Pete Seeger's Children:
People's Music Network 2001
Part I: The Tao of Pete
Onstage, Pete and Tao hurtle through their set. Tao takes the lead on a song in Spanish; the verses seem to be informed by his childhood growing up in Nicaragua:
God I only as of you this one thing
That I not become indifferent to war....
..... indifferent to injustice
..... to the future.
They lead the whole audience (congregation?) in a rousing rendition of "Oh Wallace," making everyone feel as if we were there, taunting the governor. It's the most racially integrated audience - and line-up - that I've seen at a folk concert in a very long time (since Sweet Honey in the Rock at Town Hall in New York, in fact). The duo finishes with "Rearrange It, Rearrange," a little revolutionary ditty which has all the earmarks of Seeger's softness until the last verse, when a long-dormant impish muse seems to have overtaken him:
Maybe the key is just to change a little bit
Eat a little food, drink a little drink
Then we'll only have to shit a little shit
Then we'll only have to shit a little shit
"Now I know there are some children out there," he calls out, "and your parents have told you not to sing this song in the house. Well, we're not in that house now!" The crowd roars its approval - and there are many children among us.
I find myself imagining the day he'll plug in that banjo into a Marshall stack and let the sucker rip....
 "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender" |
For a page of Pete Seeger information and links, try my Folk 101 page:
For lyrics to Pete Seeger's "Abiyoyo" try this site: |
For a good bio on seeger, try Rolling Stone on-line:
http://rollingstone.com/artists/bio.asp?oid=4116&cf=4116
and here's an extensive Seeger fan tribute site, including dozens
of lyrics:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JimCapaldi/
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com
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