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Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song

26 Aug 16 - 03:07 PM (#3806919)
Subject: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
From: GUEST

I've just finished watching the "Song and A Stone" documentary about Pete. In the film,Pete sings a song with the lyrics:

Here I am, here I am, here I'll stand
Though I'm told it's stolen land
Too long, too long I've been a rover
The time for stealing is over

I can't find out anything else about this song, can someone help me out?


26 Aug 16 - 06:28 PM (#3806953)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
From: Thomas Stern

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.


27 Aug 16 - 11:52 AM (#3807079)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
From: EBarnacle

As one who sang with Pete a lot, I never heard this verse although it seems to go with This Land is Your Land. We sang TLIYL a lot, though.


27 Aug 16 - 01:51 PM (#3807099)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
From: GUEST

The melody didn't sound like This Land Is Your Land. Did Pete ever perform songs in concert he hadn't recorded?


27 Aug 16 - 07:52 PM (#3807133)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for a Pete Seeger song
From: Mark Ross

The song Pete & Jimmy were set to sing was THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND. I was there when that happened. Somehow I ended up with a shack all to myself, and when Pete came down with Toshi & Tinya I turned it over to them for the week they were there. I moved into the Highlander tent.

Mark Ross