At 92 years old, Pete Seeger’s version of “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan headed for record books

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezyd40kJFq0]
“Forever Young” sung by Pete Seeger for Amnesty International.

Updated with click-able links – At 92, Pete Seeger the folk troubadour is headed for the first #1 hit of his career. Tony Bennett just had his first # 1 hit album at 85. This will make Pete Seeger the oldest person with a hit record.

Help out by celebrating the life of a great American who is a musician for the people of the world –

• Spread the message by sharing this story on social media
• Download the digital download from Amnesty International for $1.29
• Download Forever Young by Pete Seeger from on Amazon.com for $0.99
• Download Pete Seeger’s Forever Young or iTunes for $1.29 – song #17
• Watch the video on YouTube
• Like Pete Seeger’s Facebook Page
• Like Make Pete Seeger # 1 on Facebook
• Like the Facebook page Forever Pete!
• Join the Facebook Group Give Pete Seeger a # 1 hit
• and Feel Good about yourself, your friends and stay forever young.

Forever Pete!

“In the 1950s he was a member of the chart-topping folk group the Weavers. Among the many chart hits he sang and played on were: “On Top of Old Smoky”, “Kisses Sweeter than Wine”, “Sloop John B”, “Rock Island Line”, “The Midnight Special”, “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena” and “Goodnight Irene”. In the 1960s he was the writer or arranger/adapter of numerous songs that reached the music charts worldwide. Among the many chart hits he wrote, adapted or arranged were: “Turn, Turn Turn” “If I Had A Hammer”, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” “Guantanamera” and “We Shall Overcome”. Forever Pete.

Pete Seeger

Hounded by the McCarthy anti-communists in the 1950’s, the grandfather of modern folk music has never had a #1 hit. He couldn’t play on TV, radio, clubs or anywhere controlled or licensed by the government because he had been a socialist or communist. A lot of performers, artists and movie stars had socialist sympathies. The followers of McCarthyism tried to drive them into poverty.

Pete Seeger went on the campus of America, busking to support his family in the 1950s. Thousands of concerts later, many of them free, he nutured the interest in folk music that became the folk boom of the late 50s and early 60s. One man, a banjo and hundreds of folks songs did it.

Ironically, driving Pete Seeger underground spawned the interest of a whole generation in protest music, which helped to end the War in Vietnam and defined the 1960s rebellion.

Pete Seeger was a friend of Woody Guthrie and a major inspiration for Bob Dylan. Pete Seeger was one of Bob Dylan’s earliest backers, urging John Hammond of Columbia to sign and record him. His social activism would be an inspiration for Dylan throughout his career.

Despite the controversies at the 1965 Woodstock Festival, Bob Dylan has an almost reverential goodwill towards Pete Seeger.

Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan (Wikipedia)

“Pete Seeger was one of the earliest backers of Bob Dylan and was responsible for urging John Hammond to produce Dylan’s first LP on Columbia and for inviting him to perform at the Newport Folk Festival, of which Seeger was a board member. There was a widely repeated story that Seeger was so upset over the extremely loud amplified sound that Dylan, backed by members of the Butterfield Blues Band, brought into the 1965 Newport Folk Festival that he threatened to disconnect the equipment… Seeger has been portrayed as a folk “purist” who was one of the main opponents to Dylan’s “going electric”. but when asked in 2001 about how he recalled his “objections” to the electric style, he said:

“I couldn’t understand the words. I wanted to hear the words. It was a great song, “Maggie’s Farm,” and the sound was distorted. I ran over to the guy at the controls and shouted, “Fix the sound so you can hear the words.” He hollered back, “This is the way they want it.” I said “Damn it, if I had an axe, I’d cut the cable right now.” But I was at fault. I was the MC, and I could have said to the part of the crowd that booed Bob, “you didn’t boo Howlin’ Wolf yesterday. He was electric!” Though I still prefer to hear Dylan acoustic, some of his electric songs are absolutely great. Electric music is the vernacular of the second half of the twentieth century, to use my father’s old term.”

Making of Forever Young

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW4XxX06AmA]

How to support Pete Seeger for # 1

Hop on over to Forever Pete! and buy the single.

Click on the video above and watch it on YouTube. Join the Facebook Group Give Pete Seeger a # 1 hit and share.

It’s just that simple.

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