Pete Seeger's banjo

Pete Seeger's banjo
Originally uploaded by guano

It doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "This machine kills fascists". That's the problem with Pete Seeger, he's just too perfect!

I suppose I should approve more heartily of Seeger's banjo that Guthrie's guitar but there's something about having a shocking slogan that makes it far more appealing. And it's not as though a guitar can literally kill people.

Easter

I want this t-shirt!

Religious Dialogue

The Perennial Relevance of Pete Seeger

I was watching a doco on PBS on Pete Seeger last night. I was struck by how well his concerns map the important issues of the day - he started out primarily concerned with labour issues, then the Vietnam war, then the environment. (It disappoints me when people who care about workers' rights don't respect the environment etc.)

The most striking scene was a clip of Seeger chatting with Johnny Cash about how his appearance on the Johnny Cash show had attracted hate mail (because he had been a communist). Seeger stated quite baldly, "If I didn't love this country, I would have left a long time ago." If only more people would understand this simple argument there might be less ad hominem attacks between left and right.

This Vietnam allegory works just as well for Iraq:

In this one he's singing on the Smothers Brothers show. His appearance was prerecorded but that scene was cut from the broadcast version of the episode. But then there was such a big deal made by the hosts not wanting to be censored that it was eventually broadcast a few months later.

I also liked the way the doco ended with the other currently relevant number, "Bring 'em Home". Unfortunately YouTube doesn't have that clip so you can watch The Boss's cover instead:

I was wondering why this hasn't been resurrected by the anti-war movement then found that a cover is available on YouTube set to a Ron Paul fan vid. Sigh!

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