Pete Seeger's interested in activism, not prizes

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BEACON — Bruce Springsteen called Pete Seeger the other day and asked if he could share the stage with the venerable folk singer during the weekend's pre-inauguration celebrations.

Seeger said he'd be happy to — that it would be an honor. But, in recounting the story and telling his plans for the next few days, Seeger reserved his real enthusiasm for his scheduled performance with a group of Beacon schoolchildren at a Baptist church there during a daylong celebration of Martin Luther King's legacy on Monday.

Oh, and yes, he's aware of an effort by another longtime political activist to get him nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He remembers the woman who's amassed 21,000 signatures urging his nomination. He's grateful, he said; she's a nice person, but, after all, "it's just one more bit of fame, and fame is a snare and a delusion."

If there were a Nobel Prize for modesty, Pete Seeger wouldn't need a petition to get the prize. Fame is something others crave but Seeger endures.

"Now I know why Bruce Springsteen has a manager who handles all his calls and mail — my phone's always ringing. I get mail by the bushel."

If he's complaining, it's hard to tell. During the course of a 20-minute telephone interview, the 89-year-old troubadour's voice rose never in anger, only in song.

"They want me to sing "This land is Your Land" in front of the Lincoln Memorial, but at these big rallies, a fast song, by the time the sound reaches people a quarter mile away, it's out of sync."

The only time singing in front of a massive rally worked for him was during the Moratorium in Washington in 1969. To demonstrate, he sang, at a leisurely pace, "All we are saying, is give peace a chance ... ."

Then he sang the chorus of a freedom song from the civil rights era, "Oh, Wallace, You Never Can Jail Us All." Then, trying to prove he was old, he sang a tune that goes "How do I know my youth is all spent? / My get-up-and-go has got up and went!"

Seeger will sing at 2 p.m. Monday at Beacon's Springfield Baptist Church.

source :http://horsesass.org/?p=11706