Today I received the hundredth letter from editors, broadcasters, and the general public about Pete Seeger since he died several years ago. I’m excited to receive this correspondence because anything which draws attention to the good works of Pete Seeger is fine by me. Sometimes, it was challenging, such as taking call-ins from around the state of Wisconsin at 6 a.m. (Pacific Time) for Wisconsin Public Radio.
As I go through these letters and requests for information, I’m overwhelmed by the passion with which people speak of the artist. I say “artist” because Pete Seeger was more than a musician and political activist. In his teenage years, he was also a painter, spending the summer of his 19th year pedaling through upstate New York, with an easel strapped to his bicycle.
(He would sit and paint until the farmer came out and asked what he thought he was doing. “Painting a picture of your barn,” and the farmer would come look, wonder, and invite him to spend the night, just like in the old folk song: “Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister?”)
The tales of inspiration posted on this site are legion: as a baby on Pete Seeger’s lap; learning to sing after hating music education in school. Reading through these heartfelt accounts, I suddenly realize I am reading everybody’s story but my own.
I’m not much inclined to publish autobiography, no more than Pete was. In his The Incomplete Folksinger, he offers only a couple dozen pages of autobiography, out of a compendium including everything from his favorite recipe for Welsh rarebit, to (of course) favorite songs. Partly, this modesty dates from his Old Left upbringing, in which cults of personality were particularly uncool after 1956. It’s the song, not the singer, he seemed to say.
This is message I sent just now to your email address
David Dunaway
My husband, saying he wished to be cremated and his ashes spread, cited Pete Seeger saying just that.
For my husband’s memorial gathering, I’d like to cite Pete Seeger. (We’ll be playing Turn! Turn! Turn!.)
Hopeful you can direct me to album where Pete mentioned his ashes and his desires.
Francie Von Mertens
Peterborough NH
Pete was our hero. For our first Christmas, I gave this photo to husband Carl. He cried. It hangs in our bedroom.
(We named our first dog Seeger.)
I purchased a copy of your biography of Pete Seeger some years ago in Exeter UK -inside I found a postcard from Pete circa 1990 addressed to the previous owner of the book. It references his love of boats and his intention to attend a festival in Denmark. I think it is an important find and would be of interest and probably needs to be in a museum of American folk song.