RIP: Pete Seeger

“It is better to have struggled and lost, than never to have struggled at all.”
– Pete Seeger in the film “Seeing Red”

Pete Seeger, the quasi-legendary American folk singer, died January 27 2014 at the age of 94. Younger readers might be thinking, “Pete who?” I think a list of his best-known tunes gives a very good portrait of the man.

“Where Have all the Flowers Gone?”
“If I Had a Hammer”
“Turn Turn Turn”
“We Shall Overcome” (his arrangement of a Spiritual)
“What Did You Learn in School”

Seeger, who recorded over 100 albums, was a man of keen social justice who at one time was blacklisted in the sixties yet later found himself performing at President Obama’s inauguration in Washinton DC. He chaperoned the careers of Bob Dylan and many others. Joan Baez called him “a saint”. He was single-highhandedly responsible for the banjo revival, championing a long-neck model. Most recently, he was nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (one of several nominations).

For more about Seeger, visit the late Jim Capaldi’s appreciation page.