I had the GREAT privilege and honor to have met Pete as a teenager in Beacon NY. He was the nicest man I have ever met, he was humble and was willing to teach a 15 yr old boy that he didn't even know how to finger pick a guitar. I was sitting there on the porch practicing the first time I saw him and had no idea who this great man was. Those who say he was anti-American are blind, he stood for EXACTLY what it means to be American. To speak out with out having to fear for your life when you see a wrong, to follow what you believe in.
+peter travis You can see, you are not blind. I only wish people could appreciate Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks rather than complain; she voiced her opinion freely about war, which freedom of speech (1st Amendment) ostensibly the troops were fighting to protect. Rather than criticize her, people should respect her. That said, have always liked Peter and Arlo and Woodie and respect them. War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. ~ John F. Kennedy If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. ~ John F. Kennedy [so I respect the people who respect the Confederate Flag and the freedom of choice that those southern people only asked for just as their colonial forebears had sought.]
My husband knew Pete Seeger at summer camp....told me about him. He had his records, played them for me. Pete Seeger made the world a better place. We love listening to his music! Annette & Sid Honickman
Pete Seeger served in the Army in WWII. I think he was about as American as you can be. He was also called before the House Un-American Committee because of his views. If I was in front of that committee like him I would have told all those senators that I served my country and until they can produce a DD214 they have not earned the right to question my patriotism. USMC69-71
Saw Pete and Arlo and Woody Guthrie in Detroit when I was a child...I'm now 74 and have never forgotten that beautiful, sunny day on Belle Isle Park, outside Detroit when I first heard Folk Music and Woody and Pete Seeger...Arlo was there, he was a very young..and played along with Pete and Woody....Lovely memories..
If there ever was a troubadour, post Woodie, this was the man, who sang the songs, stood for freedom, and tried, in his own way, to make America a better place - this is the man whose spirit will endure.
“My job is to show folks there’s a lot of good music in this world, and if used right it may help to save the planet.” - Pete Seeger. Thank you, Pete...RIP....and may we now all carry it on for you......
@Linda Gail, "right" is subjective; it depends on time and place and the person making the determination. As Thomas Sowell said, the question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best. I don't want anyone deciding what is best for me. I don't believe that it is moral for a majority to vote for a politician to use force to impose the voter's opinions, beliefs,m views, prejudices or "false religions." The Bible teaches us that the troika of evil, that wicked consort of politics, commerce and "false religion," will be destroyed in the end. We would be wise to terminate/abandon political government. Politics is violence and political government is the bane and pain of mankind; it is not Christian; it is diabolical. And that is why voting is an act of violence; it sanctions violence.
I was at this concert in a seat toward the front. I will never, ever forget what an honor it was to be in the presence of Pete Seeger and I learned also what a wonderful singer Arlo Guthrie was that evening. I cannot express how inspiring Pete was in person, not only his singing but his beautiful spirit touched every soul there. Seeing this again just brought tears to my eyes. One of the very special moments of my life. Pete is a legend for good reason, a national treasure!
I was at this concert, too. 20 years old, in college in Iowa, visiting a friend who was working as a Congressional intern. I've never forgotten that night. What a blessing to experience the joy, love and peace these wonderful men shared with us.
I was sitting in the audience at this outdoor concert. It was electric! Wolf Trap in Virginia. The audience knew all the words and we all sang out. Couldn't have been better.
I am 64 now and began walking the lonesome valley since a child. Even then I never really walked alone my Family and Friends walked along too. Now when truly alone in the Valley, Pete's song echoes in my mind reminding me even alone we are not really.
I saw Pete and Arlo once back in 1984. When I was a rebellious teenager listening to punk bands in my room. The only time my dad came into my room and asked me “What are you listening to?” It was the live album Precious Friend Arlo and Pete. I took my dad to that show in 1984. Tonight I am about to head out to another show. Todd Snider in Seattle. I have seen Todd a few times but tonight his opening act is quite special. The legendary Ramblin Jack Elliot. I wish my dad was still around to see this show. I will be thinking of both him and Pete tonight.
I have LONG admired, respected and been inspired by Pete Seeger, and to have Woody Guthrie's baby boy, Arlo singing with him reminds me that Arlo was so much more than just "Alice's Restaurant" These kinds of legends should never die...and thanks to recordings like this, they never will...
This i will play in my husband s funeral. This is the best funeral song i v ever heard. He died three weeks ago from heartsickness. But i fight whit the sister weere to bury his body.. i nursed him for 113years as a husband. Lover and patient. I discovered peete Seeger in my old time. He was really good. But i was too young and innocent in the 70.s.
I went on something of a Pete Seeger binge starting a few weeks back...wasn't even aware that he'd passed, very sad but a truly great American and great citizen of the world.
He always sang for the "common" man and woman and laborer and the poor. *Pete Seeger: a man with a big heart and a burning desire to liberate the oppressed. would that there were more like him.*
This is one of the best songs i ever heard. This is for my husband s funeral. He is still not in the earth because of fight whith the sister and i loved him so much.
I was sad and weak, and after have listened "Pete seeger / Arlo Guthrie - You goota walk that lonesome valley", I feel happy and strong and ready to Walk it by myself, even if i meet the devil himself !
Enorme Pete Seeger!!! Único!!! Un billón de Gracias por tu paso por esta tierra. Luchador incansable por los derechos humanos, por el cuidado del planeta, por la Paz. Genio de canciones inolvidables que nos invitan a la acción directa. Gracias por tu luz. Eterno Pete
how could you not sing along to this...Imiss this man so much years ago I was privileged to see him in concert and local college: he realized halfway through one song that it wasn't going well. Without a blink he ended the refrain and seamlessly went on to something else. A master showman. No one really noticed...=) I cannot think of a more fortuitous relationship than Arlo Guthrie and Seeger; Arlo being the son of woody guthrie and Seeger was an old friend. It's like watching two neighbors gradually become family. And Arlo carries on. His kids will come after him.
I met him on many occasions at the Clearwater festivals. He was instrumental is cleaning up the Hudson River. I will always be grateful for the work he has done.
I met him in person a few years before he passed while he was at the Howland Center in Beacon, New York. What an inspiring and gracious man. I'll never forget his music or his smile.
Pete Seeger...a truly beautiful person. I saw him several times, once he set up on the fens in Boston and was just playing for free. A wonderful song both hopeful and sad. I would update it to go, "I dreamed I saw a mighty room, filled with women and men". Let's not leave half of the population out of this amazing song.
Hàd the misfortune to only have one opportunity to see him, and that back in '62. Got a front row seat to the best concert I ever saw. We could certainly use his voice of moral outrage tempered with peace and love em right now!
I saw this concert on PBS-Live From Wolf Trap. Became an Arlo Guthrie fan, found out Wolf Trap was not too far away & went to see Pete & Arlo there many times.
My dad used to sing this to me when I was little. He used to end the John the Baptist part with "that he was a Christian too." So glad to have found it!
I first heard Pete Seeger on jukeboxes in the '50s as a teenager, when the Weavers version of Huddie Ledbetter's Goodnight Irene was a jukebox favorite. There are so few voices these days that are willing to confront the plutocracy in which we live. I needed to listen to him when my own sense of optimism was gasping for breath. Fortunately, I have much of his recorded work to help me through pessimistic periods.
I still can remember, more than thirty years later, Pete and Arlo doing this wonderful song in Red Rocks, near Denver, while thousands of voices sang along. RIP Pete, you were the real deal in a world sadly lacking in same.
Kenneth, I was there! If it's the same one I was at, it was in 1975 or 1976, I think. It was a wonderful concert. I lived in Nederland, CO, then. I moved to Washington state after that then to Kentucky in 1983. Been here ever since then. That is the one concert I will never forget.
I remember this concert well. The air was filled with energy and excitement. I had great seats down center. Arlo and Pete were incredible working together. Wolf Trap was totally sold out. All the seats had sold and the folks on the grass sat butt to butt. The crowd was familiar with the lyrics and sang out loud and strong....in harmony . When the concert was over no one was in a hurry to leave. Highly unusual. Those were the days my friends I wished they'd never end. Jan - Boynton Beach
I have seen Pete in person since the last 50's and everytime is an inspiration. Can never get enough of him. The last time was at the Rock n Roll museum in Cleveland. Arlo is great also.
Thanks, Joe, for sharing your thoughts and memories. RIP Pete Seeger. I used to sing "If I Had a Hammer" in Catholic School in kindergarten or first grade.
I learned to play banjo using his red "How To Play The 5-String Banjo" book in 1963. I still have the book, still play the 5-string banjo, and hope that some of his spirit rubbed off on me. He was one of those special people with a joy for life that was infectious.
Arlo Guthrie got me through university,via my friend Sue Hingley. Hope she catches this on you tube and realises who I am and that I still remember her as an inspiration.
Oh me, oh My. I always get so sentimental when I hear and see Pete. He was really one of a kind and he is missed badly. He fought for what is true, right and beautiful, and to think that people disrespected this man on absurd claims just makes me sad. I wish and hope that his spirit still roams freely in the US.
I see many have posted RIP Pete.. some how I Believe Pete Never stopped being Pete and IF He can help he is likely still busy just being Pete on a Higher plain than this Valley allows... Much Love to all who seek what Pete tried to reveal as available to all who will come up a lil higher.. thanks friend for sharing this old footage from our past.. somehow i believe Pete would tell us all to Live,Love and be a Light to all in this lonesome valley we now walk by our Hearts Flame IF we want to See anything in The Light of Truth.. Thanks again.
I appreciate his singing so much as I remember him singing during those post WW11 years of Peaceful anti war demonstrations and the trials people were going through at that time...
He was not a 'commie' or anti American. As a young one, he explored many different political beliefs, different life styles, and alternative ways. This is the mark of an intelligent, inquisitive man. I checked them all out when I was young, too. Years ago, we were at a card party. It was a presidential election year. There were 20 of us there. We discussed the upcoming election and discovered that there were supporters for 5 different candidates. And we all respected the views of each other. Don't be hateful.
He was a member of the Communist Party for a long time.That entails a commitment. I am not saying he was a bad person. During that period, many social activists were communists. That iis part of the heritage from that time. I object to the need of many to deny that reality.
Tall, lanky, caring and kind human being, (with the shiniest Banjo), I was honored to have met, many years ago. He and Woody Guthrie must be strumming away up above trying to figure out what is happening in this upside down world! 😂😥
I notice that his banjo has the inscription "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender." This was of course inspired by Woody Guthrie's guitar that said "This machine kills fascists." Arlo looks so young! I'm pretty sure I saw them twice, once at Constitution Hall in around 1975 and once at Wolf Trap in about 1977 or 1978. Pete is as close to something you would call a National Treasure as I can imagine. OMG what he would be saying about Trump I can't imagine.
Dude that was a great story up until the last sentence.And you need a machine that does not judge others or hate yourself. He's our president good or bad respect that not talk shit about them. You self centered contradict.......
