I just got the new (Summer 2004) issue of Sing Out! magazine, and this is what I read in Pete Seeger's Appleseeds column:

Friends, it looks like this is my last "Appleseeds" column. Doctors and pills have failed to bring my memory back; I can't remember names, words...

I am tempted to cry out, "Say it ain't so, Pete!" But quite frankly, I am not at all surprised. People close to Pete tell me this has been a long time coming. For example, during a concert appearance at Philips Andover Academy earlier this year he forgot some words to So Long, It's Been Good to Know You, and two days later he was still apologizing to people for the memory lapse.

Pete did leave himself a bit of wiggle room, but the way I see it, after 50 years of writing that column, he's tossed in the towel. Can his farewell concert be far behind? I hope not.