A beloved Renegade died this week. You probably know him. Pete Seeger.
His sing-alongs unified millions. His ideas sometimes shocked folks. Like this typical Pete anecdote – Pete walked by the living room where his grandson and a friend were playing Monopoly. “Might as well be playing ‘Rape,'” he said, letting the words hang in the air. Then he left the room.
Whoa.
This one still shocks me. But we need that renegade voice. The one who questions, the one who looks at things from another angle. The one who speaks up, voicing ideas that may be unpopular and certainly contrary to the status quo.
We may not agree with everything a renegade says, but we need to hear them. Because they jolt us. They wake us up. Wake us up enough to consider our own opinions and make deliberate choices.
I crossed paths with Pete Seeger because he founded my beloved Clearwater, the famous Hudson River Sloop that sails the waters of the Hudson. I sailed on the Clearwater for a year, living on the boat as deckhand and Third Mate. It’s a boat of environmental education, but also a boat of joy and song. Pete and others built the boat to bring attention to the polluted river by bringing people down to the river again and reminding them they love it. Because, of course, we fight to save what we love.
Pete was the ultimate renegade. He wouldn’t stop. Five years ago, when I stood on the National Mall for President Obama’s inaugural concert, there was Pete Seeger up on stage at the Lincoln Memorial, still playing his banjo at age 89 in the frigid January air. Last year he was still adding new verses to “This Land is Your Land” keeping up with current causes in support of Farm Aid.
Pete had a file a mile long with the FBI. The House Un-American Activities Committee marched him in for interrogation and sentenced him to jail because he wouldn’t stop. If they had woken up, they would have realized that the only un-American activities going on were the actions of the House Committee itself. Speaking out is a vital part of healthy democracy.
In President Clinton’s words, Pete was “an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them.”
We all need to do that. Sing out what we see. Take action to make positive changes.
Pete’s weapon was always his banjo. He woke up people’s hearts with his songs. Universal songs like “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and quintessential American songs that he popularized like “This Land is Your Land” and “We Shall Overcome.” Words painted on his banjo said, “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.”
The lyrics say it best:
Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Farewell, Pete. Your music will carry on. Most people may think of you singing around a campfire, but I’ll always picture you with a banjo in your hand on the deck of Clearwater, or up on your Beacon hilltop home filtering maple sap into buckets through your handkerchiefs.
Good work. Good rest.
Have you sung with your children today? What renegade do you admire?
