I don’t recall feeling worse over the passing of a person who I never knew or met. Pete Seeger, quite simply, was one of my favorite people. He seemed to embody everything that was good in the world.
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“Turn, Turn, Turn”
Nina Simone:
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Always on the right side of the issues.
“Where Have All The Flower Gone”
Peter Seeger:
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Never bowing to McCarthy nor the seemingly endless procession of right-wing thugs to follow.
“Bells of Rhymney”
Robyn Hitchcock:
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Always ready to fight – nonviolently, of course – for the dispossessed and downtrodden.
“Little Boxes”
Pete Seeger:
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Always ready to speak his mind regardless of perils or consequences
“Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”
Dick Gaughan:
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And always, always, always optimistic of the future.
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“We Shall Overcome”
Pete Seeger:
cover me impressed 
I had the pleasure of seeing Pete Singer perform in Central Park in 1973 when I was undoubtedly too young to realize the importance of the person I was seeing. I was with a school buddy and his older, hippie sister. I don’t remember the performance, although I do remember the camaraderie an good feeling in the crowd.
Only ONE PETE SEEGER. Great tunes and interpreters you selected. Pete will live on in all of us who loved him deeply and were inspired by him. We must pass it on!!!!
Pete lived in upstate New York somewhere not too far from Rhinebeck. On one of Stephanie’s trips there to visit her family she passed an intersection with competing demonstrators on two corners. It was during the Iraq War Fiasco. Pete was front and center with the peaceniks. Across the street were pro-war military veterans. It was apparently getting ugly with insults and provocations beginning to fly. Pete strolled across the street and talked with the veterans one-on-one. I doubt he won any converts but he did manage to soothe emotions and both sides of the demonstration carried on peacefully and respectfully thereafter.
I didn’t realize until I saw a documentary a few years ago that Pete had served during WWII. I’m sure his military service gave him some street cred with vets. But I’m equally sure that it was much more than the military background that allowed Pete to calm the situation; something you can’t put your finger on. Pete just seemed to always have an aura of goodwill and fellowship about him. It was innate, a gift. As much as the vets may have despised his position I assume they were able to see a man who loved his country, felt deeply committed to what he was doing, and meant no harm to anyone. How can you not love a person like that?
Well Said, thank you.
Monday was unbearably cold in St Louis, we did not get out of teens during day, Tuesday was not much better, now I know why the world was so cold. Thank you Dubbs for this tribute, I came to the blog looking for some shared sorrow. RIP
your brudda & I got to shake his hand when we saw him play at the Stephen Foster Memorial many moons ago. Here’s the transcript of his testimony in front of House Un-American Activities Commission. Great stuff, he stuck to his guns the whole way trough.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/01/28/pete_seeger_huac_transcript_full_text_of_anti_communist_hearing_courtesy.html
Really sweet tribute to a wonderful man. Did i ever tell u how me and marty book got to meet him, and he was every bit as advertised. Sad day, but he lived a long healthy life and from what i heard died peacefully with family. Cant ask for more than that.
I saw Seeger in Boca in the mid-eighties. There didn’t seem to be many in the audience my age or younger.
I love Hitchcock’s cover of “The Bells of Rhymney”.