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I'm
so sorry to wake up to a world without Pete Seeger ... But so glad to
have lived in a world with him in it. Facebook, John Gorka, January 28, 2014 I loved reading the other day that Pete Seeger was attending Harvard until his sociology teacher said that "one can't change the world, one can only study it". Pete didn't appreciate that so he dropped out and changed the world. Facebook, John Gorka, January 30, 2014 |
Pete
Seeger on stage with John Gorka at the Newport Folk Festival on July 30,
2011 with "Quite Early Morning" 92-year-old Pete Seeger made several surprise appearances during the 2011 Newport Folk Festival. Here, he joined the Song Circle with John Gorka, Ellis Paul, Dar Williams, Liz Queler, and Seth Farber on the Harbor Stage on Saturday, July 30th. John wrote about this unannounced visit on facebook: "Some of you already know this but we had a special unannounced guest at our song swap at the Newport Folk Festival: Pete Seeger. I loved that." |
Click here to listen to The Water is Wide Listen to the whole song in low quality CD:. Where Have All the Flowers GoneThe Songs of Pete Seeger © 1997 Appleseed Records |
Click
here to listen 3,5 minutes, January 30, 2014 |
Pete
Seeger, Folk Music Icon And Activist, Dies At 94 ........1.28.14 at 7:15am by Mark Memmott Pete Seeger, "a tireless campaigner for his own vision of a utopia marked by peace and togetherness," died Monday at the age of 94. As former NPR broadcaster Paul Brown adds in an appreciation he prepared for Morning Edition, Seeger's tools "were his songs, his voice, his enthusiasm and his musical instruments." The songs he'll be long remembered for include "If I Had a Hammer," "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." Paul is not just a newsman, but also a banjo player himself. Here's more from his look back at Seeger's long life: |
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Pete Seeger sings at a concert celebrating his 90th birthday. (Photo: Lucas Jackson / Reuters/Landov ) |
"As early as 1941, they found themselves blacklisted. Seeger was a member of the Communist Party in those early days, though he later said he quit after coming to understand the evils of Stalin. ... "Following World War II and service entertaining the troops, Seeger teamed up with Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman to form the astonishingly successful folk group The Weavers. ... "If
The Weavers hit an emotional and cultural sweet spot in postwar America,
the 'red scare' quickly soured it. In 1955, Seeger refused to answer
questions before Congress about his political beliefs and associations.
He was held in contempt and nearly served a jail sentence before charges
were finally dropped in 1962 on a technicality. "But the troubles with
Congress finished The Weavers. ... He
co-founded and wrote for Sing Out, one of the first and most important
magazines to grow out of the folk revival. He produced children's songs
and books. But his commitment to causes never waned. "For all of his social activism, Seeger said more than once that if he had done nothing more than write his slim book How to Play the Five String Banjo, his life's work would have been complete. ... "If Pete Seeger didn't save the world, he certainly did change the lives of millions of people by leading them to sing, to take action and to at least consider his dream of what society could be." |
According
to The Associated Press, "Seeger's grandson, Kitama Cahill-Jackson said
his grandfather died peacefully in his sleep around 9:30 p.m. at New
York Presbyterian Hospital, where he had been for six days. Family members
were with him." |
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Pete Seeger on stage with
John Gorka at the Newport Folk Festival on July 30, 2011 with "Quite Early Morning"