The Last Time I Sang with Pete Seeger - Part 1

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Ten Years Ago This Week

on November 14, 2013, I had the incredible pleasure of performing with Pete Seeger one last time.  Pete headlined a benefit concert for WBAI at the Cutting Room in Manhattan, New York.  He asked me and David Amram to join him. 

The concert was billed as “Pete Seeger & Friends.”  Later that month, Pete sang a few songs with Arlo Guthrie at his Thanksgiving concert in Carnegie Hall.  And I hear he also sang one or two songs elsewhere.  But, as far as I know, this was the last “Pete Seeger” concert.  And what a concert it was! 

A few days after I first met Pete in 2003, when a group of friends asked what it was like, I said “I looked into his eyes and saw the Universe.”  When asked what that meant, I said, “I don’t know.  But I’m going to find out.”

Humanity

Well, over the next ten years, I found out a lot about what was behind those eyes.  And if I were asked what the most compelling thing was that I found, I would say “humanity.”  I learned that Pete’s innumerable acts of humanity, his activism, the pearls of wisdom he shared, and the reason he shared them were all rooted in his love for humankind.

Today, we have almost unlimited access to great songs and stories.  And there are countless websites with wise quotes from wise people.  But what value do any of these have if they are not somehow moored to humanity?  I believe we can have all the wisdom in the world and say all the right words but they are empty if they are not attached to humanity. We experience humanity in the example of a person’s character; the way he or she treats other people; the way they interact with the world around them; OR the pure goodwill emanating from their being-ness.

Before the Show

Pete was not in great health by the night of the concert.  At age 94 ½, he was visibly tired.  For the first time in the ten years I had known him, he asked me to carry his instruments and put a chair on stage in case he needed to sit down.  In a frail voice, Pete told me his memory was shot and his fingers were too stiff to play so I should be prepared to take over a song if he forgot the words.  David and I were concerned that Pete might not be able to play the full set we had planned.

But a spectacular thing happened.  I would call it “miraculous,” except some people might think something supernatural happened or there was some sort of divine intervention.  I am not going to say that was not the case.  But I doubt what took place would have happened if Pete hadn’t known there was one more handful of seeds to broadcast and found a way to rise to the occasion.  

The Show

Pete was helped onto the stage, banjo in hand, a little hunched over.  David and I stood by ready to help if he lost his strength.  But with every step toward the microphone, you could see him come more and more to life!  When he got to the mic, he spoke to the audience as if each person in the room was a lifelong friend – and, in a way, they were. 

Pete’s humanity was on full display. His joy was inescapable.  A sparkle lighted up his eyes as he launched into the first song.  By the second verse, he had the audience in the palm of his hands.  And by the second song, he had everybody in the building singing. 

In the audience, I saw my friend, Billy, who knew almost nothing about Pete but came to see me play with him.  Along with everybody else, he was completely enraptured.  Tears streamed down his face as he watched a man who could hardly sing give what he later told me was the most heart-felt concert he’d seen in his life.

You see, Pete’s voice really was shot.  His memory was pretty much gone.  His fingers were stiff.  He had little left other than pure unadulterated love.  You could see how deeply he was touched by the warmth of the audience’s welcome when he walked on stage - as if they were expressing their love for every song and every story Pete had ever shared. 

And when he looked to the sky, searching for the words to the next line, and then found them, Pete displayed the joy of a child finding a piece of candy in his mother’s hand.  It was an evening that will probably always be one of the most treasured of my life.

A Mystical Twist

Several times during the concert, I got that strange feeling you get when you are fully aware of your surroundings, and completely in the moment. I knew this was a unique instant in my life as I watched Pete more than ever share not what he could do – for he could hardly do it anymore – but who he was. 

When I got home that night, I couldn’t be alone.  So I walked across town to late-night potluck supper and just sat at the kitchen table in silence knowing I could never fully share with someone else just what the evening was like.

Maybe this video captures a fraction of the palpable spirit that was in that room that night.  Or maybe you have a memory of a Pete Seeger concert you attended yourself.  One thing is for sure. Those of us who got to know Pete, even if only through his recordings, are indeed fortunate.

Until next time,

~ Keep the Flame Alive!