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Pete Seeger

Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene," which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture, workers' rights, and environmental causes.

Pete Seeger

Peter Seeger

(1919-05-03)May 3, 1919
New York City, U.S.

January 27, 2014(2014-01-27) (aged 94)
New York City, U.S.

  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • social activist

Pete Seeger discography

1939–2014

United States Army

1942–1945

Corporal

United States Army Band

World War II

A prolific songwriter, his best-known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with additional lyrics by Joe Hickerson), "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (also with Hays), and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)", which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement. "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 and Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963) while The Byrds had a number one hit with "Turn! Turn! Turn!" in 1965.


Seeger was one of the folk singers responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists), which became the acknowledged anthem of the civil rights movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song", Seeger said it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome".

A proposal was made in 2009 to name the in his honor.[119]

Walkway Over the Hudson

A posthumous suggestion that Seeger's name be applied to the being built over the Hudson River was made by a local town supervisor.[73][120] Seeger's boat, the sloop Clearwater, is based at Beacon, New York, just upriver from the bridge and frequently sails down to Manhattan to continuing spreading Seeger's message and music.[121]

replacement Tappan Zee Bridge

located in Poughkeepsie New York, not far from Seeger's home, performed "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" at one of their worship meetings. The collaboration was with three teachers (playing guitar and vocals) as well as a student harmonica player and a student vocalist.

Oakwood Friends School

A free five-day memorial called Seeger Fest took place on July 17–21, 2014, featuring Judy Collins, Peter Yarrow, Harry Belafonte, Anti-Flag, Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root, Steve Earle, Holly Near, Fred Hellerman, Guy Davis, DJ Logic, Paul Winter Consort, Dar Williams, DJ Kool Herc, The Rappers Delight Experience, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, David amram, Mike + Ruthy, Tom Chapin, James Maddock, The Chapin Sisters, Rebel Diaz, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Elizabeth Mitchell, Emma's Revolution, Toni Blackman, Kim & Reggie Harris, Magpie, Abrazos Orchestra, Nyraine, George Wein, The Vanaver Caravan, White Tiger Society, Lorre Wyatt, AKIR, Adira & Alana Amram, Aurora Barnes, The Owens Brothers, The Tony Lee Thomas Band, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, New York City Labor Chorus, Roland Moussa, Roots Revelators, Kristen Graves, Bob Reid, Hudson River Sloop Singers, Walkabout Clearwater Chorus, Betty & The baby Boomers, Work O' The Weavers, Jacob Bernz * Sarah Armour, and Amanda Palmer.

[122]

In 2006, thirteen folk music songs made popular by Pete Seeger were reinterpreted by on his fourteenth studio album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.

Bruce Springsteen

In 2014, Wepecket Island Records recorded a Pete Seeger tribute album called .

For Pete's Sake

In 2020, released Long Time Passing, an album of all new arrangements of Pete Seeger's music commissioned by the FreshGrass Foundation and released on Smithsonian Folkways.

Kronos Quartet

On July 21, 2022, the United States Postal Service issued a Pete Seeger stamp. The stamp is based on a photograph of Seeger playing a long neck banjo, taken by Seeger's son Daniel some time in the early 1960s. It's a commemorative in the Music Icons series, with a print quantity of 22,000,000. [123]

"Forever"

(1953)

American Folk Songs for Children

(1955)

Birds, Beasts, Bugs, and Little Fishes

(1956)

American Industrial Ballads

(1958)

American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 2

(1958)

Gazette, Vol. 1

(1958)

Sleep-Time: Songs & Stories

(1966)

God Bless the Grass

(1966)

Dangerous Songs!?

(1973)

Rainbow Race

(1990)

American Folk Songs for Children

(2008)[131][132]

At 89

List of banjo players

List of peace activists

 – Clearwater singer and songwriter

Tom Winslow

Union Boys

Dunaway, David K. How Can I Keep from Singing: The Ballad of Pete Seeger. [McGraw Hill (1981), DaCapo (1990)] Revised Edition. New York: Villard Trade Paperback, 2008  0-07-018150-0, ISBN 0-07-018151-9, ISBN 0-306-80399-2, ISBN 0-345-50608-1. Audio Version

ISBN

Dunaway, David K. Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing. three one-hour radio documentaries, Public Radio International, 2008

Dunaway, David K. The Pete Seeger Discography. Scarecrow Press: Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010.

Forbes, Linda C. "Pete Seeger on Environmental Advocacy, Organizing, and Education in the Hudson River Valley: An Interview with the Folk Music Legend, Author and Storyteller, Political and Environmental Activist, and Grassroots Organizer." Organization & Environment, 17, No. 4, 2004: pp. 513–522.

Gardner, Elysa. "Seeger: A 'Power' in music, politics." , February 27, 2008. p. 8D.

USA Today

Seeger, Pete. How to Play the Five-String Banjo, New York: People's Songs, 1948. 3rd edition, New York: Music Sales Corporation, 1969.  0-8256-0024-3.

ISBN

Tick, Judith. Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer's Search for American Music. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Wilkinson, Alec. The New Yorker, April 17, 2006, pp. 44–53.

"The Protest Singer: Pete Seeger and American folk music,"

Wilkinson, Alec. The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger. New York: Knopf, 2009.

Winkler, Allan M. (2009). To everything there is a season: Pete Seeger and the power of song. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press.

Zollo, Paul (January 7, 2005). . GRAMMY Magazine. Archived from the original on November 24, 2005.

"Pete Seeger Reflects on His Legendary Songs"

Briggs, John, Pete Seeger, The People's Singer, Atombank Books, 2015,  0990516075

ISBN

"The Music Man" (profile and interview). In Something to Say: Thoughts on Art and Politics in America, text by Richard Klin, photos by Lily Prince, Leapfrog Press, 2011.

Reich, Susanna, , Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 978-0802738127

Stand Up and Sing! Pete Seeger, Folk Music and the Path to Justice

Renehan, Edward, , New Street Communications, LLC, 2014. ISBN 978-0615998138

Pete Seeger vs. the Un-Americans: A Tale of the Blacklist

Seeger, Pete (Edited by Rob and Sam Rosenthal), , Paradigm Publishers, 2012. ISBN 1612052185. ISBN 978-1612052182

Pete Seeger: In His Own Words

Seeger, Pete (Edited by Ronald D. Cohen and James Capaldi), , Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 9780199862016

The Pete Seeger Reader

Seeger, Pete (Edited by Jo Metcalf Schwartz), The Incompleat Folksinger, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.  0-671-20954-X (excerpts) Also, reprinted in a Bison Book edition, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8032-9216-3.

ISBN

David Dunaway (Seeger biographer and original site creator). . peteseeger.org. Archived from the original on January 28, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2008.

"Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing?"

Jim Capaldi (original site creator). . peteseeger.net. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012.

"Pete Seeger Appreciation Page"

Matthews, Scott (August 6, 2008). . Southern Spaces.

"John Cohen in Eastern Kentucky: Documentary Expression and the Image of Roscoe Halcomb During the Folk Revival"

Pareles, Jon (January 28, 2014). . The New York Times.

"Obituary: Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94"

. rodovid. Retrieved September 28, 2016.

"Peter Seeger b. 3 May 1919 d. 27 January 2014 – Full Tree"

Mother Jones, 2015

"Pete Seeger's FBI File Reveals How the Folk Legend First Became a Target of the Feds"

at NAMM Oral History Collection

Pete Seeger Interview