Post by B on Jan 28, 2014 2:16:58 GMT -5
Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94
www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/arts/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94.html?_r=0
"....Mr. Seeger was a prime mover in the folk revival that transformed popular music in the 1950s. As a member of the Weavers,
he sang hits including Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” — which reached No. 1 — and “If I Had a Hammer,” which he wrote with the group’s Lee Hays.
Another of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” became an antiwar standard. And in 1965, the Byrds had a No. 1 hit with
a folk-rock version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Mr. Seeger’s setting of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Mr. Seeger was a mentor to younger folk and topical singers in the ‘50s and ‘60s, among them Bob Dylan, Don McLean and Bernice Johnson Reagon,
who founded Sweet Honey in the Rock. Decades later, Bruce Springsteen drew the songs on his 2006 album, “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,”
from Mr. Seeger’s repertoire of traditional music about a turbulent American experience, and in 2009 he performed Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”
with Mr. Seeger at the Obama inaugural.
At a Madison Square Garden concert celebrating Mr. Seeger’s 90th birthday, Mr. Springsteen introduced him as
“a living archive of America’s music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along.”...."
"....“My job,” he said in 2009, “is to show folks there’s a lot of good music in this world, and if used right it may help to save the planet.”
"In 1950 and 1951 the Weavers were national stars, with hit singles and engagements at major nightclubs.
Their hits included “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” and Mr. Guthrie’s “So Long (It’s Been Good to Know Yuh),”
and they sold an estimated four million singles and albums.
But “Red Channels,” an influential pamphlet listing performers with suspected Communist ties, appeared in June 1950
and listed Mr. Seeger, although by then he had quit the Communist Party. ...”
Despite the Weavers’ commercial success, by the summer of 1951 the “Red Channels” citation and leaks from F.B.I. files
had led to the cancellation of television appearances. In 1951, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee investigated the Weavers for sedition.
And in February 1952, a former member of People’s Songs testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee
that three of the four Weavers were members of the Communist Party.
As engagements dried up the Weavers disbanded, though they reunited periodically in the mid-1950s.
After the group recorded an advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes, Mr. Seeger left, citing his objection to promoting tobacco use...."
"....In 1955 he was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he testified,
“I feel that in my whole life I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature.” He also stated:
“I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs,
or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked,
especially under such compulsion as this.”
Mr. Seeger offered to sing the songs mentioned by the congressmen who questioned him. The committee declined.
Mr. Seeger was indicted in 1957 on 10 counts of contempt of Congress. He was convicted in 1961 and sentenced to a year in prison,
but the next year an appeals court dismissed the indictment as faulty. After the indictment, Mr. Seeger’s concerts were often picketed
by the John Birch Society and other rightist groups...."
"... In 1959, Mr. Seeger was among the founders of the Newport Folk Festival. The Kingston Trio’s version of Mr. Seeger’s
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” reached the Top 40 in 1962,
soon followed by Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of “If I Had a Hammer,” which rose to the Top 10...."
"Like many of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “We Shall Overcome” had convoluted traditional roots.
It was based on old gospel songs, primarily “I’ll Overcome,” a hymn that striking tobacco workers had sung
on a picket line in South Carolina. A slower version, “We Will Overcome,” was collected from one of the workers,
Lucille Simmons, by Zilphia Horton, the musical director of the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tenn.,
which trained union organizers.
Ms. Horton taught it to Mr. Seeger, and her version of “We Will Overcome” was published in the People’s Songs newsletter.
Mr. Seeger changed “We will” to “We shall” and added verses (“We’ll walk hand in hand”)...."
"...As the United States grew divided over the Vietnam War, Mr. Seeger wrote “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,”
an antiwar song with the refrain “The big fool says to push on.” He performed the song during a taping of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”
in September 1967, his return to network television, but it was cut before the show was broadcast. After the Smothers Brothers
publicized the censorship, Mr. Seeger returned to perform the song for broadcast in February 1968.
During the late 1960s Mr. Seeger started an improbable project: a sailing ship that would crusade for cleaner water
on the Hudson River. Between other benefit concerts he raised money to build the Clearwater, a 106-foot sloop that was launched
in June 1969 with a crew of musicians. The ship became a symbol and a rallying point for antipollution efforts and education.
In May 2009, after decades of litigation and environmental activism led by Mr. Seeger’s nonprofit environmental organization,
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, General Electric began dredging sediment containing PCBs it had dumped into the Hudson..."
www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/arts/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94.html?_r=0
"....Mr. Seeger was a prime mover in the folk revival that transformed popular music in the 1950s. As a member of the Weavers,
he sang hits including Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” — which reached No. 1 — and “If I Had a Hammer,” which he wrote with the group’s Lee Hays.
Another of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” became an antiwar standard. And in 1965, the Byrds had a No. 1 hit with
a folk-rock version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Mr. Seeger’s setting of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Mr. Seeger was a mentor to younger folk and topical singers in the ‘50s and ‘60s, among them Bob Dylan, Don McLean and Bernice Johnson Reagon,
who founded Sweet Honey in the Rock. Decades later, Bruce Springsteen drew the songs on his 2006 album, “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,”
from Mr. Seeger’s repertoire of traditional music about a turbulent American experience, and in 2009 he performed Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”
with Mr. Seeger at the Obama inaugural.
At a Madison Square Garden concert celebrating Mr. Seeger’s 90th birthday, Mr. Springsteen introduced him as
“a living archive of America’s music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along.”...."
"....“My job,” he said in 2009, “is to show folks there’s a lot of good music in this world, and if used right it may help to save the planet.”
"In 1950 and 1951 the Weavers were national stars, with hit singles and engagements at major nightclubs.
Their hits included “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” and Mr. Guthrie’s “So Long (It’s Been Good to Know Yuh),”
and they sold an estimated four million singles and albums.
But “Red Channels,” an influential pamphlet listing performers with suspected Communist ties, appeared in June 1950
and listed Mr. Seeger, although by then he had quit the Communist Party. ...”
Despite the Weavers’ commercial success, by the summer of 1951 the “Red Channels” citation and leaks from F.B.I. files
had led to the cancellation of television appearances. In 1951, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee investigated the Weavers for sedition.
And in February 1952, a former member of People’s Songs testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee
that three of the four Weavers were members of the Communist Party.
As engagements dried up the Weavers disbanded, though they reunited periodically in the mid-1950s.
After the group recorded an advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes, Mr. Seeger left, citing his objection to promoting tobacco use...."
"....In 1955 he was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he testified,
“I feel that in my whole life I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature.” He also stated:
“I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs,
or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked,
especially under such compulsion as this.”
Mr. Seeger offered to sing the songs mentioned by the congressmen who questioned him. The committee declined.
Mr. Seeger was indicted in 1957 on 10 counts of contempt of Congress. He was convicted in 1961 and sentenced to a year in prison,
but the next year an appeals court dismissed the indictment as faulty. After the indictment, Mr. Seeger’s concerts were often picketed
by the John Birch Society and other rightist groups...."
"... In 1959, Mr. Seeger was among the founders of the Newport Folk Festival. The Kingston Trio’s version of Mr. Seeger’s
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” reached the Top 40 in 1962,
soon followed by Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of “If I Had a Hammer,” which rose to the Top 10...."
"Like many of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “We Shall Overcome” had convoluted traditional roots.
It was based on old gospel songs, primarily “I’ll Overcome,” a hymn that striking tobacco workers had sung
on a picket line in South Carolina. A slower version, “We Will Overcome,” was collected from one of the workers,
Lucille Simmons, by Zilphia Horton, the musical director of the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tenn.,
which trained union organizers.
Ms. Horton taught it to Mr. Seeger, and her version of “We Will Overcome” was published in the People’s Songs newsletter.
Mr. Seeger changed “We will” to “We shall” and added verses (“We’ll walk hand in hand”)...."
"...As the United States grew divided over the Vietnam War, Mr. Seeger wrote “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,”
an antiwar song with the refrain “The big fool says to push on.” He performed the song during a taping of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”
in September 1967, his return to network television, but it was cut before the show was broadcast. After the Smothers Brothers
publicized the censorship, Mr. Seeger returned to perform the song for broadcast in February 1968.
During the late 1960s Mr. Seeger started an improbable project: a sailing ship that would crusade for cleaner water
on the Hudson River. Between other benefit concerts he raised money to build the Clearwater, a 106-foot sloop that was launched
in June 1969 with a crew of musicians. The ship became a symbol and a rallying point for antipollution efforts and education.
In May 2009, after decades of litigation and environmental activism led by Mr. Seeger’s nonprofit environmental organization,
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, General Electric began dredging sediment containing PCBs it had dumped into the Hudson..."
