I think it was 1981 the first time I ever really heard Arlo Guthrie. It was early on a very cold Sunday morning. My dad and I sat in the truck outside our shop listening to every minute (about fifteen minutes in this version) of "Alice's Restaurant". It was the beginning of my education on American counterculture.
Arlo lead me to his father, Woody Guthrie. Woody led me to Pete Seeger.
(Later, I would learn Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Steinbeck, Ochs. And they would all keep leading me back to Steinbeck.)
The one (and only time) in my life that I was brave enough to stand up with others in an environmental protest, we sang Pete Seeger songs and I have came to understand just how much of an American hero he was. Pete spent a life standing up for the oppressed and voiceless in our country.
Pete Seeger died last night.
Here is a quote from the Yahoo News/Associated Press article about his life and death:
"I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American."
And here is the full article:
Folk singer, activist Pete Seeger dies in NY
Hammer on, Pete, and thank you!
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