Pete Seeger: "I Feel Optimistic"

What did you think of Bruce Springsteen's The Seeger Sessions album?
Oh, it was a great honor. He's an extraordinary person, as well as an extraordinary singer. He told me that he got one of my records and was playing it at his house, and his 10-year-old daughter said, "Hey, that sounds like fun." And all of a sudden, he says, "I pricked up my ears."

You met Bob Dylan right at the beginning of his career. Were you surprised just how far he went?
He's an absolute fantastic songwriter and thinker. He put out that John Wesley Harding record, and I used to put it on the outdoor speaker and play it over and over while I was skating in the backyard.

What's your first memory of Dylan?
It was down in Greenwich Village. I knew a lot of people down there and they said you got to hear this guy. I heard him once, and I asked him to be on a Hootenanny at Carnegie Hall. I remember sitting down at a long table with a batch of other people who were going to be on and said, "Folks, we only have time to sing three short songs because we all have about ten minutes a piece." I had asked too many people to be on the program. And this skinny guy raises his hand with a wry smile, I said, "What is it?" He says, "Well, one of my songs takes ten minutes." It was, "Where have you been my blue-eyed son? Where have you been my darling young one? And it's hard, hard. Hard rain's a-gonna fall." What a song!

What comes to mind when you think about your time with Lead Belly?
Extraordinary physical strength, yet he spoke very softly. I was nineteen and I was visiting Alan Lomax in New York where he was briefly studying anthropology at Columbia. This man of a little more than medium height came in wearing a suit, and Alan said, "Oh, Lead Belly, you should meet Charlie Seeger's son, Pete." I shook hands with him. And I got the impression of a very strong man, but keeping himself politely in reserve. He walked light on his feet, like a prizefighter. When he sang out, it came out in this extraordinary strength, a very strong tenor. He sang "Irene, Good Night" way up in the key of A. And people had to reach to make those notes, but it was right in the center of his range.

What do you think of Obama?
I guess if I had my choice, he'd be the one. I would've liked Kucinich. However, what I am for is I.R.V. Most people don't even know what it is: Instant Recount Voting. When you vote, you vote for your first choice, your second choice and your third choice. I went to a school where we had proportional voting and that's the way we voted for the student council. If your favorite already made it onto the council, then your second choice counted.

So you'd vote first for someone like Dennis Kucinich first?
That's right. And if he didn't make it, I'd vote for Obama and if he didn't make it, I'd vote for Hillary. If she didn't make it, I'd vote for Huckabee. Huckabee is a good speaker! He's the most radical speaker of any of them.

Do you think America is on the verge of leaving these dark times with the impending election?
I'm absolutely convinced that the extraordinary tradition in America of speaking your mind has saved us decade after decade after decade. Right now I'm more optimistic than I was after Hiroshima. I felt then that surely it would only be 20 or 30 years until another of those bombs would be dropped and if we weren't killed, we'd be poisoned by the fallout.

So you think the pendulum is going to shift back after eight years of Bush?
Well, I describe it this way. You know, if you bounce a ball on the sidewalk, the harder you throw it down, the higher it bounces. So, we may have some very good things happening. But who knows? There could be dirty tricks still tried.