28 Jan My Hero

This man was my hero. He was, in fact, my first hero.

When I was a very young kid a colleague of my mother’s had the album ‘The Weavers at Carnegie Hall’ at her house. I used to listen to the record every time I visited and eventually the album was given to me. I still have it.

Pete Seeger embodied so many of the essential American values—the real values that make America great—it’s sort of pointless to try and list them all. He was a tireless crusader for social justice and for the environment. He stood up to fascism and intolerance. He talked the talk AND he walked the walk, and he never faltered, never stopped. He was the real deal.

And through it all—the lean times, the blacklisting, the intimidation and imprisonment—Pete Seeger kept on singing. He was, after all, a musician and a songwriter first and foremost. On more than one occasion he went to the top of the charts with his own music and with songs of his covered by other artists. ‘The Weavers at Carnegie Hall,’ recorded on Christmas Eve, 1955, went to #24 on the Billboard charts upon its release in 1961—its release having been delayed for six years because of the investigation of Seeger and the Weavers by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Imagine that.

If you’re reading this I shall beg a small favor: Spare a moment to think of Pete Seeger—a true American hero.