communist Party member, who died Monday at age 94. President Obama, for example, hailed him as “America’s tuning fork,” while Mayor de Blasio urged everyone to “sing a song for justice.”

 

[Webster]

The New York Post -- longing for the good ole days of McCarthyism.