Quotessence
Home / Authors / Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger Quotes

Singer

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleSongIfsWorldThinkingKnowsYearsCountryFolksFatherSaidWantWayBelieveHelpingMillionsSingingFolk MusicHumansKind

Famous Pete Seeger Quotes

“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.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWorldTryingYearsBelieveKindMadeStillsCoursesWaitingMillionsGroupsProveSittingImportanceAgreeAround The WorldJust BeingSpectatorsParticipatingSmall Groups
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“I would ask, "How can one have a technological society without research? How can one have research without researching dangerous areas? How can one research dangerous areas without uncovering dangerous information? How can you uncover dangerous information without it falling into the hands of insane people who will sooner or later destroy the human race, if not the whole of life on earth?" Who knows? God only knows!”

PeopleIfsKnowsHumansWholeHandsEarthFallAsksRaceDangerousInformationResearchAreasInsaneHuman RaceSooner Or LaterTechnologicalKnowing GodUncovering
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“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.”

PeopleKindSchoolFatherSawsNew YorkBandMountainEarsJazzBoringFestivalsChordsGreat MusicCarolinaUneducatedNorth CarolinaTenorsMusic And DanceBanjosJazz BandAsheville
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“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.”

PeopleWellsArtSaidStatesSongUnitedClassUnited StatesFitJazzGuitarFolksTunesCategoriesThey SaidFunny ThingsPeasantsNeatHymnsFolk MusicBalladsOld TimePopular MusicArt MusicBanjos
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“My father urged Alan [Lomax] not to repeat the mistakes of the European folklorists who, a century ago, had collected these peasant songs and then arranged them for part choir and accompanied them on piano, and then told the young people of their country, "Don't change a note, this is our sacred heritage." Father said, whether it's a fiddle tune or a gospel song, learn it right off the record from the people who grew up with it. Don't just learn it from a piece of paper.”

PeopleSaidCountryYoungSongFatherMistakeRecordsPiecesCenturyGrewPaperGrew UpSacredNotesPianoRepeatsTunesHeritagePeasantsDon't ChangeChoirFiddleGospel Songs
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“He [Alan Lomax] started right off trying to find people who could introduce folk songs to city people. He found a young actor named Burl Ives and said, "Burl, you know a lot of great country songs learned from your grandmother, don't you know people would love to hear them?" He put on radio programs. He persuaded CBS to dedicate "The School of the Air" for one year to American folk music. He'd get some old sailor to sing an old sea shanty with a cracked voice. Then he'd get me to sing it with my banjo.”

PeopleKnowsTryingYearsSaidCountrySchoolYoungSongActorsFoundVoiceCitiesAirSeaProgramFolksRadioGrandmotherIntroducingSailorCrackedFolk MusicGreat CountryYoung ActorsBanjosYour GrandmotherFolk Songs
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“There are many people writing songs. That is absolutely wonderful. Who knows, there may be some kid in diapers and he or she might succeed in capturing in a few dozen words what great writers have spent years trying to say. Just the right word in the right place with the right melody behind it and the right rhythm. It might get around the world inch by inch, and people realize that this world is in danger, that we're in danger. That's the way "This Land Is Your Land" got to be so well known.”

PeopleKnowsWorldWayWritingTryingYearsWellsMayMightKidsSongRealizingBehindsKnownWonderfulLandDangerThis WorldSucceedRhythmAround The WorldMelodyDozenInchesWell KnownRight PlaceWriting SongsGreat WritersRight WordsDiapers
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image

“Just as with other great words, the word environment means different things. You might say that a cave woman twenty thousand years ago sweeping out the cave was improving the environment. Many people improving the environment think only in terms of the air they breathe in their hometown and the water in the aquifer under their hometown. My guess is very few are thinking centuries ahead or thousand of years ahead, but that's what we have to do.”

PeopleThinkingYearsMeanDifferentMightTermWaterEnvironmentAirCenturyThousandYears AgoTwentiesBreatheDifferent ThingsThousand YearsImprovingCavesHometownSweepingAquifers
Author:Pete Seeger
Create image