Studs Terkel would tell the story of the time the two scraggly musicians fresh off the road, passing through Chicago, had no where to stay. So he brought them home. His lovely wife Ida gave the OK. That night those two musicians, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, spent the night on the Terkel's kitchen floor.
And through the years, there were a lot of kitchen floors. Kitchen floors and concert halls. All around the world.
Woody died in 1967. Imagine how many people have sang “This Land Is Your Land” over the years past and will sing it across the centuries to come.
Today Pete turns ninety-three. The last time I saw him was at The Peoples Church on Lawrence Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.
Not too far from where he and Woody spent the night on that kitchen floor.
Pete could barely sing. His voice almost gone.
But what was really amazing was that it didn’t matter.
We sang. He led.
He stood up in front of us and we sang.
Listen to him singing and playing Bach in this clip. Especially if you’ve never heard him.
Imagine Bach listening to this.
Feel the hope?
Happy Birthday Pete.
And thank you.
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Emily Conyngham
libbyliberalnyc
Francesca Biller
Jacob Sugarman
Jeff L. Howe
Tinkerertink69
Salon.com
Comments
Happy Birthday Pete !
May his voice continue to sound forever..
Loved it all.
TY Roger...I love this man and his music...
I'll always best remember him for his spirited rendition of "The D-Day Dodgers" about the British 8th Army in Italy after June 6, 1944.
Rated!
r
and kudos to yoo Roger for remembering. / r
also--All the same family!
Suzy---Yay!!!
B---And Harry Chapin was cut from the very same cloth.
Doug---As a great believer in the collective soul, I could not agree with you more.
Kenneth--Might have been some new bastards that sprang up along the way!
Hey rw---here's to Pete!
JW---Thank you!
Hey Frank! Gotta remember the important ones!
Pam---I was looking for the famous Seeger Ode To Joy, found it now comes with a commercial ---sigh---but then found this. Thanks for listening, the music just floored me!
Thanks Jeanette!
Deborah---I think pizza with curry might be a sin. I KNOW pizza with pineapple is!
NC--It was new to me!
Clay--Glad you liked it!
We got to live, live, live until another day comes 'round;
Meanwhile, better start over, separating false from true,
And more and more, I know I need the love of you ... "
~Pete Seeger
Happy Birthday Mr. Seeger
(Old post of mine on Pete & kids here in Beacon, MLK day):
http://open.salon.com/blog/dirndl_skirt/page/2
was a little quick on the draw there...here is the link
Third time's the charm! Time to get some air. Feel free to delete the redundancies here. Sorry!
http://open.salon.com/blog/dirndl_skirt/2011/01/17/honoring_mlk_with_my_neighbor_pete_seeger
Chuck--Doesn't get any better than that one!
CM--That all hope has not died out. You got it. Right there. The point. Amazing , the positive energy just generated by the guys name and story. And then he starts singing. . . .
Frosty---amen to that!
Candace--Pete Seeger seems to generate more good will than anybody I've ever written about.
B--I still can't believe it.
That alone was enough reason to feel embraced by the man, or to wish to embrace him. There are very few people (James Taylor comes to mind) who have been so well known and spent so much time on a stage, yet are such an example of having avoided the temptation of celebrity, in favor of humanity.
Rated, Thank You.
I had the honor of interviewing him by phone just before his scheduled appearence with Bruce Springsteen as part of Obama's pre-inaugural festivities. Here are a few quotes:
When The Boss called and asked him to share the stage, Seeger said he'd be happy -- honored -- to join the band. But what was evident to me was that what Seeger was even more excited about was his scheduled performance with a group of Beacon schoolchildren at the nearby Springfield Baptist Church that was scheduled for the Monday afterward.
And yes, he was aware of the effort to get him nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and he appreciated the effort, but he demurred. After all, he said, "it's just one more bit of fame, and fame is a snare and a delusion."
He said he was mildly bothered by the enormity of the event:
"They want me to sing "This Land is Your Land" in front of the Lincoln Memorial, but at these big rallies, a fast song, by the time the sound reaches people a quarter mile away, it's out of sync."
He said the only time singing in front of a massive rally worked for him was during the Moratorium in Washington in 1969.
And to demonstrate, he sang -- at a leisurely, mellow pace -- Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."
I'm stunned. But my delight doesn't stop there.
He sang the chorus of a freedom song from the civil rights era, "Oh, Wallace, You Never Can Jail Us All."
And, as if that weren't enough, he tried to win an argument with me about being old (89 at the time) by singing "How do I know my youth is all spent? / My get-up-and-go has got up and went!"
I didn't believe him for a minute.
http://www.amazon.com/To-Everything-There-Season-Narratives/dp/019532482X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336094112&sr=8-1
There is a lot in that book that Pete had to go through that people do not realize especially during the communists scare. But it is relative at this time and date because of the rights that are being taken away from us at the time.
If I Had a Hammer was one of the songs he sang that got him in a bad spot with those communists hunters back in the day. Here is the song link to YOU TUBE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSUsyzUFcKs
But me I am a big Seeger fan. And he just wrote one about the Gulf of Mexico spill too. He is still going and still conscience about the rights and wrongs of the world.
He dropped out of college not because he believed college was not a worth while thing to do for a young or old alike person to help the world, learn a skill in order to get a job. But he believed he had a place in this world and that people needed to speak up in this world about the rights and wrongs. The songs he thought had to have a catchy tune so everyone could join in and sing, remember it, and the most important point the message. And I believe he was right. :-)
My hope is that you look at the comments that Seeger's name brought out.
Here we are, looking at a bunch of light rays, and we get"
A reflection from John Blumenthal---about the changes in music since Seeger was born.
A story from Jeremiah about an interview he did with Pete Seeger.
An incredibly relevant and important reflection from My Heart on what Pete went through during the 50's when a chunk of America forgot what it meant to be American.
And from Samasian, a life lesson taught be Pete Seeger to the world. The man "made everyone else---collectively--feel like they were the center of attention. Not him. Everyone else.
Imagine a world where everyone did that.
I've written about Pete on his birthday twice before. And what happened is the same thing that happened here. He brings out the best in everyone.
I know he won't be with us forever. But maybe that lesson, of bringing out the best in everyone will be.
So if you are reading these words, take a listen to the music, say hello if you want---because you are part of that collective soul talked about in this comment string too.
You are part of it.
So welcome. To EVERYONE.
Paul Haider, Chicago