OT RIP Pete Seeger

[wc1934]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/28/267520700/pete-seeger-dies-folk-music-icon-and-activist-was-94

He was one of a kinda - they don't make them like they used to!

[redir]

Yup they really don't make them like that anymore.

[Steevo]

A national treasure and great American.

[Louis]

Back then the media was even more spineless than it is today - blacklisting truly was a crime. Freedom of speech, my foot.

[thwart]

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

A life very well lived. RIP, Mr. Seeger.

[OperaLover]

My Dad had a lot of their music on vinyl. Loved to listen to them as a kid in the 60's. Lots of good memories of listenng to the music on the hi-fi with my Dad.

Pete was a man principles and deep caring for this country and the environment. May he rest in peace. HIs leagacy will live on.

"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning . . ."

[54ny77]

his politics and his musicality are best separated. i appreciate the latter quite a bit. the former, well, history & facts will judge.

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/pete-seeger/88562/

http://www.nysun.com/arts/time-for-pete-seeger-to-repent/56379/

[wc1934]

I don't think anyone could argue that the lyrics in his songs are special - there are so many to choose from -

check out this list:
http://peteseeger.net/wp/?page_id=630

[BumbleBeeDave]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE4H0k8TDgw

If you read all the lyrics it becomes even more iconic. So many people have tried to play on it as a positive song by simply leaving out the protest verses.

BBD

[Cat3roadracer]

"Technology will save us if it doesn't wipe us out first."

How true Pete.

[buldogge]

For Pete Seeger…They were inseparable …

RIP

-Mark in St. Louis

his politics and his musicality are best separated. i appreciate the latter quite a bit. the former, well, history & facts will judge.

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/pete-seeger/88562/

http://www.nysun.com/arts/time-for-pete-seeger-to-repent/56379/

[akelman]

A great artist and a better man. I grew up listening to The Weavers while inhaling my parents' second-hand smoke.

[Louis]

For Pete Seeger…They were inseparable …


My thoughts exactly.

[redir]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE4H0k8TDgw

If you read all the lyrics it becomes even more iconic. So many people have tried to play on it as a positive song by simply leaving out the protest verses.

BBD

That was a Woody Guthrie song though. However it's just like Springsteen's Born in the USA, misunderstood. Funny how it works like that isn't it ;)

This is one of my favorite PS songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VucczIg98Gw

[Bruce K]

I was wondering when we would get around to this.

My dad's favorite folk singer by far.

BK

[DRZRM]

I must have seen Pete Seeger play when I was a kid at the Clearwater's Hudson River Revival (that he founded) most years between the mid 70s to the late 80s. I never took to folk music the way my parents did, but there was something very powerful about his performances, and in retrospect something equally powerful my folks shared with me. Maybe this this year I'll go back with my boys.

RIP Mr Seeger. Many thanks for the memories.

[Peter B]

For Pete Seeger…They were inseparable …

RIP

-Mark in St. Louis

My thoughts exactly.

Word.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u90qRE2F7CM

[victoryfactory]

What a Life. Well lived.
I had been hoping that they would get around to awarding him the
Presidential Medal of Freedom while he was still with us. Maybe it's still
too politically touchy?

They are currently building a new bridge across the Hudson to replace the
old Tappan Zee, not too far from Pete's home.
I heard on the news this morning that there is a movement to name it after
Pete. I really hope this happens.
He deserves to be remembered by every person who crosses that river.

VF

[maxdog]

What a Life. Well lived.
I had been hoping that they would get around to awarding him the
Presidential Medal of Freedom while he was still with us. Maybe it's still
too politically touchy?

They are currently building a new bridge across the Hudson to replace the
old Tappan Zee, not too far from Pete's home.
I heard on the news this morning that there is a movement to name it after
Pete. I really hope this happens.
He deserves to be remembered by every person who crosses that river.

VF

I'll second that emotion.

[fiamme red]

his politics and his musicality are best separated. i appreciate the latter quite a bit. the former, well, history & facts will judge.

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/pete-seeger/88562/

http://www.nysun.com/arts/time-for-pete-seeger-to-repent/56379/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/arts/music/01seeg.html

A front-page article in The New York Sun yesterday trumpeted what seemed to be a striking fact: Pete Seeger, the quintessential leftist balladeer and a former Communist, had denounced Stalinism.

The article centered on a letter from Mr. Seeger to the writer, Ron Radosh, a historian and adjunct senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. “I think you’re right I should have asked to see the gulags when I was in U.S.S.R.,” Mr. Seeger wrote...

“I certainly should apologize for saying that Stalin was a hard driver rather than a very cruel leader,” he said. “I don’t speak out about a lot of things. I don’t talk about slavery. A lot of white people in America could apologize for stealing land from the Indians and enslaving Africans. Europe could apologize for worldwide conquest. Mongolia could apologize for Genghis Khan. But I think the thing to do is look ahead.”

[bobswire]

his politics and his musicality are best separated. i appreciate the latter quite a bit. the former, well, history & facts will judge.

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/pete-seeger/88562/

http://www.nysun.com/arts/time-for-pete-seeger-to-repent/56379/

They can't be separated,kinda like separating the the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from The United States of America, though the Republicans are not want from trying.

[54ny77]

Like I said, I appreciate the musicality and the genre of the folk singer (not to mention his banjo & guitar skills). While he clearly loved his country, I just disagree with his politics. He naively ignored or was unaware of the realpolitik of the Stalin regime, and 40 or so years later renounced it. That's a long period of time & influence on folks in the interim.

They can't be separated,kinda like separating the the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from The United States of America, though the Republicans are not want from trying.

[bobswire]

Like I said, I appreciate the musicality and the genre of the folk singer (not to mention his banjo & guitar skills). While he clearly loved his country, I just disagree with his politics. He naively ignored or was unaware of the realpolitik of the Stalin regime, and 40 or so years later renounced it. That's a long period of time & influence on folks in the interim.

I see what you're saying,my thoughts on Seeger was his non violence approach to social justice,he never wore his personal politics on his sleeves nor did I ever associate him with communism.
I think this is a pretty fair bio on Seeger : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seeger

[fiamme red]

Someone in the NYT comments posted this great story:

"The first time I saw Pete he was picking up trash off the grass during a Strawberry Festival in Beacon. He had finished playing and was walking around during the event picking up garbage!"