Pete Seeger’s centennial
Pete Seeger performs in Newburgh, New York, in 1987.
Pete Seeger was a giant, and barely a singer-songwriter has touched a guitar who doesn’t owe him a musical debt. He would’ve turned 100 on May 3.
Seeger died in 2010. Four years earlier, Kurt Andersen went to his home — a house he built himself on the Hudson River in Beacon, New York. They talked about “This Land Is Your Land.” The song was written by Woody Guthrie, but it was Seeger who made it one of the most popular songs in America and an anthem for social justice around the world.
Seeger remembered touring colleges in the 1950s and ’60s — he called those gigs “the most important work of my life,” teaching a generation how to pick up a guitar and speak its mind. “I look upon this whole country,” he told Kurt, “I’ve got not hundreds but thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of grandchildren and great grandchildren. People who got the idea, ‘Hey, you can say something with a song instead of a speech.'”
Video: Pete Seeger at Home
(Originally aired January 31, 2014)
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!