Pete Seeger: "I Feel Optimistic"

This week PBS will debut Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (watch a clip below), which traces the eighty-eight year-old folk legend's life from his time with the Weavers through the Joe McCarthy witch hunts to his days as elder statesmen of the folk community. It's loaded with archival footage of Seeger singing such classics as "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "If I Had A Hammer" and interviews with fans such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks. Seeger called into Rolling Stone recently to chat about the documentary, his memories of Bob Dylan and Lead Belly — as well his thoughts on the presidential election.

From Pete Seeger: The Power of Song:

What do you think of the new documentary?
Well, it's too much a eulogy if you ask me. It didn't tell all the stupid things I've done. I've done hundreds of stupid things.

Tell me one.
Not realizing that I had an extraordinarily talented wife, and there were things that she wanted to do sometimes. But she put them aside to help me do the things that I wanted to do. She was an artist and projects that she undertook ended up having to put aside because my projects took precedent.

The film also has the nice things that I've done. I've had some good songs if I say so myself. The best songwriting I did was to think of three new words for an old gospel song, "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder." The old song used to end "Soldiers of the cross," and I wanted to sing it for all sorts of people, whether they were Christians or Jews or Atheists or what. And now I simply sing 'Brothers, sisters, all,' and then after a couple of verses, I say, 'Sisters, brothers, all.' It sings well, and they have a nice shot in the movie of the whole crowd joining in with me on it.

Were you opposed to the idea of a documentary when they first approached you?
Well, it's created problems that I never foresaw. I usually joke that I was protected all my life by my left wing reputation. Now, the telephone rings every five minutes and the mail comes in by a half bushel a day. "Mr. Seeger, will you please sign autographs for these pictures? Will you come to our school and speak to the children? Will you accept this award?" Just answering the mail takes up most of the free time I used to have.