Posted by Cidersomerset
(here)
A man of the people with simple views on how you should treat one and other
with equality & respect, in times echoing today when greedy egotistic puppets
ran and still run corporate America. Thru establishment prejudice and sanctions
he helped revive the American folk singing movement spawning the 60's generation
of free thinking folk artists and helping the black movement for equality in a
still significantly prejudice country particularly in some southern states..
Pete Seeger. The Power of Song (2007) by PBS American Masters (full version)
I challenge you not to shed a tear of joy at these old classics that I can remember
my mother listening to on the radio in the background when I was very young.
Pete Seeger - If I Had A Hammer.. (1956)
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This particular rendition was way back on 1968 in Stockholm. It is a folk song
written by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson in 1961. Seeger found inspiration for the
song while on his way to a concert. In his notebook he saw these lines, "Where are
the flowers, the girls have plucked them. Where are the girls, they've all taken
husbands. Where are the men, they're all in the army." , which were taken from a
Don Cossacks folk song mentioned in the Mikhail Sholokhov 1934 novel "And Quiet
Flows the Don". Seeger adapted it to a folk tune and with only three verses, he
recorded it once in a medley on a Rainbow Quest album. Joe Hickerson later added
verses four and five. It was first sung by Marlene Dietrich in French (as "Qui peut
dire oł vont les fleurs?") in 1962 at a UNICEF concert. She also recorded the song
in English and in German, the latter titled "Sag' mir, wo die Blumen sind".
Lyrics :
Where have all the flowers gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the flowers gone,
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone,
Young girls picked them every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn
Where have all the young girls gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the young girls gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the young girls gone,
gone to young men every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn
Where have all the young men gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the young men gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the young men gone,
gone to soldiers every one,
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn
Where have all the soldiers gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the soldiers gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the soldiers gone,
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn
Where have all the graveyards gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the graveyards gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the graveyards gone,
Gone to flowers every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn
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Pete Seeger-We shall overcome
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28 January 2014 Last updated at 09:00
Pete Seeger: US folk singer and activist dies aged 94
A look back at Pete Seeger's music career
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Obituary: Pete Seeger
US folk singer Pete Seeger dies Listen
In pictures: Pete Seeger
US folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, whose songs included Turn! Turn! Turn!
and If I Had A Hammer, has died at the age of 94.He died at a New York hospital
after a short illness, his grandson said.Seeger gained fame in The Weavers, formed
in 1948, and continued to perform in his own right in a career spanning six decades.
Renowned for his protest songs, Seeger was blacklisted by the US Government in
the 1950s for his leftist stance.
Denied broadcast exposure, Seeger toured US college campuses spreading his
music and ethos, later calling this the "most important job of my career".
He was quizzed by the Un-American Activities Committee in 1955 over whether he had
sung for Communists, replying that he "greatly resented" the implication that his work
made him any less American.Seeger was charged with contempt of Congress, but the
sentence was overturned on appeal.He returned to TV in the late 1960s but had a
protest song about the Vietnam War cut from broadcast.
The lofty, bearded banjo-playing musician became a standard bearer for political causes
from nuclear disarmament to the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011.
In 2009, he was at a gala concert in the US capital ahead of Barack Obama's
inauguration as president.His predecessor Bill Clinton hailed him as "an inconvenient
artist who dared to sing things as he saw them.''Other songs that he co-wrote included
Where Have All The Flowers Gone, while he was credited with making We Shall
Overcome an anthem of resistance.
Turn! Turn! Turn! was made into a number one hit by The Byrds in 1965, and covered
by a multitude of other artists including Dolly Parton and Chris de Burgh.
Pete Seeger (l) in 1975 Seeger (l) performed at a rally for detente in 1975
Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen
honoured Seeger on his 90th birthday Seeger's influence continued down the
decades, with his induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and he
won a Grammy award in 1997 for best traditional folk album, with Pete.
He won a further two Grammys - another for best traditional folk album in 2008 for
At 89 and best children's album in 2010.
He was a nominee at Sunday night's ceremony in the spoken word category.
He was due to being honoured with the first Woody Guthrie Prize next month, given
to an artist emulating the spirit of the musician's work.
Musician Billy Bragg paid tribute to Seeger's life via Twitter: "Pete Seeger towered
over the folk scene like a mighty redwood for 75 years. He travelled with Woody
Guthrie in the 1940s, stood up to Joe McCarthy in the 50s, marched with Dr Martin
Luther King in the 60s.
"His songs will be sung wherever people struggle for their rights. We shall
overcome."
'Living archive'
Seeger performed with Guthrie in his early years, and went on to have an effect on
the protest music of later artists including Bruce Springsteen and Joan Baez.
In 2006, Springsteen recorded an album of songs originally sung by Seeger.
On his 90th birthday, Seeger was feted by artists including Springsteen, Eddie
Vedder and Dave Matthews in New York's Madison Square Garden.
Springsteen called him "a living archive of America's music and conscience, a
testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along".
His other musical output included albums for children, while appeared on screen
several times as well.
A reunion concert with The Weavers in 1980 was made into a documentary, while
an early appearance was in To hear My Banjo Play in 1946.
The band, who had a number one hit with Good Night, Irene in the early 1950s,
went their separate ways soon afterwards.
Seeger's wife Toshi, a film-maker and activist, died aged 91 in July 2013. They
leave three children.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25923852
Pete Seeger- " My Rainbow Race" 1971
Pete Seeger: US folk singer and activist dies aged 94
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