Pete Seeger & his (re-)actions during Bob Dylan's electrified performance at Newport 1965
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 тра 2013
- In an interview with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, Pete Seeger remembers his reactions to Bob Dylan's electrified performance with the Butterfield Blues Band at Newport Folk Festival, 1965.
Complete program available and downloadable at archive.org.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
Crazy how people see things in music so differently. That version of Maggie's Farm is one of the best Dylan tracks I've ever heard. I absolutely LOVE the sound of the guitar. I actually learned the lyrics from that version because I never liked the song otherwise so I never listened to it until I found that lol. That's the beauty of music, there's something for everyone. I heard on the No Direction Home Bootleg Dyaln CD he had a version of Tombstone Blues that sounded like it was from the same show and is the next song after Maggie's Farm on disc 2 of that CD and I LOVE that one too!
The recording sounds amazing, but during the live concert apparently it sounded ass and thats why they were mad at them.
Good point about Howlin' Wolf--there was already an electric act at Newport. However, I wouldn't blame the sound man. I'm sure the stage volume was so loud it totally overwhelmed the capabilities of the P.A. system, and he was helpless in that situation. It still happens today, because that's the way "they" (i.e., the musicians) want it: LOUD. That said--thanks for everything, Pete. Rest in peace.
c'mon... it was clearly one rule for Wolf and another for Dylan. Oh, the irony of it all...
So long, Pete. It was time to go- in your sleep. We'll carry on for you. And in our hearts we will keep you, Pete.
And we won't reject Dylan because he refused to be owned.
You shoulda said.."So long it's been good to know ya, so long it's been good to know ya, so long it's been good to know ya this dusty old dust is a getting' my home and I got to be drifting along.."
Pete Seegers explanation of incident makes sense.. respected all musical artists.iIf I had an axe... is just a saying..like If I had a hammer..who in their right mind has a axe waking around a concert..doesn't make sense..Pete seegers WEAPON is guitar words!! Thank you for posting
Great point Pete Seeger makes about electric guitar music and singing. It's nice to be able to hear what a singer is singing.
I know there’s some calling this Pete’s revisionist history, but I he wasn’t the kind of guy that needed to. He was a very principled man that was true to his word. He faced far more serious moments like being questioned by the House of UnAmercian Activities Committee and jail time. I highly doubt Dylan’s volume levels would lead him to go soft on history. I’m sure he was pissed at the time, though.
To know about Pete Seeger is to be incredibly lucky
Still, for what it's worth, if you listen to Dylan's performance as it is recorded (check out on youtube) the lyrics of Maggie's Farm come very well. In any case, the theory of rock is that you know the lyrics from the record, not the performance.
God bless his heart.
A great man go home :-(
R.I.P.
So we get the real story eventually.......God bless you Pete!!
"The Paul Butterfield Blues Band" played for an hour that afternoon. No one worried about it because it was folk music.
The complete Butterfield band played their usual electric set at a workshop on that Saturday. I think Bloomfield recalls Albert Grossman and Alan Lomax rolling around in front of the stage because Lomax thought they shouldn't be there.
Alan Lomax was often wrong, but not about that. Grossman and Elektra wanted Butterfield promoted at this well-known "Folk Festival" because that would make money for Grossman and Elektra. Pete and Alan reportedly objected in advance on the grounds that a "folk" festival ought to feature folk acts -- a completely reasonable objection. When 73-year-old John Hurt, 70-year-old Jesse Fuller, and 69-year-old Gary Davis are at your "folk" festival, "folk" just doesn't mean Mike Bloomfield, who told _Crawdaddy_ in 1966, "I've been playing rock and roll guitar since I was 15."
Decades later, Pete apparently wanted us to think that he thought Howlin' Wolf's lyrics weren't very important at a folk festival (not that Wolf was really at the 1965 festival anyway).
I truly had no idea that this man never actually did try to cut the cable. I also didn't know that it was poor sound quality that made him upset as opposed to the mere fact if Dylan playing electronic instruments.
Seeger and others of his circle believed they OWNED Dylan. He showed them otherwise, and they never got over it.
RIP Pete
Ol' Pete recognized that moment as the changing of the guard and he wasn't quite ready ...
Another awesome Bob Dylan song that has him, or someone playing electric guitar is *"Subterranean Homesick Blues."* You can tell someone's playing electric guitar, but it's not so loud and obnoxious that you can't hear the singer (Bob Dylan) sing.
Discussed in the EDLIS Café
facebook groups edlis.cafe
Beautiful upload...I still believe that Pete got an axe and was gonna cut the cables like it's portrayed in ' I'm Not There '. I know Grossman was like Bob's Pitbull.
Pete you forgot to put John Prine in that song writing group RIP
Agree. I love Pete and I understand his folk leanings, but to include Alvina Reynolds over Lennon/McCartney, Hank Williams, Cole Porter, Marvin Gaye, Dolly Parton and others is fairly laughable.
What was the one Pete said, I couldn’t make it out. Sounded like “Buffy Saint Marie”
Redaction. He was embarrassed. A lot of eyewitnesses, and Dylan was really upset that night according to Maria Muldaur. Dylan was their boy. He was the folk savior, and Pete is Pa. Joan Baez is probably Ma. She wanted him to go to all the protests and sing. In some versions he sings “She’s 68 but she says she’s 24.
Margaret Thatcher?
Imagine denying it your whole life, the vanity of it...
Yeah, I'm not buying it Pete.
Yeah. Communists like to censor. Period. RIP
Sounds like Pete is spinning the story. He puts it in the best light now, but he was pissed about the loudness. PISSED!
Seeger was pissed about Dylan's songwriting when he moved from political protest to "rock". Seeger, like others, thought he OWNED Dylan. Dylan threw off their chains in order to pursue his own ambitions.
Paul McCartney made the most money
This is totally disingeuous of Seeger. Dylan was leaving the Seeger stable and Seeger made sure Dylan would pay for it.
I call bullshit on Pete here. It seems he is engaging in some revisionist history. He absolutely was pissed that the music was loud because it was electric, and he absolutely did try to shut the set down. Burl Ives supposedly intervened in Dylan's favor. His mention of Howlin' Wolf is disingenuous at best. I knew Wolf, and he was 6'5', pretty close to 300 pounds, with hands the size of a serving tray. If Pete had tried to pull that on Wolf, he would have likely have ended up in traction. Of course he didn't try anything! I think history went against Pete, and he was perhaps using this interview to throw some Bondo on that dent in his reputation. That said, Pete was a hugely important figure in folk and traditional music history, and I think we can forgive him that one bad moment.