Remembering Pete Seeger: A Time to Sing

“He passed away, that doesn’t mean he’s gone.” Arlo Guthrie

Sometimes it seems life spins us through a series of  circles and cycles. Along the way we find the wise ones; heroes we call them. Our cultural heroes sit uncomfortably on a pedestal we make for them. When we have the opportunity to get to know them, the once famous legends in our eyes, become human with strengths and flaws like the rest of us. Of course, that’s because they are the ‘rest of us.’ This has never rang as true and as clear as in the life and legacy of Pete Seeger.

In the case of multi-instrumentalist, Matt Cartsonis who maintained a 30 year friendship with Pete Seeger, the circle became complete on January 27th when the man who was once his hero, then his mentor and finally his friend, quietly died at the seasoned and content old age of 94.

During an afternoon Pasadena coffee house meeting with Cartsonis just two days after Seeger’s passing, he generously shared his lifelong impressions with me of the man who did more than anyone else to shape his life. With a bittersweet smile that often reflected through his own grief, Cartsonis said, “I just can’t conceive of the world without Pete Seeger. No one could have done what Pete did.”

What did Seeger do? He was a celebrated artist who had no sense of his own celebrity. His often egoless presence made many of his greatest achievements seem quite anonymous. It was the way he preferred it. Seeger galvanized folk music in the middle of the 20th century in a way that made it accessible for generations to come. He sang about the ideals we came accustomed to hearing from folk singers over the years. It’s easy to forget that it was Pete who first defined folk songs about peace and tolerance and understanding as a way of life during the most polarizing times in American history. Pete did more than just about anyone to create the template for the American folk song as a force for change as well as just pure joy, community and entertainment. Songs like “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “We Shall Overcome,” became the musical reference point for generations of people fighting oppression during the Civil Rights Movement. 

His life was marked by his love for diversity in all its forms and his refusal to judge others, even those who considered themselves his bitterest enemies. He lived and embraced the full spectrum of life. With Woody Guthrie (and at Woody’s urging) Pete hopped freight trains. He reached out to anyone who would listen, not to share with them ideology or political propaganda, but to spread the pure joy of the song. He went to labor camps, hobo jungles, union hall meetings, elementary schools, universities, state capitols, rescue missions, churches and hospitals. In 2009, he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and sang all of the verses to “This Land Is Your Land,” uncensored, with lyrics that would inspire while they pointed to the ironic and needless absurdity of the plight of the poor against a political system rigged in favor of the wealthy. Ironically, it was on the inauguration day of our first African-American president. For many of us, one of the last photographs of him we saw was singing with the protesters at Occupy Wall Street in New York City.

In the most polarized,  divisive and controversial of times, the McCarthy era, when artists were fearful for their careers and freedom, Pete stood up for free-speech by refusing to name his friends with communist associations or to disavow his own political leanings. He offered instead to sing for the House of Un-American Activities Committee the songs he loved best as a way of demonstrating his views and his patriotism. When he was blacklisted from every available venue a folk singer could possibly perform, he took his songs and stories to schools and played his music for children and college students in universities throughout the United States. This was one of the major currents that, a few years later, would give birth to the folk music renewal of the late-50’s, which would collide with the Civil Rights Movement. Those who supported the actions of HUAC thought they had heard the last of Pete Seeger in 1950, but a little over a decade later“Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” hit the national charts courtesy of The Kingston Trio and a new generation of young people were singing songs like “We Shall Overcome,” and the electrified Byrds version of “Turn, Turn, Turn.” While the actions of HUAC are remembered today as divisive, fearful hate mongering, these songs are among our most beloved treasures. 

Seeger continued to sing and eventually, with the help of successful folk & country based entertainers who found success in television like the Smothers Brothers and Johnny Cash, the back of the dated blacklist was fatally broken over ten years after Joe McCarthy himself had succumbed to alcoholism and an early death, eaten up by his own hatred. Pete was victorious with a minimum of judgement, and with inclusiveness, courage, generosity and compassion. Pete Seeger was that rare activist with a sense of humor and a genuine love for even those who differed from his beliefs. He refused to believe the worst of anyone. In a recent interview with Time magazine, folksinger, Arlo Guthrie said, “A lot of people ascribe political reasons to his becoming involved in different causes, but they were bigger than that. They were not an ideology; they were part of his soul, and part of the American soul.”

 

For Matt Cartsonis, there never was a time when he couldn’t remember Pete. A self-described ‘red-diaper’ baby – a child of folk music loving, left leaning parents.