Wednesday 29 January 2014

Pete Seeger - Which Side Are You On?

It has been interesting reading the various obits and tributes to Pete Seeger, especially learning about hs earlier career. However powerful the causes, many of the songs being quoted where already long consigned to a slightly fuggy past by the time I was old enough to take notice. Where have all the flowers gone may have been an important piece but to be honest in terms of musical rebellion its balls seem mighty small when compared to the  explosion of Blue Suede Shoes. Or when compared to 'blowing in the wind' to be honest. And then there was his role as the angry traditionalist impotently raging against Bob Dylan's electric guitar. Billy Bragg defends Seeger suggesting that his real issue was that Dylan's overloud amp was obscuring the words. Maybe, but with his 5 string banjo Seeger was a creature of the he pre  Rock and roll world, and placed himself on the losing side in musical history.
Reading the tributes I started to understand that beyond simply being a folk musician he was a genuine activist who would risk not only his career but his freedom for the causes he believed in. Not something the Dylan of the other 60's folk rockers did that often. But he never made rebellion sexy.

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