Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Pete Seeger (1919 - 2014)





Pete Seeger died Monday,  at age 94.   He was a humble man that moved mountains..... wait, that is not totally correct,  let me rephrase that:  He was humble unpretentious  who kept mountains from being moved for the sake of industry. 

He was, by trade a banjo, player and folk singer.   He was part of THE WEAVERS folk song group.  The Weavers sung about peace, brotherhood,  the downtrodden and other anti-elitist songs.    After Pete went out on his own is about when we went to hear him in concert.

We went to hear him at the Unitarian Church in Decatur.  I was impressed with his simple way of singing in an enthused way.. At the Unitarian Concert, we were in our seats early (of course) and I watched some grunts arranging the piano in the best place.  One of the grunts it occurred to me was the star of the show, Pete Seeger!

Pete was big follower of Woody Guthrie and Guthrie's THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND was a song Seeger really but his heart into.

I  was impressed with him when I saw him help move a huge piano.   Over a several year period I bought 4 or 5 of his LP albums.  The one that stands out is "LITTLE BOXES".
Not long after that he that involved in cleaning up the Hudson River.  He spent years and years with volunteers picking up trash and figuring out ways to getting the river unpolluted.    I hope New Yorkers appreciated this.

He had other causes he worked hard for too, such as working for peoples  voting rights.


I hope another  Pete Seeger like person comes along, but I am afraid they threw away the pattern.


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