Music Quotes by Pete Seeger

RULERS should be careful about what songs are allowed to be sung.

— Pete Seeger

A good song reminds us what we're fighting for.

— Pete Seeger

Not everybody has to sing the melody.

— Pete Seeger

Songs won't save the planet, but neither will books or speeches.

— Pete Seeger

Music has always had the ability to comfort and inspire.

— Pete Seeger

Honest songs aren't written for money.

— Pete Seeger

I'd really rather put songs on people's lips than in their ears.

— Pete Seeger

Again, I say I will be glad to tell what songs I have ever sung, because singing is my business.

— Pete Seeger

I never intended to make a living from music. That's the funny thing. I wanted to be a journalist.

— Pete Seeger

Looking back, I think I tried to be too eclectic. Sometimes I'd sing thirty songs, and fifteen of them were not in…

— Pete Seeger

I keep reminding people that an editorial in rhyme is not a song. A good song makes you laugh, it makes you…

— Pete Seeger

My dad, the old professor, used to say, 'Never get into an argument about what's folk music and what isn't.'

— Pete Seeger

Songs wont save the planet, but neither will books or speeches. Songs are sneaky things; they can slip across borders.

— Pete Seeger

Alan [Lomax] and his father started off changing the definition of folk music from something ancient and anonymous to something very contemporary.

— Pete Seeger

Music does affect your opinions. Plato is supposed to have said "It's very dangerous to allow the wrong kind of music into…

— Pete Seeger

Make the kind of music you love even if you never hear it on the air. This was the basic lesson I'd…

— Pete Seeger

I learned by transcribing songs out of the Library of Congress collection in Washington where I was working. I got a job…

— Pete Seeger

I was working for Alan Lomax in the Library of Congress folk song archive, and starting to realize what a wealth of…

— Pete Seeger

There is a big, beautiful world that could be destroyed by selfishness and foolishness. We musicians have it without power to save…

— Pete Seeger

There's a story behind every old ballad or work song or nonsense song that I ever knew. Sometimes it's a fascinating story.…

— Pete Seeger

Shh. Listen to the sounds that surround you. Notice the pitches, the volume, the timbre, the many lines of counterpoint. As light…

— Pete Seeger

The danger with the internet is that you don't need to think about music, you just search for it and you find…

— Pete Seeger

The good and bad are all tangled up together. American popular music is loved around the world because of its African rhythm.…

— Pete Seeger

There are many people writing songs. That is absolutely wonderful. Who knows, there may be some kid in diapers and he or…

— Pete Seeger

I was about 16 years old years when my father took me to a square dance festival in North Carolina. For the…

— Pete Seeger

In the United States, many people said you can't have folk music in the United States because you don't have any peasant…

— Pete Seeger

My mother wanted me to learn how to read music. She'd given fiddles to my two older brothers, but they'd rebelled. I…

— Pete Seeger

He [Alan Lomax] started right off trying to find people who could introduce folk songs to city people. He found a young…

— Pete Seeger

My job, is to show folks there's a lot of good music in this world, and if used right it may help…

— Pete Seeger

I think folk music helps reinforce your sense of history. An old song makes you think of times gone by.

— Pete Seeger

And this is the origin of pop music: it's a professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music…

— Pete Seeger

Folks out in the country couldn't afford to pay for anybody else to make music. They had to make their own. So…

— Pete Seeger

Way back in the old days, say in Europe of the Middle Ages, you had an aristocracy, and they could afford to…

— Pete Seeger

Now somebody will ask me, Pete, how can you prove these songs really make a difference? And I have to confess I…

— Pete Seeger

Alan Lomax is the person who I think should be given major credit for what has been called the "Folk Song Revival."…

— Pete Seeger

There is an old Arabic proverb, 'When the king puts the poet on his payroll, he cuts off the tongue of the…

— Pete Seeger

John McCutcheon is not only one of the best musicians in the USA, but also a great singer, songwriter, and song leader.…

— Pete Seeger

Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song…

— Pete Seeger

I try to sing many different kinds of songs. If I sing a batch of humorous songs, I'll throw in a deadly…

— Pete Seeger

All the arts, music, the visual arts, acting and dancing arts, cooking arts, and I believe sports, will save the human race…

— Pete Seeger