May 1, 2009
Send Your Birthday Wishes To Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger performs at the 1970 Festival of American Folklife. (Image copyright Bill Pierce. Courtesy of Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.)
UPDATE: From everyone at the Around the Mall blog and Smithsonian Folkways, we’d like to thank you for sharing your happy birthday messages with Pete! If you’d still like to post, please do so by Tuesday, May 5th at 5 PM EST, after which we’ll close the comments and send the messages to Pete. Thanks again for participating.
On Sunday, Pete Seeger turns 90, and everyone is celebrating.
Over a dozen cities and several countries are holding concerts (some fundraisers) dedicated to the songs of protest and American life made famous by the folk music master.
Smithsonian Folkways is celebrating their star musician in several ways. They are presenting to the public, rare archival footage (including a “Wimoweh” sing-along) and photographs of Seeger. Featuring Seeger’s story with Smithsonian Folkways in their quarterly Folkways Magazine. They are also sending a photographer to document the celebrity-packed celebration Madison Square Garden birthday concert in New York City on May 3.
But no party is complete without music, and so in honor of Seeger’s history as a political protester, Folkways released the 5-disk box set, America’s Favorite Ballads Vols. 1-5. The 139 songs in the set are mainly from the years 1955 through 1960, when Seeger was blacklisted for “un-American” activity. But with the help of Folkways producer Moses Asch, Seeger was given access to a studio where he produced 5 to 6 albums a year. Some of the songs include the classics, “Hole In the Bucket,” “Home on the Range” and “Skip to My Lou.”
Want to wish Seeger happy birthday as well? Comment in the space below. Folkways, which has a relationship with Seeger dating back to 1943 and has produced nearly all of his albums, will print out and mail our readers’ comments to Seeger as part of a birthday care package.
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Don’t despair about the number of candles on your cake.
The more candles, the bigger the wish you can make.
Happy Birthday Pete!
Dear Sir!
i´ve seen you and i´ve heard your music tonight on the austrian television. it was deep and fascinating. thank´s for keeping a close watch on a lot of things going on around us. you are as important as ever.
may you stay healthy for a long, long time! your songs and thoughts will stay forever….
salut and happy birthday
wolfgang igler
vienna, austria, europe
Happy Birthday, Pete!
Thank you for the years of wonderful, amazing music and for all you do for this crazy world. You’re a true hero for many of us!
Thanks, Pete, and much love to you!
[...] your birthday greetings to Pete (c/o of the Smithsonian), and enjoy this small [...]
Thank you, sir! It is aways revelatory to be able to see a hero in the flesh. Thank you Mr. Seeger, you make what we dream of real!
Pete-I first saw you when you gave a free live concert at Hobart&William Smith Colleges in the spring of 1963, which was my freshman year. I’ve been a fan ever since. A very Happy 90th Birthday to you!
Dear Pete,
Thanks for the golden threads of music you’ve given us over all these years! “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” are two of the greatest and wisest songs ever written. And “We Shall Overcome” helped lead the way to the Obama era. A most happy birthday to you!
Scott in Washington,DC
Your great “Rainbow Quest” showed everyone all the folks we’d been listening to right there on the screen. And ina woderfully casual and human way. Thank you for all the music and song. Happy Birthday Mr. Pete Seeger!
- Stan Ridgway and his gang
Hi Pete,
all the best for you – HAPPY BIRTHDAY – stay forever young !!!!!!
Peter
Pete, your music has filled me with joy since I was in elementary school. What a thrill it was when you gave a benefit concert here in Montreal for my group, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. You are such an exemplar of what is good in the human spirit. As we say in Quebec, felicitations!! Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., President,
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Happy Birthday, Pete! You are an inspiration and a treasure.
May your song live long!
Hi Pete, I still remember that long telephone conversation we had several years ago , and I thank you for that postcard you had sent me before that.Overall, and, obviously , I want to thank you for your songs, but , still more important than that ,I want to thank you for showing me that respecting the true values of life throughout a whole life is possible.Send you my embrace from Argentina
Happy birthday dear Pete !!
Dear Pete, what an honor to be able to wish you a happy 90th birthday! I’ve been a singer/songwriter for 37 years myself but only recently bought an old long neck banjo that I’ve named Pete in your honor. You have been and remain a glory and an inspiration to us all. Thank you so much for all that you have done to make the world a better place! Here’s hoping you have 90 more birthdays to come!
Love, peace, and happiness,
Mike Roos
Happy Birthday,Pete! Thank you for all the years of great music, high ideals and something to aspire to.
Hello Pete:
Birthday greetings from Canada!!! All the best for your special occasion, and may the good Lord honour you with many more!!! Thanks for all the decades of beautiful and meaningful music.
Rick Kucemba
I was moved by your songs nad your advocacy in college, the Sunday you were in the pulpit at Trinity Church Newport during the Folk Festival in the 70′s, when you came in to Newport with Gordon Bok on Clearwater, when you sang with Mika’s son at Salve Regina – and I’m still moved. You are truly an inspiration and an icon – so continue to celebrate in your 90th year – still an inspiration. Thanks for the inumerable gifts you have given this earth. Peace and Blessings as your journey continues.
Happy Birthday, Pete! Thank you for keeping American folk music alive. Keep on keepin’ on!
Dear Pete:
Happy Birthday!
That sure was a wonderful celebration at MSG Sunday night. I was there with my partner of 33 years, whose birthday was also May 3 [she's now 55]. You sang at her Girl Scout camp in Western Mass. when she was a kid, and “Little Boxes” opened her eyes — “That’s my house,” she thought, “and my life, and it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Take care.
Love,
-Dave Potvin
Our family have been fans of yours for years! Your music spans generations and our toddler will be raised with your music in the background. Have a wonderful 90th birthday and know that you have created music that will last forever.
Love,
The Joynes Family