RIP Pete Seeger

[Prospero]

The legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger has died aged 94. Seeger virtually invented the protest song genre and was a great influence on Bob Dylan and others in the sixties folk boom. Best known for his song We Shall Overcome. RIP Pete.

[steviedresses]

Precious Friend, oh Precious Friends. He will be missed.

[nysprod]

A true American icon...his voice will never die.

[Ecstatic]

Pete first came to national attention as a companion to the great American original, Woody Guthrie ("This Land Is Your Land" and about 3000 more), then formed the Weavers with Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert, who had huge commercial success with songs like "Goodnight Irene" and "Kisses Sweeter than Wine." Alongside other liberal entertainers, The Weavers were blacklisted in the early 1950s, but Seeger eventually emerged as a powerful folk and protest singer on his own, writing or co-writing such songs as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn, Turn, Turn," and "If I Had a Hammer" and producing a long, creative string of albums. He had an amazing voice and was a virtuoso banjo player, and a huge influence on the emerging counter-culture of the 1960s. I've seen him in concert more times than I can recall.

RIP Pete, to say you will be missed is such an enormous understatement.

[trish]

Thank you, Pete. For everything.

[Stavros]

In addition to being a huge influence on Dylan, Joan Baez and others, Seeger was also, with Alan Lomax and Paul Oliver part of that group of people (not all Americans) who became the archivists of American song from its immigrant and slave roots, and in the process rescued from oblivion the musical landscape of America that might otherwise have been lost. I also like the fact that he was a political 'pain in the ass' and never lost his radical zeal; although I get the impression that country 'n western is less political, Seeger's enduring popularity and influence does show that there has been room in America for a diversity of opinion. The songs will endure, because they are great.

[robertlouis]

One of those seminal influences without whose existence and generosity I probably wouldn't be plying my trade today. Everyone in the business only ever spoke well of him.

A perfect epitaph for a nigh-on perfect man. RIP Pete.

[Ben]

Pete Seeger's tribute at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Dec. 5., 1994:

[trish]

I always think of "This Land Is Your Land" as our defacto national anthem.

[robertlouis]

I always think of "This Land Is Your Land" as our defacto national anthem.

Except for the landowners and corporations, yes.

And coming from a small country - Scotland - where 7% of the population own 84% of the land, I reckon it has a universal resonance too.