The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #160479   Message #3806953
Posted By: Thomas Stern
26-Aug-16 - 06:28 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
the following found at: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=498
perhaps this relates to your question....
Best wishes, Thomas.

At Resurrection City, the Washington, D.C. shantytown set up as part of the Poor People's Campaign in 1968, Pete Seeger and an Afro-American singer named Jimmy Collier were about to sing this. Lakotah spiritual leader Henry Crow Dog came up and poked Collier in the chest saying "Hey, you're both wrong. It belongs to me." Collier respectfully asked "Should we not sing it?" Crow Dog smiled and replied "No, it's okay. Go ahead and sing it. As long as we are all down here together to get something done!"

Seeger was profoundly affected by the incident and spoke of it often, saying he had a hard time performing the song after that. Each time he played it, he would repeat the story about Chief Crow Dog and add a verse about the theft of Indian land, composed by activist Carolyn "Cappy" Israel.