Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Where Have All the Flowers Gone? 5.3.1919 - 1.27.2014

Such sad news: Pete Seeger -- for all intents and purposes, the father of American folk music -- passed away yesterday at the age of 94. There's not much I could write that would do justice to someone this influential and formative in terms of the musical traditions we take for granted, but which he helped to establish and preserve. I will let this post be both a moment of silence for Pete, who fought like some sort of galactic-class lion against brutality and injustice his entire life, and a celebration of him doing what he did best: entertaining the masses with songs of hope, liberation, worker solidarity, environmental concern and the ongoing quest for human dignity. Please enjoy these two concerts -- both benefits, of course -- from the mid-1970s, which find him at the top of his game and say so much more than I ever could about the large and luminous legacy he leaves.
Pete Seeger

Benefit for "Sing Out" magazine
Bottom Line
New York City, NY
5.13.1974

01 intro
02 Well May the World Go
03 Which Side Are You On
04 The Mexican Blues
05 Twelve Gates to the City
06 Mary Don't You Weep
07 Hawe Mawee
08 Early Morning
09 Hobo's Lullaby
10 You Gave Me Hope
11 Guantanamera
12 We Are Five Thousand
13 The Commonwealth of Toil
14 She Swallowed the Lie
15 A Time to Try the Soul of Man
16 Jacob's Ladder
17 Up And Down the River

Total time: 1:00:27

In Concert for Chile
Royal Albert Hall
 London, UK 
3.7.1978

01 Intro 
02 You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley
03 Garbage
04 Victor Jara
05 Estadio Chile
06 Guantanamera
07 The Wagoner's Lad
08 Song of a Strike
09 Photographer's Ballad
10 Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
11 If I Had a Hammer
12 BBC radio closing
13 Draft Dodger Rag (bonus track) 

(track 13 is Pete Seeger & Fred Hellerman, recorded at Memorial Concert for Phil Ochs, Felt Forum, NYC 5.28.1976)

Total time: 43:00

sourced from original reels recorded from FM radio
You've got to walk that lonesome valley
 you've got to walk it by yourself
 there's no one here can walk it for you
you've got to go there by yourself