I woke up this morning at 4:15 by chance and looked at my iPhone for the time and saw the headline alert that Pete Seeger had died. It came as no surprise since he was 94 years old but it did prevent me from going back to sleep.
I began to watch some videos and reminisce about my childhood. My parents weren't big music freaks like me but, like many, they were caught up in the folk revival scene of the early 60s. So Pete Seeger played in our house.
One particular record was a favorite of all us kids, Pete Seeger Children's Concert At Town Hall, I still have the record in my collection and will play it today. You can hear it here on Spotify. In fact, it's an extended version, much longer than the original record.
Seeger wrote and co-wrote such classics as "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", "If I Had A Hammer" and "Turn, Turn, Turn". Other songs not penned by him have become associated with him like Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land".
He was at the heart of the anti-war protest movement of the 60s and probably swayed many older folks, like my parents. After all they'd listened to him as part of The Weavers in the 1950s when "Irene Goodnight" was a massive hit single.
There's the story of Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Fesitval in 1963 and Seeger being so upset that he looked for an ax to cut the power lines. If it's true it may be the only example of rage from an otherwise peaceful man.
Here's some videos to either enlighten you or help you to remember the man.
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