Pete Seeger Sings and Answers Questions at Ford Forum Hall Boston

Pete Seeger does a fair amount of talking during his concerts; he does even more than usual (and considerably less singing) in the appearance captured on this two-disc set, but that's by design. Seeger was the featured speaker at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston, MA, on November 12, 1967, and the complete event is heard here. (Although Seeger has a recording contract with Columbia Records, he has been allowed to make recordings for his longtime label Folkways when they do not constitute commercial competition, which would seem to apply to a largely spoken double album.) A natural teacher, Seeger spends the first half of the evening giving what is in effect a lecture on the history of the U.S. as depicted in folk song. ("I'm skipping lightly through our history," he explains.) While he decries what he calls "editorials in rhyme" and says it is the more universal, objective songs that tend to survive, he also gives examples, sometimes only reciting a few lines or singing a bit, of songs that have addressed issues at various times, even ones supporting bigotry, anti-Irish material. He is apologetic, but says, "I want to get the historical record out." In fact, it might be said that he is apologetic about American history in general, focusing on the injustices that have been done, starting with the incursion of Europeans onto the American continent. On the second disc, he takes questions from an audience that is clearly sympathetic, although sometimes skeptical. He is quickly given a chance to explain the circumstances regarding the censorship of his allegorical anti-Vietnam War song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" on network television (which occurred a couple of months before the forum) and to perform the song itself. But then a listener asks if it's really helpful to call President Johnson "the big fool." Seeger replies somewhat disingenuously that Johnson isn't actually mentioned in the song and adds that, metaphorically, he (Seeger) is really just a shoemaker, and, "if the shoe fits .." That's about as contentious as things get, although the audience may have been surprised to hear his qualified support for Israel (he thinks the Palestinians should have gotten greater consideration when it was founded); his qualified criticism of the Communist regime in Hungary (he says things were worse under fascism); and his demurral when asked his opinion of Joan Baez. Naturally, along the way, he ends up getting his listeners to sing along on folksong favorites. ~ William Ruhlmann