Remembering Pete Seeger: a music icon

Jesse Tiffen

A&E Editor

Pete Seeger, a pioneering artist, voice of the everyman and preservationist for an epoch of American culture that moves a little further into history’s mire each day, passed away on Monday, Jan. 27 at the age of 94.

Last week we truly lost more than just a person. Pete Seeger was a direct connection to the history and art of the 20th century. Seeger tramped the same highways as Woody Guthrie, stood up to the tyranny of McCarthyism in the 50s and walked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at his rallies. Not only did he sail the Hudson River as if it were his home, but he inspired an entire movement to stop the businesses who were destroying it. Seeger had all these qualities, manifested in someone that looked like your great-grandfather, if your great-grandfather could kick your ass.

Throughout his life, Seeger never wavered from his ideals. In 1955, The House Un-American Activities Committee interrogated him for his past involvement with the American Communist Party. Incessantly pushed by the group to reveal his involvement with radical politics, Seeger responded, “I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American.”

Every generation has to find a way to deal with the injustices of the world and thankfully for Seeger’s generation, that vehicle was music. Folk music has always had a sense of community, a concern for all of humanity that instills a call for political action. The current generation, however, has media other than music available to it. Things like social media have taken paramount roles, and music no longer serves that purpose. It’s easy to point fingers at the apathy of others or the political system, but it’s mainstream media that no longer connects with people on a human level. We’d much rather escape with the latest mindless pop hit or reality television show than listen to calls for action.

Despite this, there will always be places that do not have the same privileges as us and will look to timeless songs like “We Shall Overcome.” There will always be people out there that need folk music. And there will always be people just like Pete, not necessarily even musicians, inspired and ready, writing things just as powerful, political and deservingly optimistic. We mustn’t ever forget Seeger and his music. He gave our country more than any of us could comprehend.

I fortunately had the privilege of seeing Seeger many times throughout my life. I remember once seeing him perform in 2009 at the Clearwater Music Festival, a folk festival started by Seeger dedicated entirely to environmental efforts. Before he performed, some of the audience was very angry because people in front were standing, and those sitting in the back could not see. After hearing the uproar, Pete began to play “Turn, Turn, Turn”, and I vividly remember hearing him sing, “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.” The audience echoed the statement back while dancing in the brightness of the sun, and I looked around and saw everyone, previously angered and tense, then smiling and laughing. All was always right in Pete’s presence and he will be tenderly missed forever.