How Can I Keep from Singing?: The Ballad of Pete Seeger

by David King Dunaway

Book Overview

How Can I Keep from Singing? is the compelling story of how the son of a respectable Puritan family became a consummate performer and American rebel. Updated with new research and interviews, unpublished photographs, and thoughtful comments from Pete Seeger himself, this is an inside history of the man Carl Sandburg called "America's Tuning Fork." In the only biography on Seeger, David Dunaway parts the curtains on his life. Who is this rail-thin,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345506081
• ISBN13: 9780345506085
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

THE LAST HONEST MAN

PETE SEEGER WAS MY FIRST POLITICAL HERO. HIS MUSIC RAISED MY CONSCIOUSNESS AND THAT OF MANY OTHERS OF MY GENERATION. MY UNCLE SANG WITH HIM AT FUNDRAISERS AND I MET HIM SEVERAL TIMES. AS AN ADOLESCENT I TOLD HIM ONCE I HAD ALL HIS RECORDS AND HE FROWNED AND SAID, "DON'T BUY THE RECORDS, LEARN THE SONGS, SING THEM, TEACH THEM TO YOUR FRIENDS". THAT WAS ALL HE SAID, AND I DID AND KEPT DOING IT UNTIL ARTHRITIS AND THE LOSS OF MY VOICE STOPPED ME. I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT PETE ALTHOUGH I DISAGREE WITH MANY OF HIS VIEWS, WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS. I CANNOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FATHOM HIS CONTINUAL BELIEF IN COMMUNISM, BUT I ALSO HAVE TO ADMIRE, GREATLY, HIS HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND ABILITY TO ALWAYS MAINTAIN HIS VALUES. IS HE A GREAT MAN? YES, WITHOUT A DOUBT, PERHAPS ONE OF OUR GREATEST EVER AND SOME OF HIS VISIONS FOR AN AMERICA OF PEACE, HARMONY AND EQUALITY SHOULD BE HONORED, NOT RIDICULED. THE BOOK IS VERY EVEN IN IT'S TREATMENT OF PETE, BOTH THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE. IT ALSO GIVES A VERY IMPORTANT IF NOT HORRIFYING LOOK AT THE HATRED, BIGOTRY AND VIOLENCE OF AMERICA THAT PETE BATTLED ALL HIS LIFE. PETE WOULD BE HORRIFIED I'M SURE TO KNOW THAT HE WAS AS MUCH AN HISTORIAN AS HE WAS ORGANIZER, AGITATOR AND PROPHET. BUT LIKE IT OR NOT HE WAS AND IS. THE BOOK SHOULD BE READ BY EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY IF ALL YOU KNOW ABOUT PETE SEEGER ARE THE RIDICULOUS STORIES PUT OUT IN THE 40'S, 50'S AND 60'S BY THOSE WHO HATED HIM.

"Make your own music,write your own books,if you want to keep your soul."

"Tell a man what he may not sing,and he is still half free, even all free,. But tell him what he MUST sing if he never wanted to sing, take up his time with it so that his true voice cannot sound even in secret--there,I have seen, is slavery." Pete was born in 1919,started Harvard in 1936,and because it could not hold his interest,he began a lifetime of Folk Music. There was nothing more important in his life than making music and singing his songs with other people. With his wife Toshi ,the unsung hero,always by his side and his home and family a foundation of support;Pete and his music could always be found supporting one cause or another. This book does a marvelous job of showing that Pete fought injustice all his life;no matter whether he found it in a union hall,freedom marches in the south,cotton fields or even the government of the country he so loved. Pete's whole life can be summed up in one song that is now known and sung all over the world and is a war cry against injustice and in support of freedom. "If I had a hammer I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening, All over this land. I'd hammer out a danger, I'd hammer out a warning, I'd hammer out of love and between All of my brothers All over this land. If I had a bell... If I had a song... Now I have a hammer And I have a bell And I have a song to sing All over this land. It's the hammer of justice, It's the bell of freedom, And a song about love between All of my brothers All over this land" Dunaway writes in an easy flowing style and has done an amazing amount of research to make sense of a life that has been central to the whole Folk Music scene that took off in the 1930's and reached its peak in the 50's and 60's and in one way or another continues till today. All one has to do is to think of,hum or hear "We Shall Overcome", "This Land Is Your Land" ,"Deportees" or any of the hundreds of other songs that Pete and his fellow travellers made so popular;and you know what an impact they made on the music scene in North America and many other parts of the world. In this book ,if you have been a fan of Pete,Woody Guthrie,Josh White,Allan Lomax,Doc Watson,Burl Ives,Bob Dylan,Mother Maybell ,The Alamacs,The Weavers,The Kingston Trio,and numerous others ;you are going to find all kinds of things that will surprise you and bring back many memories. The book has many wonderful photos as well as the words to many songs and information behind those songs.Extensive notes on each chapter will provide sources of information that is hard to believe exists.A complete Discography lists all the Pete's recordings ,arranged chronologically and each almum lists each song therein contained. Some time ago ,I found several copies of "Sing Out" magazine,so often mentioned in this book. These are from the 60's and a treasure trove of photos,articles,words and music to songs,and u

Mr. Dunaway's Book

This biography of Pete Seeger's life is an important read in these times. It documents the way the U.S. government can treat an American citizen without regard to our Constitution's promise of freedom of thought and expression. This book is a tale of a folk singer who was imprisoned and blacklisted because of his political beliefs.

Two gifted storytellers

Mr. Dunaway's writing is giving me a feel for the 1920s, '30s, 40s, and the parts of the '50s that I don't have my own clear memories of. By telling me the story of Pete Seeger, he's also told me parts of the story of my parents' childhood. I'm half-way through my first reading of this (library) book and have decided to get my very own copy.