PETE SEEGER TONIGHT ~

 

Words and Music by Pete Seeger (1964)

CHOPPING WOOD ~

 

R E A D   M E

  Jawbone Press

  2024

WAY OUT THERE ~

 

    Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie

PETE SEEGER, THE SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS COLLECTION ~

 

P E T E    S E E G E R

R A L P H     R I N Z L E R

PETE TALKS WOODY ~

SING ALONG ~

———————————————————


Sing Along


Sorry, I'm real sick right about now of the profound —
We have profound poets, profound politicians, profound pundits
Profound books to read, and while I revel with the next guy in the profound
Learn from the profound, sing along with the profound
There is nothing in the world like straight talk
When straight talk is the obvious trail through the woods
Up the alley
To the cancer cell
I can't tell you how much of my life working in the woods
Has taught me to skip the profound and follow the deer trail
Sideways across the mountain, not up —
So I'm not there to listen to Donald Trump's concession speech
In a long line of marauders and monsters on the stage with him
Nor Hillary Clinton's carefully staged concession, and farewell
Please go
With your husband's sexual predatory ways
Akin to his golfing buddy Donald Trump's similar predatory ways
And Anthony Weiner's similar predatory ways
Along with Julian Assange's similar predatory ways
The face of Hillary Clinton and other women's faces tells it all
There has been serious damage done
Or as the voice of a young woman shouted out to Hillary Clinton
The other night when she gave a speech roiled and boiled
In the controversies no doubt caused by those who she associates with
The young woman supporter cried, "Not Your Fault "
A beautiful teleplay, lasting mere seconds, that shined that light
And how I was just reminded by Sweetheart while walking
The woods in the rain that it was 40 years ago today
When we rolled out of blankets on the floor of
Our wood's cabin after spending the night by the radio
No sleep, and welcomed in the Presidency of Jimmy Carter
We must have closed our eyes for a moment because the cabin door
Knocked and outside was our only neighbor Everett who stood there
Lame and wanted to know, in this 11th hour, if I could cross the river
And work up five cord of firewood for him before winter
Winter just around the bend
I'd be paid $8 a cord from a guy who didn't have money, or wood
I'd have to cross the river wearing waders
I cut the wood    Everett got his wood     winter did come     and now it's all passed
A lot of Trump's voters are like Everett
Up at dawn banging on some door waiting for an impossible dream to come true
Sometimes it does
In the right hands
Working hands
Of all colors
Shapes and
Sizes



————————————————
Bob Arnold
9 November 2016
Vermont




p.s. "Please go" re Hillary — here is a thought I haven't heard entertained —
to assist healing the country, unifying opposites, where Donald Trump can
reveal a conciliatory heart, and make everyone jump, mostso his supporters,
since his past life has been a wonder of unpredictability: have Mr. Trump
select Hillary Clinton as a Supreme Court Justice. World goes round. 

PURE JOY ~

all together

DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC ~

 Harper Collins, 2015

If you weren't there — Elijah Wald will take you there. 

So will Spider John Koerner, an old Dylan pal before

Bob Dylan was Bob Dylan ~

 http://www.mwt.net/~koerner/

 

AROUND THE TABLE (FARINAS & SEEGER) ~

INSTRUCTION ~

Buffy Sainte-Marie shows Pete Seeger

PETE SEEGER, FOREVER ~

Just to say all things must pass but some things must not be forgotten ~

here's a fine personal memoir by Bud Courtney about Pete Seeger

 I came across while reading the other night

and I thought best to share

~ carry on

SO LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YOU ~

My job

 is to show folks

 there’s a lot of good music

 in this world,

 and if used right

 it may help to save

 the planet.

P  E  T  E      S  E  E  G  E  R

P E T E   S E E G E R | 1919-2014

 

http://longhousepoetryandpublishers.blogspot.com/search/label/Pete%20Seeger

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/arts/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94.html?hp

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/28/pete-seeger-dies-aged-94

Photo: Bruce Davidson/Magnum

ALL WOODY ~

WOODY GUTHRIE

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/23/woody_guthrie_at_100_pete_seeger

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ~

Pete Seeger

Please repeat after me:

"Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger!"

Can be said in a whisper, too ~

When someone reaches 93

as Pete Seeger has today

& for everything he's given to the world

It's a gift to give back thanks

a synopsis from the folks at Wikipedia:

Peter "Pete" Seeger (born May 3, 1919) is an American folk singer and an iconic figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival.^[1] A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950.^[2] Members of The Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, and environmental causes.

As a song writer, he is best known as the author or co-author of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)", (composed with Lee Hays of The Weavers), and "Turn, Turn, Turn!", which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and are still sung throughout the world. "Flowers" was a hit recording for The Kingston Trio (1962), Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962), and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while The Byrds popularized "Turn, Turn, Turn!" in the mid-1960s, as did Judy Collins in 1964, and The Seekers in 1966. Seeger was one of the folksingers most responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists) that became the acknowledged anthem of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS "American Masters" episode Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, Seeger states it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome".

O PIONEERS! ~

Peter Seeger now!


The following has been sent to me now by countless friends and supporters from various sources, and I've added a few two-cents to the short piece to best flesh out the marvel of what it means to be an activist from sea to shining sea ~

Pete Seeger has spent decades protesting against war, racial inequality and unfair labor practices, and on Friday night, he lent his support -- and voice -- to the growing Occupy Wall Street movement.

After performing at New York City's Symphony Space, the legendary folk singer, using two canes, fell in with a group of roughly 1,000 protestors and marched more than 40 blocks down Broadway. Upon reaching Columbus Circle, he sang a version of 'We Shall Overcome,' one of the many up-with-the-people anthems he's helped to popularize over the years.

Joining the 92-year-old music legend were fellow folk artist Arlo Guthrie, musician grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger, bluesman Guy Davis, composer David Amram and singer-storyteller Tom Chapin. May I also include veteran activist folksinger Tom Paxton, as well. And I'm sure a few other wonders were tucked in there and kept quietly modest to it all. Many of the very best have often worked this way.
Sing out!

TELEGRAM ~

FROM MY LINE ABOUT WHEN I WAS A "BOY CARPENTER BUILDING WITH BIG DREAMS, ALMOST A VILLA, AND NEVER THINKING OF THE OLD GUY (ME) DOWN THE ROAD " HAS MY GOOD FRIEND ED IN MICHIGAN ASK ME IN VERMONT ~

"2 FEET OF SNOW 8 HOURS OF SHOVELING DO YOU HAVE A ROOF RAKE?"

HI ED ~

BOY CARPENTER/OLD MAN IDEA I ACTUALLY HAVE THOUGHT OUT IN MY BOOK SUNSWUMTHRU A BUILDING, WHERE I WAS FOOLISH ENOUGH AT AGE 50 (STILL OBVIOUSLY A DREAMER) TO REBUILD OUR BACK NORTH ROOF INTO A LITERAL FOOTBALL FIELD SIZE APRON SHED ROOF AND INSTEAD OF GIVING MYSELF THE LIFE SAVING STEEPER PITCH FOR SNOW SHEDDING, I SET IN EYEBROW WINDOWS TO PROVIDE NATURAL LIGHT FOR THE ROOM, AND NOW I SHOVEL THE ROOF AFTER A GOOD TWO FEET OF SNOW. IT'LL BE MURDER IN A FEW MORE YEARS. I'LL NEED TO HIRE A HELPER, A WILD ANIMAL, A SLAVE LIKE MYSELF. COME AND VISIT, BRING YOUR SHOVEL.

YOU ASK, "DO YOU HAVE A ROOF RAKE?"

ED, DOES A MICHIGAN BEAR SHIT IN THE WOODS?

I HAVE 3 ROOF RAKES. BUILT MY FIRST 40 YEARS AGO FOR MY CABIN IN THE WOODS AND THEN THE ALUMINUM MODELS CAME ON THE MARKET. BOUGHT ONE, TOLD A FRIEND IN THE WOODS TO BUY ONE, HE DID. THEN HE MOVED AWAY AND LEFT THE RAKE BEHIND. I GOT THAT. FOUND ONE OTHER, I'M BETTING AT A TAG SALE. ON SATURDAY IT WILL BE IN MY HANDS MOST OF THE DAY. I CLEARED 4 ROOFS YESTERDAY WITH MY FIRST ROOF RAKE, DUCT-TAPE ON IT AND ALL.

(THE FOOL HAS 2 OTHERS, WHY IS HE USING THE DUCT-TAPED ONE?)

WRONG QUESTION ~ IT'S BOP 'TIL YOU DROP.

WE BROKE TRAIL THROUGH THE WOODLOT TODAY ON SNOWSHOES. BROUGHT HOME MAPLE AND BEECH LOGS FROM THE CORD STASHED UP THERE. EVERY DAY WE CARRY BACK TWO MORE LOGS. BY APRIL THE PILE SHOULD BE HOME (AND BURNED).

ALL'S WELL!

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.
Reinhold Niebuhr


map image: squidoo

PETE'S BEST SONG ~

Pete Seeger, that is. Taking one of his old songs that helped end one war (believe it or not) with the help of many younger musician friends, singing it into the next war and the next. They say there were only seven years without a war in the history of the world.

Keep singing.

photos:
freemuse.org

hilobrow.com

(IF YOU LOVE YOUR UNCLE SAM) BRING THEM HOME

If you love your Uncle Sam,
Bring them home, bring them home.
Support our boys in Vietnam,
Bring them home, bring them home.

It'll make our generals sad, I know,
Bring them home, bring them home.
They want to tangle with the foe,
Bring them home, bring them home.

They want to test their weaponry,
Bring them home, bring them home.
But here is their big fallacy,
Bring them home, bring them home.

I may be right, I may be wrong,
Bring them home, bring them home.
But I got a right to sing this song,
Bring them home, bring them home.

There's one thing I must confess,
Bring them home, bring them home.
I'm not really a pacifist,
Bring them home, bring them home.

If an army invaded this land of mine,
Bring them home, bring them home.
You'd find me out on the firing line,
Bring them home, bring them home.

Even if they brought their planes to bomb,
Bring them home, bring them home.
Even if they brought helicopters and napalm,
Bring them home, bring them home.

Show those generals their fallacy:
Bring them home, bring them home.
They don't have the right weaponry,
Bring them home, bring them home.

For defense you need common sense,
Bring them home, bring them home.
They don't have the right armaments,
Bring them home, bring them home.

The world needs teachers, books and schools,
Bring them home, bring them home.
And learning a few universal rules,
Bring them home, bring them home.

So if you love your Uncle Sam,
Bring them home, bring them home.
Support our boys in Vietnam,
Bring them home, bring them home.

Words and Music by Pete Seeger
© 1966 Storm King Music, Inc.