Pete Seeger:
"Imagine a big see-saw, with a basketful of rocks sitting on one end. That end is down on the ground. At the other end, up in the air, is a basket half full of sand. Some of us are trying to fill it, using teaspoons. Most folks laugh at us: “Don’t you know the sand is leaking out even as you put it in?” We say that’s true, but we’re getting more people with more teaspoons all the time. One of these days that basket of sand will be full and you’ll see this whole see-saw just tip the opposite way. People will say, “Gee how did it happen so suddenly?” Us, and our goddam teaspoons."
Recorded between 1961 & 1971. Includes liner notes by Dave Marsh.
The two-disc, 38-track compilation A LINK IN THE CHAIN splits Pete Seeger's long and prolific career into two thematic sections. Disc one collects many of Seeger's best-known topical songs and social anthems, opening with the Dust Bowl ballad "My Oklahoma Home Blowed Away" and ending with the passionate civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." Even decades after these songs were recorded, they still wield remarkable power, particularly the allegorical "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" and the hymn-like "Turn! Turn! Turn!"
Disc two features ballads and story songs based on figures both historical ("Aimee Semple McPherson," "Pretty Boy Floyd") and mythical ("Jesse James," "Belle Starr"), as well as a handful of traditional ballads such as "The Cowboy's Lament" and "Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase" and singalong standards like "This Land Is Your Land" and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." It's the easier listen, perhaps, but it's no less impassioned.
(note; Arlo Guthrie's version of 'Livin' in the Country' is great and soon will be appearing here.)
Personnel: Pete Seeger (vocals, guitar, banjo); Fred Hellerman, Ramblin' Jack Elliott (vocals, guitar); Ed McCurdy (vocals, banjo); Sandy Bull (vocals).
Full track listing and listen to all tracks
Download;
................ 1
................ 2
................. 3
................. 4
via
If you don't know Pete; (shame, shame, but here ya go)
Perhaps no single person in the 20th century has done more to preserve, broadcast, and re-distribute folk music than Pete Seeger, whose passion for politics, the environment, and humanity have earned him both ardent fans and vocal enemies since he first began performing in the late '30s. His never-ending battle against injustice led to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, celebrated during the turbulent '60s, and welcomed at union rallies throughout his life. His tireless efforts regarding global concerns such as environmentalism, population growth, and racial equality have earned him the respect and friendship of such political heroes as Martin Luther King, Jr., Woody Guthrie, and Cesar Chavez, and the generations of children who first learned to sing and clap to Seeger's Folkways recordings must number in the millions. Rising above all of Seeger's political ideals and his passion for authentic folk music is his clear voice and chiming banjo which both sing out with a clarity that rings true.
12/23/09
A Link in the Chain
Pete Seeger:
"Imagine a big see-saw, with a basketful of rocks sitting on one end. That end is down on the ground. At the other end, up in the air, is a basket half full of sand. Some of us are trying to fill it, using teaspoons. Most folks laugh at us: “Don’t you know the sand is leaking out even as you put it in?” We say that’s true, but we’re getting more people with more teaspoons all the time. One of these days that basket of sand will be full and you’ll see this whole see-saw just tip the opposite way. People will say, “Gee how did it happen so suddenly?” Us, and our goddam teaspoons."
Recorded between 1961 & 1971. Includes liner notes by Dave Marsh.
The two-disc, 38-track compilation A LINK IN THE CHAIN splits Pete Seeger's long and prolific career into two thematic sections. Disc one collects many of Seeger's best-known topical songs and social anthems, opening with the Dust Bowl ballad "My Oklahoma Home Blowed Away" and ending with the passionate civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." Even decades after these songs were recorded, they still wield remarkable power, particularly the allegorical "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" and the hymn-like "Turn! Turn! Turn!"
Disc two features ballads and story songs based on figures both historical ("Aimee Semple McPherson," "Pretty Boy Floyd") and mythical ("Jesse James," "Belle Starr"), as well as a handful of traditional ballads such as "The Cowboy's Lament" and "Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase" and singalong standards like "This Land Is Your Land" and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." It's the easier listen, perhaps, but it's no less impassioned.
(note; Arlo Guthrie's version of 'Livin' in the Country' is great and soon will be appearing here.)
Personnel: Pete Seeger (vocals, guitar, banjo); Fred Hellerman, Ramblin' Jack Elliott (vocals, guitar); Ed McCurdy (vocals, banjo); Sandy Bull (vocals).
Full track listing and listen to all tracks
Download;
................ 1
................ 2
................. 3
................. 4
via
If you don't know Pete; (shame, shame, but here ya go)
Perhaps no single person in the 20th century has done more to preserve, broadcast, and re-distribute folk music than Pete Seeger, whose passion for politics, the environment, and humanity have earned him both ardent fans and vocal enemies since he first began performing in the late '30s. His never-ending battle against injustice led to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, celebrated during the turbulent '60s, and welcomed at union rallies throughout his life. His tireless efforts regarding global concerns such as environmentalism, population growth, and racial equality have earned him the respect and friendship of such political heroes as Martin Luther King, Jr., Woody Guthrie, and Cesar Chavez, and the generations of children who first learned to sing and clap to Seeger's Folkways recordings must number in the millions. Rising above all of Seeger's political ideals and his passion for authentic folk music is his clear voice and chiming banjo which both sing out with a clarity that rings true.
