Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

Oberlin College, 1959. Pete Seeger (who?) was giving a concert. Nothing else for me to do. So I went. This was one of the first times I'd gone to a live musical performance, so perhaps that's why I was totally blown away. Probably not, though. No, I don't remember a single one of the songs he sang. What I do remember, though, is the way I felt -- we all felt -- as members of an auditorium-wide family. We listened; we sang along, we played the "Divide the audience into groups and sing rounds" game. Or maybe the men sing one verse and the women sing another. It was fun. It felt good.

I don't think anyone there thought that we were participating in an historical movement. I know I didn't. But we were. The perspective just wasn't there for us at that time.

This movie provides the perspective. As a performer, Seeger's musicianship is impressive. His reedy voice delivers lyrics strongly and convincingly. But there's more. He has said that rather than have the audience sit attentively, quietly and respectfully, listening to him sing, he wants to hear them sing. He helps them sing. He cajoles, tweaks, shames, damn near forces them to sing.

While this documentary is not a sermon, Seeger himself has an agenda and it is shown. He has been called "An Inconvenient Artist." His music is good music. It has been given credit (or blame) for influencing several generations of young people to ask the difficult questions about their government and themselves. Two small "bits" that I especially enjoyed were Arlo Guthrie on dealing with pamphlets and why the FBI was responsible for the renewed interest in Folk Music in the 50's and 60's.

The movie, like Seeger, is entertaining. The time (90 minutes) will pass all too swiftly. It might be difficult to find (Art Houses and such). Take the time to look for it and go see it. I predict that you will be glad you did. Trust me: have I ever lied to you before?

Since childhood, I've been a fan of folk music. Before the Beatles, I was not a rock-n-roller. I was a folkie. So the documentary, "Pete Seeger: The Power of Music," was a must-see film.

This film was every bit as good as I thought it would be. It covers both Seeger's music and the politics that both inspired and was inspired by it.

Being a lefty, I am sympathetic to Seeger's humanistic politics. But the music, oh the music, is so wonderful. The film reminds us why Pete was as important to twentieth-century music as the Tin Pan Alley composers and musicians (the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, et al), the R&B/rockers (Little Richard, Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, et al), and all the folkies he inspired (Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul, and Mary; the Kingston Trio, et al).

If this film comes to your town, go and see it. Something magical is likely to happen when you do. You will suddenly hear people in the audience do something unheard of in a movie theater. You will hear them singing along. And rather than being annoying, the gentle harmonies will embrace you like your favorite warm jammies on a cold winter night.

Enjoy! (9.5 out of 10)

Although not yet scheduled for general release, "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song" is a must-see for anyone who has ever heard Pete Seeger sing or admired him for his work to clean up the Hudson River or loved/hated him for his opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to promote integration. More than anyone else, Pete Seeger was responsible for the folk revival of the 1960's, as is attested in interviews with Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Arlo Guthrie and other leading figures of the time. The film, much of it archival material from various stages in Pete's career, is filled with song and also provides a rounded portrait of Seeger's life, including the long years when he was blacklisted for his political views and his refusal to yield to the demands of the House Un-American Activities Committee that he take a loyalty oath. Seeger acknowledges that he was a card-carrying Communist until "around 1948," though he insists that his views are and were solidly rooted in American values. The songs which Seeger wrote (like "Turn, Turn, Turn...to Everything there is a Season" and "Where are All the Flowers Gone") or made famous (like "We Shall Overcome") are heard in clips from the time, and there are many scenes with Seeger still vigorous in his mid-80s at the home he built with his own hands decades earlier. His wife, Toshi, his children, his siblings appear in person and there are numerous clips featuring Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Peter, Paul and Mary, and the young Joan Baez as well as Pete himself as a member first of the Almanac Singers and later of the Weavers. The "lost years" when Pete was blacklisted and eked out a living by touring college campuses, teaching a generation of musicians to play the banjo and singing to school children are also covered in detail. The hour-and-a-half this documentary is on screen flies by quickly and -- for those old enough to remember -- is a nostalgic walk through the life and career of the man whom many consider to be the premier folksinger of the age.

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song is a documentary directed by Jim Brown.

Pete Seeger was a truly great man. He was an icon of folk singing and activism in the 20th Century and well into the 21st. He never stopped singing, and he never stopped fighting for freedom, democracy, and a better and cleaner world.

Any biographic film about Pete Seeger would be interesting, but this documentary is extremely well crafted and truly fascinating.

Pete was alive when the film was produced, so director Brown was able to interview him extensively. We also get interviews with Pete's family and his friends. These included Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, and Johnny Cash.

Also, we see plenty of archival footage, including Pete testifying before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee, and Pete accepting the National Medal of Arts at the White House.

We watched this film at home on DVD. The copy we own is part of the American Masters series, and contained a CD of Pete performing about two dozen songs.

If you love folk music and progressive struggles, this is a must-see movie. If you don't like folk music, but you love progressive struggles, you should still see it. If you don't believe in progressive struggles, the film will make you angry. Pete made plenty of people angry, but he made life better for millions and millions of people. Some of us will never forget him.

Just watched this on "American Masters" and all I've got to say is: What a great documentary on a great man! What a chronicle of Seeger's journey in music and activism from playing and riding with Woody Guthrie to going overseas to getting married to singing first with the Almanacs and then The Weavers to getting blacklisted for his views on the public stage and network television to getting invited on the Smothers Brothers show and being allowed to sing the anti-war song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" to having annual concerts on saving the Hudson River from pollution to getting various awards late in his life (like the presidential medal from Bill Clinton and the Kennedy Center Honors) to just enjoying life, this is one of the most life-affirming and enjoyable music documentaries I've ever seen. As another one of his songs goes, "To everything turn, turn, turn"...indeed!