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[R.I.P.] Folk legend, activist Pete Seeger dead at 94

Big shiny ones

chairman walter: I direct you to answer the question. Did you sing this particular song on the fourth of july at wingdale lodge in new york?

Mr. Seeger: I have already given you my answer to that question, and all questions such as that. I feel that is improper: To ask about my associations and opinions. I have said that i would be voluntarily glad to tell you any song, or what i have done in my life.

Chairman walter: I think it is my duty to inform you that we don’t accept this answer and the others, and i give you an opportunity now to answer these questions, particularly the last one.

Mr. Seeger: Sir, my answer is always the same.

Chairman walter: All right, go ahead, mr. Tavenner.

Mr. Tavenner: Were you chosen by mr. Elliott sullivan to take part in the program on the weekend of july fourth at wingdale lodge?

Mr. Seeger: The answer is the same, sir.

Mr. Willis: Was that the occasion of the satire on the constitution and the bill of rights?

Mr. Tavenner: The same occasion, yes, sir. I have before me a photostatic copy of a page from the june 1, 1949, issue of the daily worker, and in a column entitled “town talk” there is found this statement:

The first performance of a new song, “if i had a hammer,” on the theme of the foley square trial of the communist leaders, will be given at a testimonial dinner for the 12 on friday night at st. Nicholas arena. . . .among those on hand for the singing will be . . . Pete seeger, and lee hays—

and others whose names are mentioned. Did you take part in that performance?

Mr. Seeger: I shall be glad to answer about the song, sir, and i am not interested in carrying on the line of questioning about where i have sung any songs.

Mr. Tavenner: I ask a direction.

Chairman walter: You may not be interested, but we are, however. I direct you to answer. You can answer that question.

Mr. Seeger: I feel these questions are improper, sir, and i feel they are immoral to ask any american this kind of question.

Mr. Tavenner: Have you finished your answer?

Mr. Seeger: Yes, sir. . . .

Mr. Tavenner: Did you hear mr. George hall’s testimony yesterday in which he stated that, as an actor, the special contribution that he was expected to make to the communist party was to use his talents by entertaining at communist party functions? Did you hear that testimony?

Mr. Seeger: I didn’t hear it, no.

Mr. Tavenner: It is a fact that he so testified. I want to know whether or not you were engaged in a similar type of service to the communist party in entertaining at these features.

(witness consulted with counsel.)

mr. Seeger: I have sung for americans of every political persuasion, and i am proud that i never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and i have sung for the rockefellers, and i am proud that i have never refused to sing for anybody. That is the only answer i can give along that line.

Chairman walter: Mr. Tavenner, are you getting around to that letter? There was a letter introduced yesterday that i think was of greater importance than any bit of evidence adduced at these hearings, concerning the attempt made to influence people in this professional performers' guild and union to assist a purely communist cause which had no relation whatsoever to the arts and the theater. Is that what you are leading up to?

Mr. Tavenner: Yes, it is. That was the letter of peter lawrence, which i questioned him about yesterday. That related to the trial of the smith act defendants here at foley square. I am trying to inquire now whether this witness was party to the same type of propaganda effort by the communist party.

Mr. Scherer: There has been no answer to your last question.

Mr. Tavenner: That is right; may i have a direction?

Mr. Seeger: Would you repeat the question? I don’t even know what the last question was, and i thought i have answered all of them up to now.

Mr. Tavenner: What you stated was not in response to the question.

Chairman walter: Proceed with the questioning, mr. Tavenner.

Mr. Tavenner: I believe, mr. Chairman, with your permission, i will have the question read to him. I think it should be put in exactly the same form.

(whereupon the reporter read the pending question as above recorded.)

mr. Seeger: “these features”: What do you mean? Except for the answer i have already given you, i have no answer. The answer i gave you you have, don’t you? That is, that i am proud that i have sung for americans of every political persuasion, and i have never refused to sing for anybody because i disagreed with their political opinion, and i am proud of the fact that my songs seem to cut across and find perhaps a unifying thing, basic humanity, and that is why i would love to be able to tell you about these songs, because i feel that you would agree with me more, sir. I know many beautiful songs from your home county, carbon, and monroe, and i hitchhiked through there and stayed in the homes of miners.

Mr. Tavenner: My question was whether or not you sang at these functions of the communist party. You have answered it inferentially, and if i understand your answer, you are saying you did.

Mr. Seeger: Except for that answer, i decline to answer further. . . .

Mr. Scherer: Do you understand it is the feeling of the committee that you are in contempt as a result of the position you take?

Mr. Seeger: I can’t say.

Mr. Scherer: I am telling you that that is the position of the committee. . . .

Mr. Seeger: I decline to discuss, under compulsion, where i have sung, and who has sung my songs, and who else has sung with me, and the people i have known. 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. I will tell you about my songs, but i am not interested in telling you who wrote them, and i will tell you about my songs, and i am not interested in who listened to them. . . .
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shrubnose said:
Pete Seeger fought for equal rights for all and against war his entire life.

He was a great man.

He wrote and sang a lot of great songs:

He may be gone but the music that he wrote and sang will live forever.
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I'm more of a Rock and Roll kind of guy, but I don't hold too much against musicians...They usually are more sensitive types.
 
j-mac said:
I
'm more of a Rock and Roll kind of guy, but I don't hold too much against musicians...They usually are more sensitive types.
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I appreciate what you have said, I'll just add that Pete Seeger spent his entire working life fighting against prejudice and oppression and he never tried to hurt anyone.
 
shrubnose said:
I appreciate what you have said, I'll just add that Pete Seeger spent his entire working life fighting against prejudice and oppression and he never tried to hurt anyone.
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Absolutely, I will say this....His song 'This land' will get stuck in your head for an entire damned day!.....
 
shrubnose said:
That is one of my favorite songs.

It pretty much epitomizes the way that I see the USA.
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Well, this land that I sit on right now? I own, so not this land, right here is not your land....;)
 
j-mac said:
Well, this land that I sit on right now? I own, so not this land, right here is not your land....;)
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It is if I take adverse possession of it and put you off of it.

Here's a little music that you may or may not like:

Whether you or anyone else likes it or not that's the way that it is in the USA.

If you listen to the music you might want to think about it just a little bit, it has a message.

Deal with it.

And have a nice day.
 
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j-mac said:
That's what I thought....Ok, then I have to say I invite you to try.
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I'm not into trying, I'm into doing.

I'm 70-years old and I've never failed so far.

Mainly because the majority of Americans support the same ideas that I support.




"Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself." ~ Robert Green Ingersoll.
 
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Doesn't the lyrics seems a little nationalistic and anti-environmental? Yes, it was a good song in response to "God Bless America" and for the times in which Woody Guthrie wrote it 74 years ago but things change. Now we should have a more ecologically friendly and universal lyrics. Clearly an accident of birth nation doesn't determine what you own and you can't do whatever you wish to the earth. By the time Seeger sang that song in your video, he surely should have known better.
 
shrubnose said:
Listen to the music at # 32 on this thread. Listen close.
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It's generally not a compelling argument to tell other people that they don't agree with you only because they aren't listening close enough.
 
j-mac said:
That's what I thought....Ok, then I have to say I invite you to try.
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I think what he is saying is "HOUSE PARTY AT SHRUBNOSE'S HOUSE tweet yer peeps!"
 
j-mac said:
Absolutely, I will say this....His song 'This land' will get stuck in your head for an entire damned day!.....
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Few people have heard all the verses of that Woody Guthrie song.

"...As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me. "
 
Eric7216 said:
Doesn't the lyrics seems a little nationalistic and anti-environmental? Yes, it was a good song in response to "God Bless America" and for the times in which Woody Guthrie wrote it 74 years ago but things change. Now we should have a more ecologically friendly and universal lyrics. Clearly an accident of birth nation doesn't determine what you own and you can't do whatever you wish to the earth.
By the time Seeger sang that song in your video, he surely should have known better.
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Why don't you go where he is and tell him all about it?

I'm sure that he'll be happy to have a conversation with you.
 
shrubnose said:
Why don't you go where he is and tell him all about it?

I'm sure that he'll be happy to have a conversation with you.
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Classy.
 
shrubnose said:
Why don't you go where he is and tell him all about it?

I'm sure that he'll be happy to have a conversation with you.
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You were the one who wanted people to listen to that song and you implied that it had meaning for you. Pete was an environmentalist but apparently statist autocratic policies (if they were "correct") interested him more.

Since he is dead, it would be hard to have a conversation with him. Or are you one of those religious types?
 
Eric7216 said:
You were the one who wanted people to listen to that song and you implied that it had meaning for you. Pete was an environmentalist but apparently statist autocratic policies (if they were "correct") interested him more.

Since he is dead, it would be hard to have a conversation with him.
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 Or are you one of those religious types?
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Give it a try, you might learn something.
 
shrubnose said:
I'm not into trying, I'm into doing.

I'm 70-years old and I've never failed so far.

Mainly because the majority of Americans support the same ideas that I support.




"Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself." ~ Robert Green Ingersoll.
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Glad you think so. Let me know when you're on your way.
 
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