When I was a kid, we fled New York City in the summer to a little farmhouse in upstate New York. TV was never a big deal in our family, but all summer long we didn't have TV at all. Evenings were spent playing parcheesi and cards, reading stories aloud ... and listening to records.
My mother had an old record player and a handful of albums — Arturo Toscanini conducting Beethoven symphonies, Scott Joplin piano rags and, best of all, three albums of Pete Seeger singing American folk songs.
Pete Seeger was my education in traditional music, and he remains a favorite of my family's to this day. I t was through him great songs to sing, like "Godnight Irene" and "Oh Mary Don't You Weep," came to us, and I'm doing my best to pass them on.
So it was with great pleasure that I watched "The Power of Song," the documentary on PBS about Seeger that has been airing recently. Seeger seems like exactly the kind of person we need today — he's principled, and more than that, he's willing to turn those principles into action. Once villified by a culture caught up in anti-communist fervor, he now seems extraordinarily prescient, and I think deep down, he knew all along we'd come around.
And above all, through all the vicissitudes of his life, he's retained a simple, quiet positive spirit, a unshakable belief that change can be made, and that a good song can help bring people together and be a catalyst for change.
If you have a chance to catch "The Power of Song," I recommend it. Seeger's words and music remain forceful today. Seldom does a TV show make me want to go out and lead a better life. This one did.