AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC: PETE SEEGER
"If one person starts a beat, another comes in with a melody, if three people start singing and discover a harmony they've never heard before, if a crowd sings a chorus to lift the roof higher, then there's hope". The words of Pete Seeger, who has helped change attitudes, and even restore the environment, through the aforesaid means.
At right: Pete Seeger in 1955 with his weapon of mass-dissemination

 

A guru of folk-singing, Seeger is identified with several songs in particular, including one that is now a major soccer chorus in Europe (see below).

Banned for years from the media in the 1950s-1960s as a "Red", he is a brilliant musician who used a twelve string guitar and a banjo to deliver his message(s). But as he has said, you don't have to solve ALL the world's problems: just focus on one. So, for Pete Seeger, I'm going to mention his major songs.

"If I Had A Hammer" (1949)
A folk protest classic, also a commercial hit for French '60s icon Trini Lopez. It was co-written by Seeger.

"Goodnight Irene" (1949)
A Leadbelly cover, it was a big hit for his group The Weavers in the "milk and biscuit before bed" early '50s (1950).

"Guantanamera" (early Cuban)
"One David Beckham, woh oh oh oh oh one David Beckham": not the original chorus! An amazing tune, the meaning of some of the words was translated by Seeger speaking during live performances.

The lyrics are usually:

I am a sincere man
From where the palm tree grows
And before dying I want
To share the verses of my soul

My verse is light green
And it is flaming crimson
My verse is a wounded deer
Who seeks refuge on the mountain

I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his honest hand

And for the cruel one
who would tear out this heart with which I live
I do not cultivate nettles nor thistles
I cultivate a white rose

With the poor people of the earth
I want to share my good fortune
The brook of the mountains
Gives me more pleasure than the sea

"Turn TurnTurn" [1962]
A hit for The Byrds, the jingle jangle concealed the serious lyrics. Seeger wrote it.

"Where Have All The Flowers Gone" (Covered initially by others, 1962)
There can hardly be a better anti-war song than this. Flowers, the young men, all gone. It's also a brilliant tune. Seeger co-wrote it.

"We Shall Overcome"
The theme of the anti-war movement in the 1960s. Adapted from a spiritual.

"This Land Is Your Land"
The beautiful song of his mentor and colleague Woodie Guthrie and a main contender for the alternative American anthem.

"Joe Hill"
Both Paul Robeson and Seeger performed this song, written by Earl Robinson. It was based on a poem about the subject, a victim of a miscarriage of justice in 1915 .... possibly because he was a labor organiser.

 

Photograph: Wikipedia