There is a big, beautiful world that could be destroyed by selfishness and foolishness. We musicians have it without power to save it. In a small way, every single one of us counts. Pete Seeger More Quotes by Pete Seeger More Quotes From Pete Seeger I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. Pete Seeger income clock conservative I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody. Pete Seeger jungle hobos proud Songs won't save the planet, but neither will books or speeches. Pete Seeger speech song book I always knew that sooner or later there would come somebody like Woody Guthrie who could make a great song every week. Dylan certainly had a social agenda, but he was such a good poet that most of his attempts were head and shoulders above things that I and others were trying to do. ... If I had an address, I'd send him a birthday card saying, 'keep on going.' Pete Seeger song trying cards I keep reminding people that an editorial in rhyme is not a song. A good song makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think. Pete Seeger song people thinking I guess I've learned more from the Clearwater than anything else. All I did was help to plant a seed, and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Pete Seeger ive-learned hell helping A productive mistake is: (1) made in the service of mission and vision; (2) acknowledged as a mistake; (3) learned from; (4) considered valuable; (5) shared for the benefit of all. Pete Seeger benefits vision mistake If there's something wrong, speak up! Pete Seeger speak ifs Like most teachers, I'm just another sower of seeds. Pete Seeger seeds teacher If I've got a talent, it's for picking the right song at the right time for the right audience. And I can always seem to get people to sing with me. Pete Seeger talent song people Work in nightclubs was interesting. There were interesting people and places, but by and large, the commercial music experience. Pete Seeger commercial-music people interesting John Adams and Thomas Jefferson corresponded for 13 years before they died on the same day. They asked, "How can one have prosperity without commerce? How can one have commerce without luxury? How can one have luxury without corruption? How can you have corruption without the end of the Republic?" And they really didn't know the answer. Pete Seeger luxury answers years I was 16 when I came to New York. I had graduated to a tenor banjo in the school jazz band, and it was kind of boring - just chords, chords, chords. Then my father took me to a mountain music and dance festival in Asheville, North Carolina, and there I saw relatively uneducated people playing great music by ear. Pete Seeger new-york father school We will never know everything. But I think if we can learn within the next few decades to face the danger we all are in, I believe there will be tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions, of human beings working wherever they are to do something good. Pete Seeger next believe thinking I write a song because I want to. I think the moment you start writing it to make money, you're starting to kill yourself artistically. Pete Seeger writing song thinking Looking back, I think I tried to be too eclectic. Sometimes I'd sing thirty songs, and fifteen of them were not in English. Pete Seeger fifteen song thinking In the United States, many people said you can't have folk music in the United States because you don't have any peasant class. But the funny thing was, there were literally thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who loved old time fiddling, ballads, banjo tunes, blues played on the guitar, spirituals and gospel hymns. These songs and music didn't fit into any neat category of art music nor popular music nor jazz. So gradually they said well let's call it folk music. Pete Seeger hymns song art Folks out in the country couldn't afford to pay for anybody else to make music. They had to make their own. So the peasantry had their music, and it was about a hundred years ago given the name "Folk music". Pete Seeger names country years The American Indians were Communists. They were. Every anthropologist will tell you they were Communists. No rich, no poor. If somebody needed something the community chipped in. Pete Seeger rich community teamwork There is something about participating; it is almost my religion. If the world is still here in 100 years, people will know the importance of participating, not just being spectators. Millions of small groups around the world, that don't necessarily all agree with one another, are made up of people who are not just sitting back waiting for someone to do things for them. No one can prove anything, but of course if I didn't believe it had some kind of power, I wouldn't be trying to do it. Pete Seeger believe people years
