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Pete

Pete Seeger & friends
 
Gaudeamus
The Union Baptist Church Singers 
The Cathedral Singers

Grammy Award-winning album of American folk legend Pete Seeger.
Choral arrangements
by Paul Halley

Pelagos no longer carries this CD.


 

 
 


To listen to sound clips, see track list below.

 
   


"
Seeger is Seeger and the choirs are outstanding.  A very interesting mix of pure country and fine choral work by three great choirs."
- Bill Cameron

   
 


TRACKS

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Total Album Time
Arr. P. Halley

1.  ◙♫
Well May
The World Go
Words and Music:
P. Seeger
Arr. P. Halley


2.  
◙♫
My Rainbow
Race
Words and Music:
P. Seeger
Arr. P. Halley


3.
 ◙♫
Huddie
Ledbetter
Words and Music:
L. Wyatt
with add'l lines
P. Seeger
Arr. P. Halley


4. 
◙♫ 
The Water
Is Wide
Words and Music:
Trad. English
with add'l verse
P. Seeger
Arr. P. Halley


5. 
◙♫
All Mixed Up
Words:
P. Seeger
Music:
Trad. Caribbean
arr. L. Coverley
Arr. P. Halley


6. 
◙♫
Sailing Down
My Golden River
Words and Music:
P. Seeger



7.  
◙♫ 
Kisses Sweeter
Than Wine
Words:
L. Hays
Music:
H. Ledbetter
Arr. P. Halley


8.  
◙♫
Living In
The Country
Words and Music:
P. Seeger



9.  
◙♫ 
How Can
I Keep From Singing
Words:
A. Warner c. 1850
with add'l verse
D. Plenn
Music:
Rev. R. Lowry
arr. P. Seeger



10.  
◙♫
Garbage
Words and Music:
W. Steele
with add'l verse
M. Agranoff, P. Seeger


11. 
◙♫
Natural History
(Spider’s Web)
Words:
E. B. White
Music:
P. Seeger



12. 
◙♫
Old Devil Time
Words and Music:
P. Seeger
Arr. P. Halley


13. 
◙♫
Of Time
And Rivers
Words:
P. Seeger

Music:
Trad. German Carol

'Es ist Ein Ros Entsprungen'
Arr. P. Halley


14.  
◙♫ 
In The Evening
Words and Music:
L. Carr
with add'l verse
P. Seeger
arr. T. Bates



15. 
◙♫
For Everyone
In All The World
Words and Music:
P. Seeger
Arr. P. Halley


16. 
◙♫
River Of
My People
Words and Music:
P. Seeger



17. 
◙♫
Russian Song:
Ode to Joy
Words:
P. Seeger, D. West
Music:
Trad. Russian,
arr. P. Seeger;
L. von Beethoven
'Ninth Symphony'
Arr. P. Halley


18.
 
◙♫
To My
Old Brown Earth
Words and Music:
P. Seeger

Arr. P. Halley
(LL101)




Items with catalogue numbers indicate that published octavos are available.


Compositions by
Paul Halley
© Back Alley Music (ASCAP)
Administered by
Pelagos Incorporated




Pelagos no longer carries this CD.


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Sheet Music

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DESCRIPTION

Folk legend Pete Seeger's wonderful and inimitable voice stands out against a background of lush choral sounds in arrangements by Paul Halley.  These choral arrangements of eighteen classic Pete Seeger songs provide a warmth and atmosphere that makes the folk music on this album as comfortable as your favorite pair of Birkenstocks.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences chose this album as the vehicle to confer a well-deserved Grammy (really a kind of lifetime award) on Pete Seeger for his contributions to folk music in America and his enduring social commentary through songwriting. 

Without Pete Seeger, American folk music as we know it today would be radically different. Seeger was one of modern folk's earliest and most significant architects, from his work in the 1940s with the Almanac Singers (of which Woody Guthrie was a member) and the famed Weavers, to his voice-of-a-generation political music of the 1960s and beyond. He helped adapt America's earliest musical traditions to a politicized post-war environment. In addition to his legendary songs of protest, civil rights, and environmentalism, Seeger is well known for creating children's music.

The conception and creation of this album is a bit like the children's story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Since Pete Seeger was known for getting his audiences to participate in his concert performances by joining in on the singing of well-known favorites, or on new songs that he would teach on the spot,  he and Paul Winter conceived the idea of an album that would incorporate the enthusiastic yet casual sound of amateur singers. However, since recording a live audience is a bit complicated from a logistical standpoint, it was decided that Paul Halley would create choral arrangements of Pete's songs, and the choral tracks would be recorded in studio sessions with an amateur choir.  However, the album took ten years to complete because...

the first choir (mostly amateurs) had too informal and casual a sound,

the second choir (all pros) had too refined and classical a sound,

the third choir (a mix of pros and amateurs) was just right.



 

 
  REVIEWS

from Amazon.com - Bob Zeidler's Listmania

"Rather recently, Pete Seeger entered his ninth decade. The voice may not be what it once was. But it still goes on, not nearly ready yet to surrender "To My Old Brown Earth." A few years back, when this album was made, it was more than good enough for the retrospective and summation that the album represents. And the message is evergreen, as it always has been.

This album is a labor of love on the part of everyone concerned. But, aside from Pete himself, credit must go next to Paul Winter, who, over a span of more than 30 years, was an acquaintance first, then a fast friend, and, with the release of the album, collaborator, creative director and executive producer. (There is a fascinating story about the 30-year genesis of this collaboration, complete with an ongoing saga of a Paul Winter classic, "Minuit," which can be found at Winter's Living Music website.)


It is Pete's album, and yet it belongs to all of us, and is surely a gift to all of us as well. I'm one who "came of age" in the turbulent sixties, and can remember well the songs of protest back then. Somehow, those protest songs tended to overwhelm the folk songs that spoke to other issues, or even to no particular issue at all. Pete's got them all covered here.

I absolutely agree with Bill Campbell from Boulder, Colorado below. "The Water is Wide" (#4) and "To My Old Brown Earth" (#18) are very special, as is "Of Time and Rivers Flowing" (#13). What they share in common is the choral mastery of Paul Halley, Winter's long-time Consort keyboardist and composer. Choral arranging (a specialty of Halley's) and singing of this level of excellence has a way of giving one the shakes. And it reaches a level of simply ineffable beauty in "To My Own Brown Earth." There must have been those, naysayers all, who predicted that this approach would never work for Pete's music, with Pete's voice. Trust me; it does!

To counterbalance this choral sweetness and serve notice that we're dealing here with Pete Seeger and not the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, there are the rough-hewn classics made famous by Pete and others (Leadbelly included), with a lesson or two on how to reinterpret and juxtapose Stravinsky and Beethoven to rather amusing effect. And then there's "Garbage," an absolutely hilarious cautionary tale on the perils of pollution if ever there were one.

I'm guessing that the "Minuit" saga set out in Paul Winter's recounting of the genesis of "Pete" has a final chapter yet to play out. In my humble opinion, it should be a good one!

Elsewhere, this album is referred to as "the quintessential Pete Seeger." I cannot do other than agree; if you could only have one, this would be it. But, taking a page from other folkies of fame, my favorite moniker is "the quintessential P, P, P & M", for Pete, Paul, Paul and Joanie Madden, who blows a mean pennywhistle in "Of Time and Rivers Flowing" and elsewhere. "


- Bob Zeidler
 
 
 
from Amazon.com Customer Reviews

"This is Pete in old age, coming up with new tricks, new licks, new musical friends, new sound combinations...and just about everything works! Recorded in 1996, but the old familiar Pete is represented with grace, power, humor and his trademark hospitality. "Well May the World Go", "Hudie Ledbetter" and "The Water is Wide" all sound great. "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and "Old Devil Time" and "To Everyone in All the World" are gems. If you grew up with Pete, followed him in the 60's as so many of us did, and are glad he is still alive and singing, buy this one before it goes out of print. There are too many Seeger CD's to say "If you can only afford one, choose this one"---but this is a nice choice for the folks who don't care so much about Civil Rights anthems or left-wing songs recorded when it was risky to do so. "

- William Adams

"Pete Seeger's voice definitely sounds older, but oh how I enjoy this CD! These are new recordings of old favorites, worth owning even if you have older recordings of them. There's a nice balance between the structure that the choirs (which sing with him) provide, and his expressive interpretation of songs which he obviously loves and knows intimately. The liner notes are interesting reading, too! "

- anonymous

"Seeger is Seeger and the choir chorus's are outstanding. #4 and #18 are especially nice. A very interesting mix of pure country and fine choral work by three great choirs. "

- Bill Cameron

 
   

CREDITS

Artists
Pete Seeger
& friends

Choirs directed by Paul Halley

Gaudeamus
The Union Baptist Church Choir
The Cathedral Singers


Ensemble (friends)
Pete Seeger, vocals, whistling, banjo, guitar
Paul Winter, soprano sax
Paul Prestopino, guitar, banjo, mandolin
David Finck, bass
Gordon Gottlieb, percussion
Tao Rodriguez–Seeger, vocals
Joanie Madden, pennywhistle
Howard Levy, harmonica


Production

Produced by Paul Winter and Tom Bates
Tom Bates, Recording Engineer
Tommy Skarupa, Judy Elliott-Brown, Ed Lopata, Assistan Engineers
Recorded at Living Music Studio, Litchfield, CT
and St. Michael's Church, Litchfield, CT

Choirs
Gaudeamus
Norfolk, CT
Sopranos
Becky Goodenough
Ann Havemeyer
Margaret Race
Rachel Rosales
Karen Sovak

Altos
Molly Ackerly
Cindy Burnham-Shaw
Phyllis Diggle
Katherine Griswold
Alexandra Montano
Teri Padua
Kayla Werlin

Tenors
Wayne Abercrombie
Thomas Bogdan
Chris Goodenough
Robert Lovendale
Ernest Sinclair
Kirk Sinclair

Basses
Frank Barr
James Barrett
Corey Bush
Bruce Fifer
Timothy Hitchcock
C. Archer Woodward
Gregory Zabielski

The Union Baptist Church Singers
Bloomfield, NJ
Tyrone Corbett, Yvette Corbett, Edwin Crawley, Carol Cyrus,
Beverly Dickerson, Brent Sterling, Theresa Thomason, Jay Thompson

The Cathedral Singers (of The Cathedral of St. John The Divine)
New York, NY

Sopranos:  Rachel Rosales, Cheryl Bensman Rowe
Altos:  Barbara Ehrmann, Johnson Flucker, Alexandra Monano, Kayla Werlin
Tenors:  Wayne Abercrombie, Thomas Bogdan, David Ehrmann
Basses:  Bruce Fifer, Wilbur Pauley



© 1996 Earth Music Productions, LLC.

All Rights Reserved

Made in USA