Pete Seeger: American Patriot

Yesterday I had to explain to my startled children why their dad just about jumped out of his seat when Pete Seeger showed up on stage at the inaugural concert. To those not of a particular generation and of a particular swipe through that generation, it is indeed a mystery...

I was born in 1950 to parents who agreed more about politics than anything else. My father was a WWII vet and a graduate of Harvard Law who, rather than going into private practice, went to work as a lawyer for the New York State Labor Relations Board. He believed working people needed the power of unions to fight exploitation. He was right.

My mother was a folksinger -- she taught guitar but did not have enough confidence, or I imagine, my father's support, to perform -- starting in the early 1950s, before the the pop acculturation of that form. Folk music back then was a mix of art, anthropology and politics. During an era of smooth, mass market, commercial singers -- think of a Perry Como Christmas Hour, or, for the kids amongst you, Stephen Colbert's Christmas send-up of one -- the folklorists were out preserving the raw, bottom-up songs of the least among us. Folk music stood in the fields against the great lawn mower of commercial entertainment.

A labor lawyer and a folksinger. Jews, to boot. My parents were the very definition of what others called "commie symps" (communist sympathizers). Pink, not red. They had no love for Russia, but they also saw America's sins for what they were: Racist, misogynist (my mother but not my father was something like an early feminist), crass, bullying, and sexually obsessed with atomic bombs. They believed in America's stated principles and promise, and had the ACLU membership cards to prove it. But they had also lived through a time when lynchings went unpunished, and Joseph McCarthy had twisted the legislature around his accusatory finger.

Pete Seeger was of my parents' generation. In our household, he was the example of what a patriot looks like. A man of the people. Someone who had suffered for his political views in the McCarthy years. A hero who had stayed true to his ideals. A person who felt connected to the worst off, who appreciated their culture and who worked for their aspirations. A quiet person who never boasted. A character who never bowed to fashion or the expectations of others. A singer happiest in a small circle of like souls. Someone whose life and songs celebrated the greatest of America's democratic ideals: The ineffable value of the ordinary person.

So, when Pete Seeger came out on stage in his rainbow Smurf hat, to sing before our new president, our new black president, I lost it. What my parents would have thought. What Pete Seeger must be thinking. But most of all, the proof of how steeply history can arc.

Pete Seeger: American patriot.

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie

[Note the second-to-last verse, the one that begins "As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there." It's a lot of people's favorite -- dw]

Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

Comments

[pfc1369]

Too bad you "cleaned up" that verse about the sign saying "no trespassin­g."

In Woody's original version, that line reads, "private property."

So on the "other side" where the private property is, and the sign says nothing, "That's the side for you and me."

To spell it out: He's calling for an end to private property.

Wonder why you had to change that line (if, indeed, you're the one who changed it)?

[bgorson]

And let's remember that Pete Seeger was never happier than when the whole audience was singing with him. He understood the power of song to unite and connect a community. He is the real deal. And epitomizes in his songs, his voice and his life the power of song to change the world. Pete believed that participation is what will save the human race. And so, who better, than Pete to stand before Barack Obama who has told us that one voice CAN change a room, a group, a community, a state and the country. And who has invited us -- no required us-- to be the ones we've been waiting for because we are the change that we seek. I'm with you, David, I totally lost it when I saw Pete Seeger come on stage and at age 89 RUN off stage at the end of the song! In my book, Pete upstaged them all! (Even though he would never have wanted that).

[clockerb]

I once ate peanut butter sandwiches with Pete Seeger under a tree somewhere out in the middle of East Jesus, Pennsylvania. We were on the Quebec-to-­Guantanamo Peace Walk. That was also when he told me that the whole peace movement was a front for vegetarianism. No lie. At the time, I lived in Binghamton, NY, where we were sitting in to desegregate the lunch counters. Come a long way, baby.

[annis]

Thank you for sharing this.

[pfc1369]

...And what happened when that dream ended and you woke up....was Pete there?

[artaskew]

I'm 42 years old so Pete Seger is a bit before my time. I had heard of him but never heard his music. Then I saw a special about Seeger on PBS and was amazed by his story. When I saw him come out on stage I instantly had tears in my eyes because I new in that single momonet that "change" was real. We are living in a new world and I'm so happy to see that many older American are still here to see it and rejoice

[tvrajan]

I agree with you completely. It was so moving to see old Pete! It is also sad that none of the news organizations even mentioned him when they talked about the concert. Sic transit gloria!

[Mitchell Angel]

Amen to the above. I remember when, after being blacklisted for so many years, He was finally given another shot by the Smothers Brothers to appear on their show. Instead of taking the easy way out and playing one of the Weavers popular songs , he performed "Knee Deep In The Big Muddy", a song lampooning Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam war. What a Patriot indeed. I also cried when he appeared onstage. Unlike all the others, his mere appearance itself was a profound change

[juliaschopick]

I was glad to see that you mentioned the fact that, when Pete Seeger finally got his chance to sing on the Smothers Brothers' TV show, after years of being blacklisted, he decided to perform "The Big Muddy," rather than a less controversial song.

If you'd like to hear and see Pete sing it, here it is -- thanks to YOUTUBE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4

Also, you might want to sign the petition to nominate Pete Seeger for the Nobel Peace Prize. What a tribute that would be! The petition is online at http://www.petitionthem.com/?sect=sign&pet=3774

I also cried when Pete appeared onstage at the pre-inauguration concert!

Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.com/