I Just Read About That…

Pete Seeger [1919-2014]

Pete Seeger died last night at the age of 94.  I love his anti-war quote: “Sometimes I think [about] that old saying,’The pen is mightier than the sword.’ Well, my one hope is the guitar is gonna be mightier than the bomb.”

When I was a kid, I knew a few of his songs (and didn’t really like them) because of an organ songbook we had (did everyone have an organ in the 70s?).  I can remember pounding on the wheezing organ and making up silly lyrics to “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”  It’s amazing to think that these songs, which were written in the sixties, are often seen as eternal classics.  It’s also amazing to think that Seeger wrote “Turn! Turn! Turn!” which I never associated with him.  Indeed, like Woody Guthrie, much of American folk music can be traced to Pete Seeger (even if he adapted much of it himself).

I really started getting into Seeger when I had kids, as I found his music was fun to teach the kids to sing along to–it was designed for singing along to.  In fact, he wrote a ton of children’s music as well. (He released FIFTY-TWO studio albums, along with 22 live albums and 23 compilations).  His first solo album was a collection of traditional folk songs for children (he didn’t write them, which may be why it’s confusing to know which songs were actually his).  And I don’t even know anything about his first band The Weavers, who had hits with “Goodnight Irene,” “On Top of Old Smokey,” “So Long (It’s Been Good to Know You)” and “Wimoweh.”

I find that I don’t love his own recordings all that much.  He’s often a little too…slow maybe.  Or, sometimes they’re just not recorded very well (same thing with Woody Guthrie).  But his banjo playing is amazing and oftentimes, covers work just as well.

I also never knew quite how much of an activist he was until the last ten years or so.  His songs are very political, yes, but they are not overtly political.  “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” is an anti-war song, and is perhaps the mostly subtle anti-war song around.   And the more that you read about him, the more you can see that he was dedicated to a utopian ideal of peace and love.  And togetherness. And clean water.  And so much more.

I didn’t think a lot about Seeger, although he seemed to always be around–whether it was Bruce Springsteen paying tribute to him, or the collections of cover songs by bands I love.  Or even when I have tried to play the banjo (I must get his book How to Play the 5 String Banjo), Seeger was always there.

So he was 94 and died of natural causes (apparently he was chopping wood only ten days ago).  It’s hard to imagine that he won’t be around anymore.  It seemed like whenever something important happened–environmentally or in the folk music community–you could count of Seeger to being in the background or to give a quote.  What would you do if you had a hammer?