Pete Seeger's Children:
People's Music Network 2001

Part I: The Tao of Pete

dateline:1/27/01

The Fox Elementary School's 500-seat auditorium is packed - standing room only at the People's Music Network kick-off concert. What better time to plan a national conference on music and social action than Superbowl Weekend?

In the kindergarten classroom that constitutes backstage, Pete Seeger and his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger rehearse their set. They clearly enjoy each other's company - the grandfather the same spry willowy man who turned one, then two, then three generations onto folk music; the grandson as tall and robust, jet black hair and beard, one of those generations. Pete spins out his spoken introduction to "Oh Wallace" - a song sung by the marchers in Selma in 1965. "Too long," Tao advises. The elder Seeger agrees, smiling. "I'll figure out a way to shorten it on stage." But he tries again now. "In 1965, I got a telegram - along with a lot of other people - from Martin Luther King: 'The federal judiciary has spoken...' And we went down to Alabama. A pop song written with new lyrics became our themesong:"

Oh Wallace - you know you can't jail us all
Oh Wallace - you know segregation's bound to fall

Just like Pete to de-emphasize his role, tone down his language and subvert a melody that everyone could sing. They run through a bit of it, then practice a complex instrumental banjo duet. Tao sets down his instrument and takes a break, leaving me with Pete. I still feel awkward playing journalist at events like these. I know I should ask him a question, but I can't think of anything that I couldn't just as easily find out somewhere else. I'd rather just watch them rehearsing, glad they've agreed to let me take some photos - "as long as we don't have to pose," says Tao. Heaven forfend. Now, as usual, I'm content to simply sit quietly together.

Pete picks up a large recorder and plays the last bars of the song everyone knows as "Danny Boy." Then, as if sensing my reluctance to break the silence, he starts to tell me about the song. The melody, he says, was composed in 1603 by a blind Irish harper to commemorate the defeat of the castle at Derry - we even know the harper's name, says Pete, though he doesn't mention it. When the British changed the name of the town, "An Air from Derry" became "Londonderry Air." Then in 1905, he says, an American, Fred Weatherly, set the sentimental words of "Danny Boy" to the tune and copyrighted the whole thing.

Pete shakes his head. He prefers the ethics of song collector Michael Cooney who, when he included "Danny Boy" among his recordings of classic American tunes, assigned half of the royalties to the Smithsonian for the preservation of American folk music. When you put new words to traditional songs, he says, half the royalties should go to the country of origin. When you record public domain works, you should give royalties to an organization that helps preserve the tradition. For instance, Pete says he sends half the royalties he makes from his classic story/song "Abiyoyo" to a children's fund in South Africa.We don't talk about "Wimoweh."

Pete and Tao warming up. No sweat.

Pete and Tao take the stage before an SRO crowd- plus lots of Pete links ->1, 2