Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, testified in Congress yesterday. Not surprisingly he said what Generals always say: "we" can win.
Back in 1963 Pete Seeger gave a concert in Melbourne, Australia. If you never saw him in concert, this is what he was always like. The Australians are hesitant at first, unlike typical American audiences, so the pay-off doesn't come until near the end (around 7:07), where Pete asks, wouldn't it be great if all the Generals around the world could be there to hear them sing this song. The response is immediate and spontaneous. That's what most people around the world think. Generals aren't most people and neither are the ones who listen to them. But if you aren't a General or a politician, you can be there to listen to Pete. Most of you will even hear him:
- Log in to post comments
The only possible good thing to come out of the Iraq/Afghanistan mess is that maybe folksongs may yet make a comeback.
Thanks for the post, brings back memories. I first saw Pete at the age of 13 the same year as this video,in 1963 at the Bucks County, PA Peace Fair. I wasn't too impressed, since the music wasn't like the early rock I was then listening to, and, unlike my Mom who excitedly pointed Pete out, I had not listened to the Weavers. However, I saw Pete on many subsequent occasions, always fighting the good fight. Unfortunately, nearly half a century later we are still struggling to establish peace in this world. But like Pete, none of us should flag in our efforts...
Mike: He was an amazing performer. I've seen him dozens of times, the first in the fall of 1962 at one of his famous Carnegie Hall Thanksgiving concerts (where he introduced a young kid by the name of Bob Dylan to do a song; can't remember which one. Traiditional, not one he wrote). One of my treasures is a poster he autographed for me and my family as a thanks for some work I was doing for a community group he was giving a benefit for (trying to stop a giant hazardous waste incinerator). My kids grew up on his music. He occupies a special place in our lives. And his music keeps us going.
Seems like all this blog does is blame and criticize the US. As a libertarian, I agree with the sentiments but I blame the Afghan people more for being spineless and putting up with centuries of essentially being and behaving like barbarians. They seem to prefer a 14th century lifestyle and rule even without the Taliban. Hell they only have two paved roads in the entire country. How long has tar been in existence for Christ sakes? No will no progress. That region of the world has made no significant contribution to humanity. When was the last time you saw a scientific paper out of Kabul or a major scientific breakthrough? You are right--never. What if we win the war what then? They have no will to develop infrastructure or industry and I have no need for imported Afghan goat shit--probably the only useful stuff they have other than opium. Lets write off that entire area and move on. Lets stop trying to save people other than us for a change
BosotnERDoc: If you look you will see I don't just blame the US. But whatever the failings of the Afghanis (and there are many ordinary people there, just like here), they are not occupying our country, we are occupying theirs. And since I'm not Afghani, I talk about what my own government is doing. Having said that, I agree with you completely on the prescription. Let's fill it.
I'm dabbing at my eyes. Seeger has long been one of the few people in the world I'd give my life for (although we're both getting on, so I guess that doesn't mean as much by now!).
The first time I saw him live must have been around 1957, in a concert he gave at my smallish "progressive" school in NYC (the administration and most of the parents were very left). I was sitting near the front, so I got a real dose of his incredible charisma, head thrown back, singing out the obbligato to "Wimoweh" over the audience. The video brought it all back.
Second time was a Carnegie Hall concert with the Weavers some years later. Then my junior year in college, he arrived very late for a concert, having, as I recall, been delayed by his attendance at a court hearing that overturned his conviction for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before HUAC. Needless to say, his performance that night was so intense it left us shaking.
Finally, I saw him around 10 years ago at an outdoor concert at Sandy Hook at a Clearwater event, with an audience of aging lefties like myself. He didn't have much voice left, but he made the most of it and had many of us in tears. He was waiting at the ferry dock for the boat back to Manhattan, and I did something I've never done before with a famous person: I approached him, thanked him, and shook his hand. If I'd been struck by lightning in the next second, I'd have died happy.
Swift Loris: Perhaps the Little Red School House? Lots of us feel the way you do. I am powerfully affected by music and especially Pete's music. I learned to play the banjo from his book and record in the early 60s. Last time I saw him was with Tao in Charleston, SC about 4 or 5 years ago. His voice was pretty much gone by then. But not his spirit. Every bit there and more. He may be the greatest entertainer I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. When he brought fierceness it was always joyous fierceness. The younger folks make fun of us 60s survivors, but Pete represents something very precious we had and allows us to have it still. And to keep on keeping on.
The Pete Seeger song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" is perhaps a more appropriate song to cite under the present circumstances, in the context of the pending "surge" in troop strength in Afghanistan ....
It was originally censored from a Smothers Brother's TV broadcast in the 1960s, before negative publicity over the action generated by the show's hosts forced the CBS network to allow it to be broadcast on a later episode.
Link to video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4&feature=related
This video sure took me back in time. I admit to feeling some emotional response to it. I'd almost forgotten what that period of our history was like.
Anonymous: I've been posting songs starting the minute Obama's speech ended last week. Waist Deep was the first, because, as you say, it is the most appropriate. Start here and move forward each day for a different musical statement on Afghanistan from a week ago Tuesday (8 posts back, the one entitled, The Big Fool says to Push On)..
It's bad enough that my 62nd birthday was 12/8 and John Lennon has been gone 29 years. Now, memories and nostalgia from the 60's via the best folksinger EVAR. Thanks, Revere!
(Heartfelt, not snark)
What's your problem with generals?
Are they for some reason less noble than the troops under their command?
If I was a soldier I'd rather have my general "die in bed" than die beside me in battle.I'd prefer to have him on the hillside behind me surveying the battle and trying to save my life----than wastefully risking his.
Lindsay: I'm not saying a General should be in the trenches. I'm saying that Generals always want to do what Generals do, which is solve problems with the military force. They don't just order troops but they advise and influence politicians. They are old men risking the lives of young men while not risking their own lives in the process. And some of them are dumb as doorposts, historically speaking and undoubtedly today, too, although we don't know which ones yet until the history is written.
Revere--no, New Lincoln, up on 110th Street. (Trying to remember where Little Red was, I Googled it, found a story about its hosting the introduction of the Stella McCartney Gap for Kids Collection last month! Oy.) "Joyous fierceness" is precisely right, well put, joyous and loving. What an incredibly precious video that is. The Australians sit there withholding their enthusiasm as long as they can, doesn't faze him a bit, then they finally break down and totally capitulate to him. A great soul.