Written by Carol Amberg
On Sunday, April 11th, a group of people representing the River Project, ventured down to Beacon, N.Y. on the Hudson River to meet and spend the afternoon talking with American folk icon, Pete Seeger. Mr. Seeger graciously agreed to be interviewed by students Joseph and Jacob Bockus from Gouverneur High School.
Over the course of nearly two hours, Pete talked about his life, his music, and his causes. He talked about his friend, Woody Guthrie, and some advice he had once given him about a new song. Pete told Woody that the tune was too simple and that it would never catch on. He chuckles now as he reveals that the song was "This Land is Your Land," now known by most school children in America.
He spoke of having been hauled before the House of Un-American Activities Committee, of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, of being blacklisted by TV until two young men with a hit television comedy show invited him on. They were the Smothers Brothers.
He quoted Samuel Taylor Coleridge's, "In Xanadu did Kubla Kahn a stately pleasure dome decree…" and how the poem had come to Coleridge in a dream. After waking, so the story goes, he tried to get the whole thing down on paper, but was interrupted and lost the memory of the rest of it, and it remained forever unfinished. There seems to be nothing wrong with Mr. Seeger's memory. He related conversations he'd had with people over the past 50 years with detail and humor.
He is a man who was not afraid to say what he thought even when his cause was bound to get him in trouble. He sang for the Labor Movement and the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-war Movement, and the Environmental Movement. When he became concerned about the state of the Hudson River, he did something about it. He and some friends built the Clearwater Sloop, a reproduction of an earlier river sloop, and sailed it up and down the river, spreading the word about pollution and raising money to clean up the river. Because of his efforts and the efforts of many others, the Hudson River is now open for swimming in many places. But there is still work to be done, and Pete Seeger is still helping to do it. He still carries a full schedule of engagements to speak about his work, his life, and his concerns.
When asked who his heroes are, he replied without hesitating that his wife of 56 years, Toshi, is his hero. She raised their children while he was traveling the world sharing the wealth of songs he had learned from the people of this country and the ones he had written himself. These include folk classics, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "If I Had a Hammer," as well as "The Big Muddy."
Near the end of the interview, he asked about the River Project and was pleased to hear that students were visiting their waterways and learning about them to gain awareness and appreciation of their environment. He expressed an interest in visiting one of the Project's Exhibitions if his schedule permits, and of course, was warmly invited.
At the end of the day, Pete jumped into his car and drove away, and we happily packed up the lights and cameras, piled into our cars, and followed the Hudson River north.