Hired on to work for Mr. Bill Cox, a-fixin' lawn mowers and what-not, since 1964.
"Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon. It'll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it's won anyway." Anonymous
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” George Carlin
Bummer......I was never a huge fan, but there is no doubt that he was one of the most important folk artists of my lifetime.
Steve Sly
genius. legend. everyone should take tomorrow and listen to his discography. you probably already know a lot of it...
while sad, this is probably a great time to celebrate what he's done.
incredible.
More important to me for the people he influenced than his own stuff, which I could take or leave.
But he lived his principles for 94 years, which is saying a very great deal.
Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?
I just learned that he wrote that Byrds classic, Turn Turn Turn, one greatest Folk songs IMO.
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!
RIP indeed, Pete
He had a hammer, a bell, and a song to sing.
Rest In Peace Pete Seeger.
Last edited by walt; 01-28-2014 at 07:18 AM.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
He did walk the walk......RIP
Wow, what a loss. Beyond words.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
A giant has gone..RIP
Whoa. Thanks for the news, i guess :P
RIP, Pete Seeger.
And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...
His presence in American popular music is so far beyond virtually everybody else. We have been singing his songs all our lives. So may classics, so many taught to school children, sub at overnight camp, sung by labor supporters, and so on.
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
A tremendous loss. Through my whole life, there has always been Pete Seeger to show us a better way, while at the same time bringing joy to our hearts with song. Rest in peace, Pete.
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
A great man! Pete Seeger, and Doc Watson were the patriarchs of American folk music. The end of an era.
You can't have grown up in the US in the 60s and heard a good amount of his singing. Definitely, aside from my parents and grandmother, one of the first singing voices I heard as a child, and we've played his stuff a lot for our own kids. The Hammer Song is one I've known my whole life - what a great song! RIP.
We're still knee-deep in the Big Muddy....
While I strongly disagreed with his political views, I always admired the consistent stance he took on behalf of his ideals. He was an idealistic kid in his communist days during the heart of the Depression, when communism looked to appear as a solution to the world's poverty woes. He had no idea of the grusome reality of the USSR and of Lenin and Stalin, but like Orwell, Koestler and others, were able to maintain his convictions in spite of the awful revelations. IOW, he grew and matured, and as far as I can see, he never became hypocritical about it as so many others were. He was true to himself.
A nation is not truly free unless it allows unpopular dissent, and as much as anyone, Pete Seeger voiced his dissent passionately and sincerely. He may or may not have always been right, but what he said needed to be said, and we are a better nation for it.
I thought for sure he was going to get that Grammy for Spoken Word as this was likely his last shot at the time.
Now let's see how Steven Colbert handles the news.
JG
"MARKLAR!"
I'm sad that he's gone, but happy that he was able to live a long life. A truly brave man during the despicable Joe McCarthy era.
My parents took me to see The Weavers 3 or 4 times as a child, and in addition to "Turn Turn Turn", long before The Tokens made a fortune with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", The Weavers had already found the African chant "Wimoweh" and it was part of their repertoire.
I remember having the 78rpm record of their one unlikely hit, the Jewish folk song "Tzena Tzena Tzena", with the flip side being Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene".
Icon is a word thrown around too much, but definitely not here. RIP Pete, you damn sure made a difference.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Just the other day I was watching some footage of Seeger introducing Dylan at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. He's been around a long time.Not quite sure how one can be against freedom and liberty and equal rights, but this isn't the place to debate it. I'd just caution you, don't conflate theoretical communism with Socialist states like the USSR, as Sen. McCarthy did.Originally Posted by cavgator
Last edited by rcarlberg; 01-28-2014 at 01:28 PM.
Theoretical communism has never been attempted. Seeger and like-minded people were Soviet-style communists, as was Koestler (author of The Yogi and the Commisar), Orwell (author of Animal Farm), Burnham (author of The Managerial Revolution), Chambers (author of Witness), Malraux, Camus and so many more. They believed the propaganda that came out of the USSR without being aware of the grim realities. Seeger, like so many other CP members and fellow travellers, believed that freedom, liberty and equal rights found their pinnacle in the USSR ("I have seen the future and it works!" - Lincoln Steffens). They really had no idea what was actually going on because the Soviets control of information leaving the country was so complete in ways that even Hitler could only dream of. In the pantheon of values, totalitarian systems like the USSR, Nazi Germany, and Red China (among others) were the absolute antithesis of the principles of freedom, liberty and equal rights. Seeger didn't realize that. It all looks great on paper from the pens of Marx and Friedrich Engels, but it never came close to being realized.
As a university history professor, I can assure you that my understanding of 20th Century communism goes FAR, FAR beyond the interpretations of the Tailgunner, whom I think was a boorish clown, but nowhere near the magnitude of evil that possessed Stalin, Hitler, Mao and many other totalitarian tyrants. As such, I absolve Seeger and his ilk due to ignorance, not evil ideologies...
But as you said, this is not the forum for ideological debates.
Last edited by cavgator; 01-28-2014 at 01:49 PM.
Yes -- a fact not acknowledged by McCarthy and the JBS/Koch Industries/Tea Party descendents.
Or the equivalent entities of the Left; it works BOTH ways. We'll end it here...
What better legacy can a man leave?
Rest in peace, indeed.
Thanks, to both of you. I actually had a reply, but canceled it. You both covered it quite well.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
RIP you uncompromising giant. The Smithsonian has a tribute page up:
http://www.folkways.si.edu/PeteSeeger
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
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