Pete Seeger, 1919–2014

Pete Seeger died on 27 January 2014, almost reaching his 94th year. He was in good health until near the end, so his death was somewhat of a surprise to his millions of fans around the world. He received numerous accolades in the untold obituaries, describing his musical career as a performer and songwriter, as well as his political activism and long environmental work, a life heaped with various awards, particularly in his last few decades. Of course there were the many ups, as well as numerous downs since the late 1930s, and there are still those who resent Pete's lifelong radical commitments, even his rather brief membership in the Communist Party. The Cold War is long over, so what's the point of raking up his appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the mid-1950s and subsequent jail sentence for contempt of Congress, which was overturned by a federal Court of Appeals? I remember being at a Theo Bikel concert at the University of California-Berkeley on 18 May 1962, and after the intermission Bikel announced that Seeger would not be going to prison and the crowd cheered. Crowds would always participate in Pete's concerts, singing along and cheering his songs and politics.

There was much more to Pete's amazing life and contributions than his musical and political activism, however, particularly his organizational and educational activities, which were certainly more important to him through his long, influential life. Two recent books capture some of this more complex life: Rob Rosenthal and Sam Rosenthal, eds, Pete Seeger in His Own Words and Ronald D. Cohen and Jim Capaldi, eds, The Pete Seeger Reader, fitting companions to David Dunaway's influential biography How Can I Keep from Singing and his lengthy A Pete Seeger Discography. Beginning with his role in organizing the Almanac Singers in 1940, Pete picked up after the war with People's Songs and its monthly bulletin, then the Weavers late in the decade, along with forming local choruses in New York. He loved publications spreading topical songs through the country, and, following the demise of the People's Song's bulletin in 1949, Sing Out! emerged the following year, in which Pete would long publish his column in SO! In 1962 though he saw the need for a new publication, so he encouraged Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen to launch Broadside, which began with songs by Bob Dylan, Malvina Reynolds, and Tom Paxton, as well as Seeger.

Seeger published a number of instruction books (and records), beginning in 1948, with How to Play the 5-String Banjo initially with only 100 self-published copies, although it has since always remained in print. He followed with How to Make a Chalil (1955), Choral Folksongs of the Bantu for Mixed Voices (1960), American Favorite Ballads (1961), The Goofing Off Suite (1961), The Steel Drums of Kim Loy Wong (1961), Woody Guthrie Folk Songs (1963), The Bells of Rhymney (1964), Bits and Pieces (1965), Oh Had I a Golden Thread (1968), Pete Seeger on Record (1971), and Henscratches and Flyspecs (1973). There were also books filled with political and children's songs and stories, as well as his Sing Out! columns, autobiographical writings, and much else. His interests were wide indeed, including films from his world travels, always with the goal of informing and educating through music and stories. This is the Seeger who should be remembered and celebrated.