Pete Seeger: A Singer of Folk Songs

Article Sidebar

Open / Download PDF
Published: Dec 10, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/lincu-2020-2-0177
Keywords:
Pete Seeger Folk music American history Social activism Civil Rights movement

Main Article Content

David Livingstone
Palacký University, Olomouc, Czechia

Abstract

Pete Seeger would have turned one hundred and one on May 3 of this year. To commemorate these ten decades plus one year, I would like to look at eleven of the most remarkable aspects of Pete Seeger’s life, work and legacy. This paper will examine the cultural impact and oral tradition of the music, songs and books of Pete Seeger. This legendary folk musician's career spanned eight decades and touched on many of the key historical developments of the day. He is responsible for some of the iconic songs which have not only helped define American culture, but even beyond. Seeger was also a pioneer in a number of fields, using his music to propagate political convictions, ecological themes, civil rights, world music, education, etc. The folk singer also had his finger on the pulse of a number of developments in American history and culture. He was friends with a number of prominent musicians and artists and influenced an entire range of younger musicians and activists.

Article Details

How to Cite
Livingstone, D. “Pete Seeger: A Singer of Folk Songs”. Linguaculture, vol. 11, no. 2, Dec. 2020, pp. 125-34, doi:10.47743/lincu-2020-2-0177.
Issue
Vol. 11 No. 2 (2020)
Section
Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

David Livingstone, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czechia

David Livingstone is an American living and working for almost 30 years in the Czech Republic. He teaches English Literature, with a specialization in Shakespeare, at Palacký University in Olomouc. He also has classes in American Folk Music, Children's Literature and Czech Culture. His hobbies include beer, the banjo and travelling. His latest publication is called In our Own Image: Fictional Representations of William Shakespeare.

References

Dubois, Laurent. The Banjo: America's African Instrument. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016. Print.

Dunaway, David King. A Pete Seeger Discography. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2011. Print.

Lomax, Alan. The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1964. Print.

Lomax, John. A & Alan Lomax. American Ballads and Folk Songs. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1934. Print.

Marine, Gene. “Guerrilla Minstrel.” The Pete Seeger Reader. Ed. Cohen, Ronald P. & James Capaldi. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. 40-48. Print.

Seeger Pete. The Smithsonian Folkways Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2019. Print. Shaw, John This Land That I Love. New York: Public Affairs, 2013. Print.