Pete Seeger

[Gough]

Total respect for the man and we are the poorer now that he's left us. An extraordinary life well spent.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/28/pete-seeger-folk-singer-activist-music-make-difference

Why did Pete Seeger, who has died aged 94, matter? Because for over 75 years he stood true to his original vision, he never wavered. Even when his beliefs had a huge impact on his life and career: he never sold out. He wasn't just a folk singer, or an activist: he was both.
Pete believed that music could make a difference. Not change the world, he never claimed that – he once said that if music could change the world he'd only be making music – but he believed that while music didn't have agency, it did have the power to make a difference.
Shaped by that 30s leftwing mentality of the New Deal, Pete saw songs as political acts – for him these were people's songs – ways for the working class to express themselves. It doesn't matter that this was later superseded by rock and roll and changed beyond recognition – Seeger was there at the beginning and he never stopped.
When you shook his hand you knew you were shaking hands with someone who had crossed America with Woody Guthrie, who had marched with Martin Luther King and who had stared down McCarthyism – he embodied those great struggles. Other artists, like Bruce Springsteen, have recognised that and have seen Seeger as a touchstone, as someone who showed that songs were more than just making records and doing gigs. By choosing his repertoire carefully, Seeger brought the work of artists who had never achieved great success in their lifetimes to a mainstream audience. In the 1950s he put songs by Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie into the charts and royalties into the hands of their families.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

I loved his sentiments, but f**kin' hated his music. Gimme Woody Guthrie any day

 

[UpForGrabs]

More a fan of the man than the music but he was a giant.

Still my favourite Seeger story is that when Dylan went electric at Newport in 1965... Seeger got an axe and tried to cut the power cables to the stage. He claims it was because the music was just too loid.

Never change, Pete. Even in death.

R.I.P

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