Folk music lovers, justice-fighters, Americans and humanity lost a great man today: Pete Seeger.

I have come to believe that an honorable path in working life is to (1) struggle for a cause and (2) hone a craft, using the latter as a tool in the the former. No one in recent memory has embodied this path of life better than Pete Seeger, who wielded a banjo, a voice, and a song in the struggle for justice for almost a century. The New York Times obituary laid out Seeger’s theory of mixing craft (folk) and cause (justice) perfectly: “For Mr. Seeger, folk music and a sense of community were inseparable, and where he saw a community, he saw the possibility of political action.”

Name something important in the past 100 years and you will be surprised to see how often Pete Seeger participated in it. The Civil Rights Movement? Seeger was the first to publish “We Shall Overcome,” which was sung at the March on Washington and inspired the most pivotal line of President Lyndon Johnson’s historic Civil Rights speech in 1965. The Red Scare? Pete Seeger stood up to the House Un-American Activities Committee, telling them:

“I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this.”

The fight against smoking and commercialism? Pete Seeger quit the Weavers because he would not stand for recording a tobacco commercial. Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan? Both cite Seeger as one of their inspirations. Seeger helped found the Newport Folk Festival that Dylan subverted in his iconic “going electric” moment. When Seeger was banned from an ABC show in the 1960’s, Dylan, Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary boycotted. The environmental movement? Seeger helped build a ship, the Clearwater, to inspire the cleaning of the Hudson River, which helped kick-start conservation efforts across the country. Vietnam? After being blacklisted off of television for a decade, Seeger returned to the Smothers Brothers show to sing “Waste Deep in Big Muddy,” an antiwar song with the refrain “The big fool says to push on.” World War II? He supported the anti-fascist cause, being drafted in 1942 into a performing unit… but he also kept preaching the message of peace. Plus, on a family note, when my Dad needed a spotlight on his project to ensure the land rights of the Yąnomamö in Brazil in the 1980’s, Seeger came down to Cambridge to headline a fundraiser.

This is all without mentioning that Seeger built his own cabin (which he lived in for half a century), wrote the definitive book on how to play the banjo and dropped out of Harvard because his sociology teacher said that you can’t change the world.

On a personal note, Seeger became my folk music hero after I saw the documentary “The Power of Song,” which I highly recommend. Perhaps my all-time favorite youtube video is his performance of “This Land is Your Land” at the 2009 inaugural concert with Bruce Springsteen. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of millions, the nonagenarian snuck the two socialist verses penned by Woody Guthrie in 1940 back into the song:

In the squares of the city / by the shadow of the steeple / by the relief office / I saw my people. / As they stood hungry / I stood there whispering / ‘This land was made for you and me.’ / A great high wall there / that tried to stop me / that great big sign there / said ‘Private Property.’ / But on the other side / it didn’t say nothing! / That side was made for you and me!

I was determined to meet him before he passed on. I found out that he headlined a small corn festival in Beacon, New York every year and drove up with my Mom and Sister in 2009 in the hopes he would be there. He was (!) and we talked over corn for two minutes or so after he played a wonderful banjo set. I keep his portrait hanging today.

He kept working, kept fighting, kept singing, (and kept chopping wood at his cabin) right up until the end. He was true to his craft and true to his cause, living by his promise in “If I Had a Hammer“:

If I had a song / I’d sing it in the morning /I’d sing it in the evening / all over this land. / I’d sing out danger / I’d sing out a warning / I’d sing out love between my brothers and my sisters
all over this land.

I’ll end with two quotes Seeger himself said and sang:

“The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known.”

“Deep in my heart, I do believe. We shall overcome someday.”

From one Pete to another: Amen.