S.F. State professor digs on Pete Seeger
By: John Upton
May 8, 2009
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| David King Dunaway (Courtesy photo) |
San Francisco State University visiting professor David King Dunaway recently released “How Can I Keep From Singing?” an updated version of his biography of folk singer Pete Seeger, who turned 90 this week.
Why are you so interested in Pete Seeger? He was the only musician ... who was wiling to stand up and be counted in the fight against McCarthyism. There weren’t very many people that liberals could turn to during the ’50s and early ’60s ... but Pete Seeger has been always been someone who has taken the Bill of Rights one step further from freedom of speech to freedom of song.
What did you learn while researching the new edition of your book? When he was blacklisted was not a terrible time for him, but a great time for him, because the establishment was taking seriously the threat that music could pose.
How much research did you do? I’ve interviewed him 14 times, yielding thousands of pages of transcripts. I spent six years writing “The Life of Pete Seeger,” which came out 25 years ago. I redid his biography last year and have since produced a radio series which has been airing on 311 stations.
Does Pete Seeger remain relevant? He has redone some of his old anti-war songs to reflect the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [President] Barack Obama chose Pete Seeger to end his inaugural concert, and this past month two new books on Pete Seeger have appeared.
