Pete Seeger: Study his songs, learn from his character

In West Michigan and across the globe, musicians and fans mourn the passing of folk legend Pete Seeger at 94. But his legacy lives on.

 

I didn’t know Pete Seeger, but I felt like I did.

I grew up with his folk songs and the songs he popularized – “If I Had a Hammer,” “On Top of Old Smoky,” “Goodnight Irene,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” – before I knew who he was or that he had planted them like Johnny Appleseed across the land.

I embraced his quiet rebelliousness and quest for peace and justice as a young man before I realized that he was partly responsible for molding those views through music that was at once inspiring yet somehow tender and sentimental.

And when I finally came to understand the man, his brave dissent and his enormous contributions to folk and rock music – inspiring future legends ranging from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen – it only made me smile to see the musical foundation he’d laid for so many artists who came after him.

He was, indeed, the “ultimate folkie.”

With his death Monday night at age 94, I’m sure he’ll be remembered fondly with tributes at events such as this weekend’s Ann Arbor Folk Festival and this fall’s Wheatland Music Festival, where pretty much every performer has been influenced by Seeger’s legacy.

I regret not traveling with Grand Rapids musicians Mick Lane and Ralston Bowles to visit Seeger in New York not long ago, but I feel like I was there as they recounted their tales of chatting at the dining room table in a modest log cabin with Pete and his wife, Toshi (who died last year).

It spoke to the down-to-earth, simple, honest unpretentiousness of a truly historic musical figure.

And I can only implore young musicians and songwriters to study his songs, read about his life and, mostly, learn from his character.

Here’s just part of Pete’s story, told in a comprehensive obituary in the Washington Post and in the memories of Lane and Bowles.

From The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/pete-seeger-legendary-folk-singer-dies-at-94/2014/01/28/36faeec0-c5dc-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html

From Mick Lane:
I was privileged to break bread and spend time with him, Toshi, his wonderful daughter Tinya, and my buddy Ralston Bowles at Pete’s home in Beacon, NY. We spent hours and Pete recounted stories from the late 30’s in Franco’s Spain all the way to present times. We played his long neck banjo, looked at “Old Pete’s scrapbook” which is a veritable treasure trove of his rememberances of a life well lived. In that old binder are the yellowed pages with his hand scrawled notes and lyrics of songs and poetry. Reading about how he dealt with and responded to HUAC inspired a young man to a life of organizing unions and always standing for what is right. I am grateful for your good company, Pete, and wish you well on this next journey. Well done, sir, well done.

From Ralston Bowles:
I must say I am both saddened and delighted. Sad for the loss for his town of Beacon and all the friends at the Sloop Club where he would come and still sing with the members, Sad for the loss to the children he would teach songs to in the school there. But delighted in that he is able to rest from the 95 years of tireless activism which he now leaves to us. And delighted that he has been reunited with his precious wife Toshi who was as much a contributor to Pete’s ability to do what he did and his muse in so many respects. I am so grateful for both of them and that I had opportunity to tell them in person. (Mick Lane and I) followed the highway about as far as you can along the Hudson and up into the hills to a homemade log cabin which was built by Toshi & Pete Seeger. We had opportunity to break bread and chat around the dining table about Judy Collins’ wonderful singing voice and puppet shows and his parents and a Spanish tour while Franco was still in power and his writing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” It was the greatest history lesson ever, from him in first person.

An eye witness to everything that ever happened in my life time that deeply moved me. From the East Village music scene to the images of singing on the steps of the Capital and around the world. The music that moved a nation. I cannot begin to tell you what an afternoon with Pete and his wife Toshi meant for me.

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music