Pete has been gone a whole decade now. Here's what I wrote on Facebook about him that day along with some of the responses from my Facebook friends...
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January 27, 2014
I have a letter Pete wrote me in the sixties when I was a naive teen. I was greatly concerned. Some friends had told me my great hero was a "communist"! So I wrote him a letter and asked him. He took the time to respond thoughtfully. I have many of his records, tapes, and now CDs. The first came with that first bunch of LPs that came came with my "membership" in the Columbia Music Club in those teen years.
I was privileged to see Pete in person only three times.
Sheila and I read about a tribute to Woody Guthrie that would be held on the mall in Washington DC during Smithsonian Folklife festival of 1982. We knew Pete would be there, ordered Amtrak tickets and only a couple of days after hearing about the concert were sitting right under the stage for a marvelous couple of hours listening to Pete and Arlo and SweetHoney in the Rock, and the re-united Weavers, and others. What a great concert and sing-along. And afterward I got to talk with Pete and Arlo, who were just… themselves. Down to earth. They were not stars, they were just folks, who listened as well as talked. No preening, autograph-signing, or overt flirting with the girls backstage like I had seen at other post concert meetings with singers.
A year or so later we and our friend Mike Burton went to see Pete and Arlo in Atlanta... was it at the Atlanta Civic Center? Another great concert.
A couple of years ago we heard that 92 year-old Pete, with John McCutcheon, and Tom Paxton, would perform at an event in East Rutherford NJ. We could combine that with a visit to my daughters who were both living in NYC. Another great concert, even though Pete's voice had largely deserted him, he still led the audience in sing-alongs. Afterward we had nice visits with John and Tom, but Pete didn't stick around this time.
I have met few in my 66 years as genuinely sincere, as brutally honest, as humbly self-effacing, as magnificently talented, as consistent in living true to his beliefs, as Pete Seeger.
The world is a poorer place today without this good man and a richer place for his 94 year journey through it.
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What was his response to teenage question?
He was, no doubt, a great musical talent.
Very lovely tribute and story of your experiences with him. And, you're right, we are richer for his time here on earth.
I was raised on scratchy Pete Seeger albums. I think we were the only kids on the street who did interpretive dance to "We Shall Overcome."
lovely, Terrell. I saw him in his 80s and have a lovely story of "backstage," too. He was singing with his grandson. His voice goes right to your heart.
Very well said Mr. Shaw! I never got to see him in person, but, as you know, we've been performing his songs since the 1960s.
Wow....a letter from Pete S....cool.
Thank you.He was my role model.My goal with my music is to get every one singing!
Howard, as you might expect, since his contempt of congress conviction had recently been overturned on a technicality, he answered my question indirectly as he had answered the HUAC. He said that some folks (John Birchers at the time) considered Ike a communist. He DIDN'T tell me, as he did the HUAC and could have legitimately told me, that his political opinions were no one else's business! He wrote briefly, as I remember, about what he believed rather than dealing in labels. I need to find that letter. It was short but I was impressed that he bothered to answer at all.
Pete Seeger was the best. Sad he has left us, but I know he lived a fulfilled life. A poet and gentleman.
Of all the songs he did...My fav has been and always will be Guantanamera.
Lois, I definitely follow in his musical and storytelling footsteps. I try to involve my audience as much as possible and even in stage performance I remember that the words come first and they need to be directed honestly to someONE. (As Tevye that someone was often God!) I think Pete's audiences always realized he was not singing by rote but actually in the moment speaking/singing to communicate to real people.
David, that song was on that first album (We Shall Overcome) so I've been singing it for fifty years! And one of my favorite stories involves Guantanamera. Alberto spoke no English. He had been in Mr. East's class for a week or two at the end of the last year, but was assigned to mine for the new school year. When I found him he was literally hugging the doorframe in Stuart East's room, refusing to budge. We were all lamenting our lack of a second language. I said to Stuart, "The only Spanish I know is a song: Yo soy un hombre sincero, de donde crece la palma…"
On the basis of a very poorly pronounced "I am a truthful man from the land of the palm trees." Alberto, looked up, smiled and left Stuart's room with me!
I also liked The Sandpipers version. It just puts me at peace. Also remember, without Seeger there would have been no Turn, Turn, Turn by The Byrds.
I believe that Cleve was a big fan of Pete Seeger and a lot of the music I like was influenced by what Cleve listened to.
You were so lucky to have seen him in person.
Awesome, Terrell. He was a treasure who sang the integrity of his convictions on behalf of us all. Quite the educator.
