RIP Pete Seeger
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Pete Seeger just died. He was 94. Maybe when my emotions are easier to put aside I'll post some comments about his place in American folk music history, but how can you sum up the importance of someone who sang with the Weavers, led protest marches, and sang children's songs? He lived the assertion that music was a joyful tool intended tobring people together. (And it was on his TV show that Jean Ritchie and her dulcimer were introduced to the television audience.)
You can read the New York Times obituary here .
There is no way to choose a representative song to post here, but perhaps this one will do. He is playing with others and singingfor peace.
Thefirst record albumsI remember, from when I was just a few years' old, were Woody Guthrie's Songs for a Mother and Child to GrowOn andPete Seeger's Birds, Beasts, Bugs, and Little Fishes . I am sure I know every one of those songs by heart, and I have since I was able to talk. When I get depressed, I put on a Beatles album. But if that doesn't work, I go right to Pete Seeger. His voice is as comforting to me as my own mother's, and is indistinguishable in some ways since my earliest memories in life are sitting on my mother's lap listening to that album.
I used to wonder why I am drawn to acoustic music. I grew up in suburbia in the northeast, after all. And I spent many years listening to rock, blues, and jazz. But I've always felt at home with someone singing a simple song while plucking some strings, and I'm sure that is because of the early influence of Pete Seegerin my life.
I only met Pete Seeger once--at an anti-nuke rally in New York about 30 years ago--so I never really knew him. But I feel as though I've lost an uncle, a best friend, a mentor, and a security blanket all rolled into one. I honestly can't imagine who I would be today had Pete Seeger's music not been a part of my life.
Thank you, Mr. Seeger, for sharing the joys of music and modeling a life devoted to the improvement of one's community. Rest in peace.
updated by @dusty: 02/10/25 05:36:46PM