Inside PBS Blog

Does Mr. Seeger think that the era of the activism song is over, or are such songs by current artists (like Steve Earle) still just as powerful as ever?

Pete,

As songwriters, we thank you for a lifetime of inspiring music. Also, I believe your cousin, Randy's wife Diane used to babysit our kids! Randy passed on a few years back, but he and Diane were great people. Guess goodness runs in your family.

Blessings to you and yours,
Debbie & Chuck Schubert

Dear Pete,

Happy Birthday!

A question:
In this current age of pre-packaged music- which is usually electronically generated and dispersed- do you see a resurgence of live music (by the people, for the people) playing an instrumental role in re-building community in the USA?

(Hope the answer is "YES!", fingers crossed.)

Thanks for all your contributions to the enrichment of American culture.

Peace, Love & Music for All,
Mari McAvenia

Why haven't you and your family gone vegan yet and began singing and stumping for vegan values?

After all, going vegan is the SINGLE most significant contribution ANY one individual can to to reduce her or his negative impacts on the planet and on present and future generations.

Reducing violence DIRECTLY with one's fork and plate AND reducing one's carbon footprint are ALL consistent with the social values you have been promoting for decades.

Thanks, Pete for your life and your music. You are a precious institution. Happy Birthday! Love and Peace,

Ruth Smith

Keep singing!!!!!!

Dear Pete,

What do you feel is the most important environmental issue we are facing today and if you were writing a folk song about this issue, what would you include to inform the public and get them involved in caring about this issue?

Thanks so much and a very Happy Birthday to you! Keep rocking!

Mr. Seeger,

I love, love, love your songs and insight.

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

Where do you think those of us "leftovers" who still believe in peace, love and harmony should be putting our efforts in the current era?

Please guide me! I know the most important place in the world is right where I am standing!

Pete,
Through your music and activism you've given us a picture of yourself in some of the strong directions of your thought, but I would love to ask you a more elemental question, in some ways the essential question about us all as humans:

If you could ask everyone you met just one question, what would you ask?

Thanks for all the great energy you've given over the many decades!
Take care,
Ty

Many, many thanks, Pete, for being a great inspiration to me in so many ways and for so long!

I have been a singer-songwriter for many years, but I have recently begun to focus on having people sing with me. I think there's more to being a good song leader than just asking people to sing with you, but I'm not sure what makes someone a really great song leader.

I've been watching videos of you on YouTube to try to learn more, and I am going to sing-alongs to see what others are doing and learn singable songs that will build community and raise awareness regarding various issues of peace and justice.

So what do you think it takes to be a really good song leader?

Many thanks again for the many things you have already taught me!

As a young child, did you feel your destiny calling you, and how do you see your past in relation to this present moment?

Dear Pete:

Can you remind us of what nonviolence has accomplished?

Dear Pete
First of all your songs are very inspirational to everyone. When looking back at your career, did you ever imagine that your songs would have such in impact on song writers today?

Thank you for following your convictions of heart, mind and voice. We have all benefited from you concern for people and places. Thank you again...., jsb~~

Pete:
I just wanted to say thanx. Not just for the songs but, more importantly, for your activism and all the environmental and political efforts such activism has spawned.

Hi Pete! In a sentence or two, what would be your advice to those of us attempting to follow a vision and be of service to this world?

In Love!

Joy

Pete, in the early '70s in Storrs, Conn., someone introduced us, calling me "our local progressive journalist," which left me speechless. I'd just written an "impartial" story about a few local John Birchers picketing you with "Commie! Satan!" signs. Sigh. (I'd also quoted their leader calling my old gray Republican paper "hippie oriented.") As someone said, "When will they ever learn?"

On to a newer question: How can this Internet thing "...surround hate and force it to surrender"? (And if it can, does that mean the Internet is something like a banjo?)

Thanks and best wishes from the hills of southwestern Virginia

I am 26 years old, and have been listening to your music since roughly the day I was born. My peers hardly know of your songs, or the tremendous impact you have made politically and musically.

How do you think music like yours can be shared with the younger generations of today? Do you think there are any current, more popular-with-youth versions of yourself? If so, who is it/are they?

Thank you for giving us all hope.

Dear Pete -- I put you up there with Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King. Only your medium has been music. I have been inspired by you since I was a very small child.
I hope to write something for children about the power of music, and would like to focus on your banjo to do it! How old is your banjo? Are you the original and only owner or did you buy it used? Who/where was it made? When did you put on the now-famous quotation? How many places has it traveled with you, what sorts of audiences has it helped to get singing? Any info would be wonderful! Thank you!!!

Hi Pete. I hope this question stimulates your thoughts, and other folks' too:

Who comes to mind when you think of the folks who most inspired you and maybe even who most clearly showed you the power of love, and the ones who give you the best feelings about the present and the future?

PS: thanks very much for your example. You come to mind for me.

Dear Pete,
Please tell us of some courageous First-Amendment freedom of association actions you have seen. In our "modern" fragmented and polarized culture I need evidence that I can be a bridge between even just 2 people who can't relate to each other, with the help of our constitution.

Happy Birthday Pete !

Whatever vibes you put out there in the '60's to all us little kid singers, had an impact on us that will last for lifetimes. Thank You for spreading your viral gift of song.

I forever will be in your debt.

Where did you get that phrase that is on your banjo?
Also the birthday concert was a blast. Certainly I will remember that for the rest of my life.

Your voice was the background to most of my childhood and adolescent years, and you were inspirational in your commitment to truth, integrity, and social justice, but without losing the fun!

My question has to do with how you learned to create instant choirs of the thousands who attend your concerts!! I had the very good fortune to attend at least two of your performances in the S.F. Bay Area as a kid, and when i listen to your live recordings now, the songs where you get the whole room singing together, in harmony, always brings me to tears. it's such a wonderful feeling of community, togetherness, and cooperativity that you manage to elicit. it's magic.

i have tried, on a much smaller scale, to lead group sings in church and at camp, and i discovered quickly how very hard it it. so, i wonder, can you share with us some of the secrets you've learned about getting folks to sing out loud.

keep on singin' and playing'
with deepest gratitude

Happy Birthday Pete. It is a huge relief to have you here today. I feel like a part of me is missing lately; I will tell you why.

I grew up listening to your music, and the music of others from your 'era'. I found particular meaning in the album "Greatest Folksingers of the Sixties" -and I still do today. The songs on this album speak struggle and sacrifice, goodness and hope. They convey deep human emotion in an unparrelled way.

I'd like to know how we can keep the indescribable energy of your generation and its music alive. How can we teach future generations that power comes comes from thoughtful discourse and reflection, not from increased speed? Understanding difference takes time, and peace comes from understanding.

Your music has shaped me as a person, and I know it has shaped many others too. Thank you for giving us such a gift.

P.S. If you could, would you also touch on your friendship with Harvey and Jesse O'Connor? I'd love to hear you share some memories of time spent together with them in Little Compton.

Dear Dr. Seeger: In the 1960's when I was 16 I was a shy teenager and sent you some of my poetry. I pretended it was the poetry of someone else, and that I was just asking you what you thought. With infinite kindness you wrote back that I should tell that young lady that if she is half as beautiful as her poems that there would be many who would want to listen. Your letter got framed and was a critical gift of love and esteem when I so much needed it. I have never forgotten your kindness to the shy, insecure teen I was. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I remain eternally grateful for your kindness to a young fan. Renee Aubuchon

Thank you for your inspiration! You never compromised your values when you were blacklisted, even though you had a family to support. Courage, determination, and most of all, love for others was your impetus, and we are the ones who benefited from it. Empathy is a good thing, we cannot be human without it! Thank you again, Pete!

I am nearly 52 and am a classical vocalist. I learned many of these songs as a child in Girl Scouts and still love them. I watched one of the PBS specials last summer and hung on every word, learning about history of my youth. I would love to wish you a happy 90th, and congratulate you for being a man who stood up against many as a young adult. As classical musician, I look for those who did the same; stood against Stalin, Hitler, etc. and chose topics and lyrics that were controversial. It is an awesome way to let us not forget those "bumps in the road" of American history. Thank you, Professor Seeger!

Pete, I always love that you sing the less popular verses of "This Land is Your Land." But it's occurred to me recently that the most revolutionary line in that song (at least as far as the US is concerned) is the very first: "As I went walking that ribbon of highway..." We have developed into such an auto-centric culture that nobody (except maybe Granny D) ever walks our highways any more. Do you? What do you think? How do we put our highways and byways back into the hands of everyone?

Thank you so much for giving your gift and your belief to the whole world! You have been awesome and I still love to listen to your music! I wish Harry Chapin was still around to celebrate your birthday with you - I am sure he will be there in spirit!

Happy Birthday and thank you for being you!

The late Harry Chapin loosely quotes you on one of his concert albums as saying “…I’m not sure it’s made a difference, I can tell you one thing, that involvement with these issues means you’re involved with the good people, the people with the live hearts, the live eyes, the live heads.“

Now I do agree with Harry that you underestimate the impact you have had, but I also don't think you were merely being self-deprecating, nor cynical. I do think that your music inspired people. But also, you have been very hands on. The Hudson River is surely grander now thanks to your restorative efforts.

I see with a lot of questions here that people are asking if music can make a difference "like it once did." However, as important as the music is, I see that the most effective musician activists-the ones with the most impact--are those that also put their backs in it. Artists that have been most instrumental (small pun) in furthering their causes like you with so many things, the Hudson River Project, the anti-vietnam war movement and so on; Joan Baez's activism in the peace movement; Bob Geldoff and John Mellencamp fighting hunger-have a common bond beyond music. Each of you has worked outside the music to promote your cause.

Do you still stand by the old quote-would you expand on it-and do you agree, it's not always enough to sing, sometimes you have to march, or build, or clean.

Thanks, And Happy Birthday!

Dear Mr. Seeger,

I am a 45 year old who had never heard of you until I saw the biographical piece on PBS. I watched it and cried and cried at the end. I cried because of your perserverance and positive messages of love and keeping the planet clean and peaceful. Your life's experiences are truly an inspiration to me and my family now. We listen to your songs and sing, sing, sing!

My question is how do you not get angry at the people who are opposing a marsh clean up. HOW DO YOU NOT GET ANGRY at their apathy and/or aggression. I get angy, which I know is no good to anyone. Do you have any advice for us who get angry and confrontational with community members who block or oppose preservation of land?

Thank you for your inspiration and grace. Congratulations on your 90th revolution around the sun!

How do we continue the folk song tradition with young people? How do we get involved in schools or create opportunities that engage youth in folk music?

Dear Pete,

I am a 56 year old teacher in a public Montesssori school. My brother introduced me to folk music when I was about 6. I immediately loved it. As a Montessorian, the issues of peace and the environment are a major part of my classroom community. I play your songs and teach them to my students.

Thank you for speaking for all of us through your music and your actions.

If you could give a message to my first, second, and third grade students, what would it be? How would you tear them away from their video games and move them to act in caring and peaceful ways?

Roberta Ryan Williams
Decatur, IL

Hello Mr. Seeger,
You are one of my heroes. According to her sister, Barbara Beckwith DJ'ed a folk program on the Stanford radio station (KZSU) in the mid-50s, and once interviewed you for her show. I just wonder whether you have any recollection of it. I realize you must have given a gazillion interviews in your life so far, but that's my top question, because Barbara was my mother.

Anyway, keep up the good work & keep on pickin'!

Respectfully,
Andrew

Mr. Pete Seeger,

I am a 42 year old dad and school teacher. I have a 5 year old daughter named Sophia. We got a few of your recordings from the library and listen to them often. We can't get enough of Sam the Whaler, Abiyoyo and all the Free Coca colas and Free soda crackers in the Toad song. hehe :-)

Thank You for Everything and Wishing You the Happiest of Birthdays,

Eric and Sophia

Hi Pete,

Here's to 27 years of the Sandy Beach song and 27 more years of Sandy Beach - thanks to you, Victor and the Little Stony Point crew. I was proud and still happy to be a part of that crew.

amigo,
denis

Do you play Clawhammer banjo or closed back? Do think Clawhammer is more muted and less vociverous?
Thank you Pete you are a national treasure.

Dear Pete,
I want to thank you for the influence you have been on my life! I do my best to share the message of peace through music with my children as well as the children in my middle school classroom.
Do you feel that true change can be achieved in small ways? I hope so! Peace,
Katie

Mr. Seeger who were some of the most courageous people you sang with during the civil rights era? And thank you for your service to our country.

i'm just compelled to tell you happy birthday and that I cannot believe that such a perfect person as you is allowed on the earth. i and my whole family are forever in your debt.
john lennon, eleanor roosevelt, martin luther king, and all of those of your ilk are celebrating with you, i'm sure.

Pete, I learned of you when I worked for the great Cesar Chavez in my twenties. Your labor music inspired me. Thirty four years later I'm still a labor activist, see ("Spirit of Solidarity" national labor monument.) I've since become an ardent labor historian and high school teacher. Today's youth are still idealistic but do not even know the language or struggles of which you sing. In your early years educated so many youths at IWO and Jewish summer camps. How do we get the message of organized labor to today's youth?

You have been working to make the world a better place for so many years (really impressed to see the clip of you protesting the Iraq war outisde in winter at the end of the American Experience documentary).

How do you manage to seemingly maintain the energy and stay positive and optimistic when fighting long uphill battles on so many fronts for so many years? Do you ever get discouraged or lose faith?

You have been an inspiration.

Dear Mr. Seeger;

Thank you so much for recording the blues legends of the Delta and South before we lost them. I was brought up Lutheran, but the music and grace of the likes of Mississippi John Hurt and Rev. Gary Davis is a cornerstone of my personal faith. I completed a year and a half of fulltime AmeriCorps on the Delta, and worked a year in a homeless shelter in New Orleans. Without people like you in your generation, this experience would not have been possible for middle/low class young people like me.

Here's my question: Will Rainbow Quest be re-issued in a modern, high tech fashion?

I find myself hunting the internet for those John hurt and Rev. Davis gems, and think they could really influence the faith and spirituality of a generation distracted by technology, noise, prescription drugs, etc....again, thank you for giving those masters a nod in the moment, before we lost them! Peace and Love!!!

Dear Pete,

I've loved your music since I was a kid. When I was 3, Abiyoyo was my favorite song, and now I sing it to my 4 children, along with many of your other songs. Thank you for your love of music and of people that has blessed so many of our lives.

My question: how did you keep from being discouraged when you were one of the guys being investigated by Joe McCarthy during the 50's? How did you keep moving forward?

I know it must have been frustrating for you, but you turned to the silver lining in the cloud and recorded such wonderful children's music during that time.

You're a great inspiration to me. I lost my dad this year, and in many ways you remind me of him, in your generosity of spirit and your desire to leave the planet a better place than when you arrived. Which you have done, brilliantly.

Thanks for your music and your philosophy of life!

Your activism is legndary and in that department, Talking Atomic Blues will always be a favorite of mine...but...the tune that sticks in my head is Tsena Tsena Tsena. It's stuck there yet. The choral arrangement was (and still is) superb.

Will you please not forget it in any future celebration? I expect you to have future celebrations because you're timeless.

Pete,
In 1961, when I was 16, I took a circle trip around the country by train. Going through the Southwest desert, all I could think of was "Way Out There" (the yodeling song Cisco and Woody did and you recorded).

Next year I was proud to "borrow" a school tape recorder to make a recording of the benefit concert "For The Love of Pete" held in Philly - hope you liked it even if we did run out of tape at the end.

You provided a sound track for the pageant that is America. I always considered you the best popular musician, and took some heat from my high school colleagues who never heard of you. They did eventually.

Thanks so many times for your music and the relationship you fostered between your audience and your music - you made the music theirs. It will still be heard when you're gone.

Pete,

Congratulations on your 90th.

How effective would you rate an anti-war folk song compared to a headsaw as a weapon?

Best regards,

Dave

I grew up on your music. In my middle years, I was deaf and then got my hearing back. One of the first things I reclaimed when I could hear was your music. Thank you and Happy Birthday!

Dear Mr. Seeger,
You have been a lifelong inspiration to me and my family, and now,starting another generation.. my son. We've been there to sing with you, laugh with you, and cry with you.
You are responsible for so many of my most precious moments in life, and I was wondering if there is perhaps one memory of yours that stands out above the rest. You've seen and done so much..what , if anything, shines brightest in your mind?

Dear Pete,
Happy Birthday, a bit late...
I am a preschool teacher and I have taught your songs to my students/children for over 20 years. I believe that is how we will keep on singing.
Thank you!
Miss Ruth

Wouldn't it be great if NPR and OPB ---indeed PBS in general -- could nominate and advocate for other eligible institutions/agencies to nominate Pete Seeger this year for a Nobel Peace Prize? PBS is hosting programs to celebrate him ... and that is great. His songs have enlightened generations and advocated peace, goodwill not just between humankind and nations but between human kind and the natural world ... He is a hands-down favorite of mine and I think would be of many to have such an honor bestowed.

How about spearheading a campaign for his nomination?
Thanks for all you do in programming ....
~~~~~~~~ Janet

I missed the great performance last night. I will catch one of the reruns in August can't wait to see it.

Your music inspired a few of us in the 80s to form our own little labor music group. Thanks to you we got hundreds of people to sing that old friend "Solidarity Forever" standing up and inspired by the spirit of unity and not like a funeral dirge. I also managed to put pen to paper once or twice to put new words to old standards and make them relevant to our union. Without inspirations like you, Woody, Arlo, Phil Ochs and so many more, we might have floundered around in the darkness of ignorance that much longer! Thanks again!

Dear Mr. Seeger,

No questions, I just wanted to say thank you. We purchased the recording of the Children's Concert at Town Hall, 1962 when our daughter was born in 2004. She still listens to it frequently, as do we. We are very grateful for helping us nurture our children to be peaceful, caring individuals in society. And we love singing the songs! Thanks, the Vincent Family
p.s.- Loren's first full sentence was "Peter Seeger is so funny!"

I first started listening to your music in the late 1950s on KPFK in Los Angeles, took up banjo picking in high school, met your father, Charles Seeger, in 1963 at Cal State Los Angeles when I was attending there, and finally met you at Will Geer's home in Topanga Canyon when you appeared there with Arlo Guthrie at a benefit for the Huntington's Chorea Foundation (must have been in the Spring of 1975).

You have been a great influence on my politics and lifestyle. In high school I registered unsuccessfully as a conscientious objector to war, and later in college became involved in radical politics and the anti-Vietnam movement. I'm still a radical today, and proud of it.

Happy 90th birthday!

Dear Mr. "PS" I hope that you know there is a group on Facebook dedicated to your nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. When so many of our inspiring leaders were being killed, and the drug abuse was taking its toll on everyone...you have always been there for us. An instrument of God's Peace. Thank you from my heart. I never saw you in person, but I have heard Arlo several times and he always carries you in high regard. I hope that you will feel a lot of love.
Thanks also to PBS for getting your May Birthday out to the public in such a timely manner. America still needs you.
Respectfully, Sarah G.

I'm 23 years old and when I listen to the radio, I don't get the same inspiration as I once did from my childhood. In my family I heard everything from The Beatles to James Brown...where do you think the music industry is headed? Would you like to see more artists getting involved in political, social and environmental campaigns?

Is there anything you might change in all the great things you have done?

You, and your family, have opened our eyes and our hearts and enriched our lives.
Thank you for your sacrifices, and the courage and strength to make this world a better place.

I was an activist with CORE in the
1960's. It was your songs and the
songs of many folk singers who kept
us marching....sitting...blocking...
the music gave us strength to go on
"through the big muddy" .... I was
in Birmingham and Shreveport and of
course, my home New York....and
your songs echoed in my head..your
presence was so important and I want
to say "thank you, thank you, thank
you"!!!

Dear PBS Engage,

Your shows are fantastic. I try to watch them everyday on KOPB Portland, Oregon and PBS Kids Sprout. I like your web site. Do you want to know what KOPB stands for? It stands for Oregon Public Broadcasting. Hope you're doing well.