2014 January 27

Folk Singing Great Pete Seeger Dies

The great American folk singer Pete Seeger, who is credited with being a key figure in the folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s, died on this day.

lSeeger also made a major contribution to American culture by ocating and recording many long-forgotten folk songs and making them available to other, younger folk singers.

Seeger and his group The Weavers had several popular recordings in the early 1950s, but, because of his civil rights and left-wing activism, they were blacklisted in the 1950s. Seeger then performed largely on college campuses. He was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on August 18, 1955, refused to name names to the committee, and was convicted of contempt of Congress. His conviction was later overturned.

Seeger and some colleagues revised the title and the lyrics of an old African-American gospel song, I Will Overcome, which had become a labor union song in the 1940s. He changed the title from “I Will” to “We Shall,” and the lyric “Down in My Heart” to “Deep in My Heart.” Along with several colleagues, he copyrighted the updated song and assigned the royalties to a social activist foundation.

Read the biography: David King Dunaway, How Can I Keep from Singing (1981)

Read the great new book on the Weavers, Pete Seeger, and the blacklist: Jesse Jarnow, Wasn’t That a Time: The Weavers, the Blacklist, and Battle for the Soul of America (2018)

Listen to Seeger Sing If I Had a Hammer (1963): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE4H0k8TDgw