Origin: Letter to Eve (Pete Seeger)

Subject: Seeger's 'Letter to Eve' original?
From: GUEST,emily rain
Date: 21 May 03 - 05:54 PM

i just heard the idigo girls' version of "letter to eve" for the first time today, and i'm in desperate need of a recording of pete singing it. does one exist? i've performed not-quite-exhaustive searches of cdnow and msn and barnes and noble (my usual sources for in-print recordings), and turned up nada. does anyone have this kicking around in their collections somewhere? how about sheet music? i'll do anything!

if you like, you can contact me directly at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Seeger's 'Letter to Eve' original?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 21 May 03 - 06:17 PM

Emily,

    I remember the song as being on one of Pete Seeger's Columbia albums. I just checked a two disc set that Columbia released a couple years ago and the song wasn't on that one. It's also in an old song book I have called Oh Had I a Golden Thread, New songs by Pete Seeger.

Subject: ADD: Letter to Eve (Seeger)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 May 03 - 09:52 PM

Hmmm. The oly reference I can find to it is on the Pete Seeger tribute CD, Where Have All the Flowers Gone - but the recording is your Indigo Girls cut. I see we don't have the lyrics posted.
-Joe Offer-

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LETTER TO EVE
(Pete Seeger)

Oh, Eve, where is Adam, now you're kicked out of the garden?
Oh, Eve, where is Adam, now you're kicked out of the garden?
Been wandering from shore to shore,
Now you find there's no more
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

Don't you wish love, love alone, could save this world from disaster?
Don't you wish love, love alone, could save this world from disaster?
If only love could end the confusion -
Or is it just one more illusion?
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

Well if . . . you want to have great love, you got to have great anger
Well if . . . you want to have great love, you got to have great anger
When I see innocent folk shot down,
Should I just shake my head and frown?
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

Well if . . . you want to hit the target square, you better not have blind anger
Well if . . . you want to hit the target square, you better not have blind anger
Or else it'll be just one more time
The correction creates another crime.
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

Oh Eve, you tell Adam, next time he asks you
Oh Eve, you tell Adam, next time he asks you
He'll say, "Baby it's cold outside;
What's the password to come inside?"
You say, Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

Oh, Eve, go tell Adam, we got build a new garden
Oh, Eve, go tell Adam, we got build a new garden
We got to get workin' on the building
Of a decent home for all o' God's children.
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

If music . . . could only bring peace, I'd only be a musician
If music . . . could only bring peace, I'd only be a musician
If songs could do more than dull the pain,
If melodies could only break these chains
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa.

Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa!
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa!
Four thousand languages in this world,
Means the same thing to every boy and girl
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa!
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa!

[Seeger added the following verse later]
Oh, when it's stormy weather good people got to gather together
Oh, when it's stormy weather good people got to gather together
We know there's no place to hide,
Still in friends one can confide
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa!
Oh, Pacem in Terris, Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Hey Wa!



Words and Music by Pete Seeger (1967)
(c) 1967 by Sanga Music Inc.

Source: Where Have All the Flowers Gone, by Pete Seeger (Sing Out Publications, 1993)

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The song appears on two other recordings:
PS: Pete Seeger Now
Magpie: Living Planet

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Click to play

It's quite different from the Indigo Girls recording - Yeah, Emily, I wonder how it sounded when Pete sang it.

dl

Subject: RE: Seeger's 'Letter to Eve' original?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 May 03 - 09:31 AM

I have a tape of Pete Seeger Now, but unfortunately it was copied some years ago & I didn't take down the details when I copied it, but I assume it could be traced. I could probably locate the original if no-one can supply the details.

I also have have the double tribute album, it's a great album that I bought for Tim Robbins version of All my Children of the Sun when I heard it reviewed on the radio.

sandra (long time Pete Seeger fan)

Subject: RE: Seeger's 'Letter to Eve' original?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 09:40 PM

still looking for pete seeger version?

Subject: RE: Seeger's 'Letter to Eve' original?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 01:09 PM

There is a Seeger version of this song in a Leon Gieco concert in Argentina where he was a guest, he was having problems with his voice that day, but the song is still great. The concert took place in 1990 and i belive it was edited in Argentina...

Subject: RE: Origin: Letter to Eve (Pete Seeger)
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jan 14 - 10:40 AM

I was on Pete Seeger - Now, 1968 There was a British re-issue on CD, but Columbia's owners never released it on CD here. I have transcribed it and cleaned up some of the scratches for my own use. This album has been influential in all of my life, not just musically. Bernice Reagon (Sweet Honey in the Rock) & Rev. Fred Kilpatrick joined Pete on this project.

Subject: RE: Origin: Letter to Eve (Pete Seeger)
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jan 14 - 10:55 AM

http://1heckofaguy.com/2009/10/22/download-goodies-music-by-leonard-cohen-pete-seeger-plus-songs-about-the-chelsea-hotel/

Just a ways down the page that opens is supposed to be a downloadable zip(?) file. I have no idea how those things work or if there is a cost involved, but the Letter to Eve track is supposed to be there. Anyway, fyi.

Subject: RE: Origin: Letter to Eve (Pete Seeger)
From: GUEST,Bill R
Date: 31 Jan 14 - 05:56 PM

I was just searching for an ITunes version. It is the 2nd song on the first side of the Pete Seeger Now album from 1968. In the midst of the Vietnam Involvement.

Subject: RE: Origin: Letter to Eve (Pete Seeger)
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 31 Jan 14 - 06:06 PM

Seeger's recording is also on LIVE AT MANDEL HALL 1957 (Chrome Dreams)
available as CD or mp3 download.

Thomas.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-The-Mandel-Hall-1957/dp/B008DR61X2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391209537&sr=8-1&keywords=seeger+mandel+hall

Subject: RE: Origin: Letter to Eve (Pete Seeger)
From: GUEST,Tom Swiss
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 10:58 PM

There's a wonder version on "The Secret of Sharing" by Randolphe Harris and Pete Seeger. http://randolpheharris.com/.