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Unsung Forum » "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song" |
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bitteryesbitter 370 posts |
Dec 05, 2007, 00:02
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Jason Leopold Reviews By Jason Leopold Tuesday 04 December 2007 http://www.peteseeger.net/ One of the sad truths about the Bush administration's historic foreign policy failure, resulting in the occupation of Iraq and the numerous constitutional abuses that followed, is that it has not led to the type of artistry reminiscent of the Vietnam War era. That's the feeling you're left with after watching "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song," an inspirational new documentary that pays tribute to the legendary folk singer and activist. With all due respect to Neil Young and The Dixie Chicks, there hasn't been a single musical artist to emerge over the past five years who has displayed a passion and an urgency in using the power of song to rail against the social and political injustices and inspire a generation to rise up the way Seeger has done for more than half a century. That is partly because record labels in this day and age frown upon that sort of dissent from its artist roster, fearing that it will negatively impact album sales. Moreover, corporations such as Clear Channel, which control playlists at thousands of radio stations across the country, have refused to air songs openly critical of the Bush administration's policies. In essence, there is no incentive for musicians to exercise their rights to free speech via songwriting when profits, first and foremost, trump the free form of expression. Directed by Jim Brown, who manned the camera on the 1982 documentary "The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time," one of Seeger's early folk groups, the theatrical release of "The Power of Song" is timely given the current political climate and how polarized America has become. The testimonials to Seeger's lyrical genius and devotion to social causes by such rock luminaries as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines is spread liberally throughout the 90-minute feature. But what's truly fascinating about this documentary is that we're reminded that Seeger's songs, penned decades ago in response to issues such as union-busting, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War, still have a timeless quality that resonates today. Seeger's arrangements of "This Little Light of Mine," "We Shall Overcome," or "Turn, Turn, Turn" sound just as fresh today. The film opens with a virile Seeger, now 88, dressed in blue jeans and wearing hiking boots, venturing out to a wooded area in upstate New York to chop firewood. He wields an ax with the same energy he uses to pick the banjo, one of the instruments he's mastered in his lifetime, and returns to the log cabin in Hudson Valley, New York, that he and his wife of 63 years, Toshi, built with their bare hands some 40 years ago. Pete has brought back enough wood to keep the couple warm for the evening. It was here, in 1969 where Seeger promised his young daughter that he would clean up the polluted Hudson River so she and other children could grow up one day and swim in the water. And much to his daughter's surprise that's exactly what Seeger did. Seeger founded The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Inc., an organization that single-handedly rehabilitated the Hudson and is credited with spawning the grass-roots environmental movement. Seeger's wife laments that "if only Pete chased women instead of chasing causes, I would have an excuse to leave him." That's the underlying message in the documentary - Seeger very much walks the walk. He isn't some part-time activist or folk singer, and that's what sets him apart from today's musical artists. Indeed, Seeger reveals that he resigned from The Weavers when the group's members licensed one of their hit folk songs for use in a cigarette commercial because the musicians were desperate for money. "We didn't need the money that bad," Seeger recalls saying. It was that sort of radical response that apparently made Seeger so dangerous to people in power. He paid for it by being hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee to respond to charges that he was a communist sympathizer. Seeger, standing his ground, refused to answer the committee's questions about his personal political views and was held in contempt of Congress. For the next 17 years, Seeger was blacklisted from radio and television. Recounting the episode and whether he was worried that he would be incarcerated, Seeger says, "I'm probably very stupid, but I'm not fearful." That answer is perhaps the most inspirational moment in this film, which should serve as a wake-up call to journalists and musicians alike: speaking truth to power is the ultimate form of patriotism. Seeger would find poetic justice many years later when then-President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Arts at the Kennedy Center in 1994. "I really love this country," Seeger says in the final moments of the documentary. "If you love your country you'll find ways to speak out and do what you know is right." Today, Seeger sometimes ventures out onto a street corner in upstate New York to join other activists protesting the occupation of Iraq. -------- "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song" is playing in New York at the IFC Center, 323 Sixth Avenue (at West 3rd Street) New York, NY 10014 (phone 212-924-777); and in Los Angeles, at Laemmle Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (phone) 310-274-6869.
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handofdave 3515 posts |
Edited Dec 05, 2007, 02:17
Dec 05, 2007, 01:34
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Good post. And it's true... for various reasons, there hasn't emerged an artist that packs the punch that Seeger did, or even pre-electric Dylan, in voicing dissent. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted heavily for making one crack about George Bush... prior to that they were quite popular in the C&W world. That audience turned on them viciously. And since then the C&W world's 'patriotism' has been incredibly heavy handed... an integral part of the pro-war propaganda machine. Folk is largely an irrelevant force these days... it's content to rehash clichés and preach to the choir. Rock has pretty much abandoned politics. There are some rockers out there who do address the world beyond it's own domain, but they don't get airplay. The sad fact is, much of the youth today are apolitical, apathetic, and disconnected... they're plugged into video games (much of them violent, indirectly or directly pro-war). I'll tell you what would resurrect a sense of unified opposition, and kickstart a return to popular artistic fury against the system.... a draft. That is the one thing that today's kids don't have to worry about, the thing that the kids of the sixties faced. Not that I'm advocating a draft...! And not that a draft would happen anyway, because the military-industrial complex won't have it. The draft was what sparked massive opposition then, they're not going to repeat that mistake. They're ripping off the future and slinking away into the sunset quite well as is. No, the powermongers have successfully managed to rig society for their benefit. As insidious as they wanna be, and few are paying attention. The next worldwide depression is on it's way, so I guess this means that the blues is coming back in style? PS: Right after I wrote this I got an email about new shit on iTunes, and there's a bit about how Billy Joel has written something called 'Christmas in Fallujah'.... proceeds to go to wounded vets. Plenty of that sort of thing these days... lots of gooey 'support the troops' stuff, not much raging fury aimed at ending the war and putting the fuckers who started it on trial..... That sort of thing is frowned upon, even by the spineless Democratic leadership! Argh.
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jamie_summers 45 posts |
Dec 05, 2007, 10:32
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there are groups writing these songs, they're just (as people have said) not going to get any media attention to be heard... xiu xiu's song "Support Our Troops" springs to mind, can you imagine what would happen if this played on american radio/tv? 'Did you know you were going to shoot off the top of a four year old girl's head And look across her car-seat down into her skull And see into her throat and did you know that her dad would say to you, "Please sir, can I take her body home?" Oh wait, you totally did know... that that would happen Cuz you're a jock who was too stupid and too greedy And too unmotivated to do anything else but still be The biggest and still do what other people tell you to do You did it to still be a winner You shot your grenade launcher into peoples windows and Into the doors of peoples houses but you really wanted to shoot it at someone just to see them blow up. why should I care if you die?'
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handofdave 3515 posts |
Dec 05, 2007, 13:10
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Yes, you're right... that wouldn't ever, ever, in a million years make it past the management of any radio station. But in the case of that particular ditty, I'd have to agree... it's frank and holds nothing back, but wouldn't achieve its objective of turning opinion against the war. It would more likely turn opinions against the war protesters, or at least the band playing it. Nobody, and I include the right wing here, is sympathetic to the character this song portrays... yes, there are psychopaths in the military, who join 'just to see someone blow up', but most of the troops didn't enlist for that reason... they joined in many cases before Bush screwed them over and dumped them into an impossible situation, simply because the military offered them employment, an education, a way out of dead-end lives in impoverished parts of the country (yes, I realize the irony is rich here). Were these boys and girls 'suckers' for enlisting? Probably, but to my mind the brunt of the criticism needs to go where the criminal intent originated.. at the top, with all the scum politicians who planned or allowed the invasion to happen. That includes the bulk of the Democrats, who were the lazy fuckers who gave Bush a blank check out of fear of looking 'soft'.
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1001realapes 2386 posts |
Jan 28, 2014, 07:19
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Pete Seeger 1919 - 2014
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spencer 3069 posts |
Jan 28, 2014, 09:59
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A road well travelled.... RIP. There is so much wrong in this 'observed' and unjust world that should be sung about today. But who is?
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Moon Cat 9577 posts |
Jan 28, 2014, 10:17
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He drew the roadmap that many followed. RIP
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Sin Agog 2253 posts |
Jan 28, 2014, 10:29
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Every time a minstrel dies, a vast repository of songs dies with them. I appreciate his protest side, but I think I liked the Seegers most whenever they were singing simple, cute folk songs which speak to the child in me.
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handofdave 3515 posts |
Jan 28, 2014, 18:59
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The man bridged multiple generations. You might say that folk music just lost its great-grandad.
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