Don's Home Arts Music Interpretations Pete Seeger s

1. If I Had a Hammer, 1949 - In support of the labor movement.
2. We shall Overcome - The key anthem of the American Civil Rights Movement
3. Where have all the Flowers Gone - Antiwar
4. Waist Deep In The Big Muddy - Vietnam war protest
5. Little Boxes - About the soul-crushing conformity of suburbia and mainstream culture.
6. Guantanamera - A cuban love song popularized by Seeger
7. Wimoweh (Mbube) - Also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," Seeger adapted this from a song by South African Zulu singer/songwriter Solomon Linda.

See Pete Seeger: 20 Essential Tracks – Rolling Stone

Turn Turn Turn written by Seeger and made popular by the Byrds is taken almost verbatim from the Biblical book Ecclesiastes 3 (King James Version).
Seeger loved this poem so much, he carried a copy around in his pocket for months before inspiration hit and he set it to music.
Ecclesiastes is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon who would have written it in the 10th century BC, but believed by a significant group of biblical scholars to date much later, up to the third century BC.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Meaning:

• Timing is important. - Dancing may be appropriate during a time of celebration, but it would not be appropriate for a funeral.
• The seasons in which certain pursuits are proper are appointed by God. - Weeping may be part of life, but life is not all weeping; laughter has a place, too.
• People are to accept each day as a gift from the hand of God. Because God has a reason and a time for all things. People may be ignorant of God’s timing, but they are called to enjoy life in the present.