Pete Seeger Quotes (38 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Statement to the court (1961) prior to his sentencing on contempt of Congress charges for his refusal to reveal names of communist or socialist acquaintances before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955.
Context: I have been singing folksongs of America and other lands to people everywhere. I am proud that I never refused to sing to any group of people because I might disagree with some of the ideas of some of the people listening to me. I have sung for rich and poor, for Americans of every possible political and religious opinion and persuasion, of every race, color, and creed. The House committee wished to pillory me because it didn’t like some few of the many thousands of places I have sung for.

“I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.”

Pete Seeger

" The Old Left http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/22/magazine/sunday-january-22-1995-the-old-left.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Seeger,%20Pete", New York Times Magazine, 22 January 1995, sect. 6 p. 13

Pete Seeger Quotes about singing

“In the largest sense, every work of art is protest. … A lullaby is a propaganda song and any three-year-old knows it. … A hymn is a controversial song — sing one in the wrong church: you'll find out. …”

Pete Seeger

Pop Chronicles, Show 33 - Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders. Part 1 http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19792/m1/, interview recorded 2.14.1968 http://web.archive.org/web/20110615153027/http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/o-s.

“The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be.”

Pete Seeger

Source: How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger (1981), p. 95

“If singing were all that serious, frowning would make you sound better.”

Pete Seeger

Source: How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger (1981), p. 122

“Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.
It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.”

Pete Seeger

"If I Had A Hammer" (1949) Though Seeger composed the music of this song the lyrics were actually written by fellow member of The Weavers, Lee Hays.
Misattributed
Context: If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land.
I'd hammer out danger,
I'd hammer out a warning,
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land...
Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.
It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

Pete Seeger Quotes

“If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land.”

Pete Seeger

“A good song can only do good, and I am proud of the songs I have sung.”

Pete Seeger

Statement to the court prior to his sentencing for contempt of Congress (1961); also quoted on NPR: Weekend Edition (2 July 2005)
Context: A good song can only do good, and I am proud of the songs I have sung. I hope to be able to continue singing these songs for all who want to listen, Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

“Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?”

Pete Seeger

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (1955)
Context: Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Flowers , Time

“And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.”

Pete Seeger

"My Rainbow Race" (1967)
Context: One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.

Love

“The American Indians were Communists. They were. Every anthropologist will tell you they were Communists. No rich, no poor. If somebody needed something the community chipped in.”

Pete Seeger

Communication

“All songwriters are links in a chain.”

Pete Seeger

Interview with Paul Zollo in 1988 https://americansongwriter.com/2014/01/american-icons-pete-seeger/

“To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose under heaven.”

Pete Seeger

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" (1954); a song which adapts a passage from the book of Ecclesiastes to music, with a few additional lyrics.

Time , Season

“I feel most spiritual when I'm out in the woods. I feel part of nature. Or looking up at the stars. [I used to say] I was an atheist. Now I say, it's all according to your definition of God. According to my definition of God, I'm not an atheist. Because I think God is everything. Whenever I open my eyes I'm looking at God. Whenever I'm listening to something I'm listening to God.”

Pete Seeger

"Pete Seeger's Session" http://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/music/2006/08/pete-seegers-session?p=2, a Beliefnet interview (2006)

God , Feeling , Star , Nature

“Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?”

Pete Seeger

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (1955)

Learning

“Every time I read the paper those old feelings come on.
We are waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on.”

Pete Seeger

"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (1967)

Fools , Feeling , Time , Reading

“A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of peace… I swear it's not too late.”

Pete Seeger

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" (1954)

Love , Hate , Peace , Time

“If it can't be … reused, repaired … then it should be … redesigned or removed from production.”

Pete Seeger

Berkeley salutes folk singer Seeger http://www.contracostatimes.com/west-county-times/ci_25071210/berkeley-salutes-folk-singer-seeger (6 February 2014)

“A productive mistake is: (1) made in the service of mission and vision; (2) acknowledged as a mistake; (3) learned from; (4) considered valuable; (5) shared for the benefit of all.”

Pete Seeger

Source: How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger (1981), p. 90

Learning

“"So, are you going to practice today?" asks my inner mom.
"Well, sure. But I've got one more phone call to make. The dishes are dirty. I have to feed the cat."
I don't hate practicing. I resist it. The goddess of procrastination can seduce me by lifting one eyebrow. After decades of practicing or avoiding the same, walking over to the piano remains the hardest part.”

Pete Seeger

Source: How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger (1981), p. 117

Hate , Cats , Moms , Parting

“This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.”

Pete Seeger

Inscription on his banjo, inspired by the inscription on Woody Guthrie's guitar : "This machine kills fascists"

Hate

“At the audition, your assignment is to find something new in the song. Something you've never noticed before. A breath carried over, a thought that ties the whole thing together. Then take the risk and do it.”

Pete Seeger

Source: How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger (1981), p. 119

“I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it. But if by some freak of history communism had caught up with this country, I would have been one of the first people thrown in jail.”

Pete Seeger

People , History , Communication , Country

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

Pete Seeger

"Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94" New York Times (28 January 2014)

World , Future

“There's no hope, but I may be wrong.”

Pete Seeger

NPR: Weekend Edition (2 July 2005)

Hope

“… And this is the origin of pop music: it's a professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music as well.”

Pete Seeger

Pop Chronicles, Show 1 - Play A Simple Melody: Pete Seeger on the origins of pop music http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19745/m1/, interview recorded 2.14.1968 http://web.archive.org/web/20110615153027/http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/o-s.

Art , Music , Drawing

“Technology will save us if it doesn't wipe us out first.”

Pete Seeger

"We Shall Overcome: An Hour With Legendary Folk Singer & Activist Pete Seeger" on Democracy Now (4 September 2006) http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/04/1416217&mode=thread&tid=25

“We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand some day…
The whole wide world around some day.”

Pete Seeger

Lyrics added to "We Shall Overcome" by Seeger in the late 1940s, whose musical arrangement and renditions helped popularize the song among civil-rights activists in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also changed the primary lines from from "We Will Overcome" to "We Shall Overcome".

World