The Old Folkie and The Boss!

When I newly arrived here, I was once talking about music with some people I knew. I told them that I loved Billy Joel's songs such as, "We did not start the fire" or "The River of dreams". Going by their reactions and facial expressions, I felt that some of them would soon have heart attack, something for which I would never be able to forgive myself; for them, it was a cardinal sin to like someone as old as Billy Joel. One of the magi was more cordial to me (maybe becuase my stupidity made that person have pity on me), who told me that one might like Billy Idol, but not Billy Joel. (Later on, I would check to find out that Billy Idol is only 5 years younger to Joel; but perhaps the violet patch around his eyes, his yellow color hair and all other such posh, modern, smart things make his acceptable and trendy.). When I told them that I also liked Phil Collins' music, then laughed loudly on my face; perhaps that was the most ludricrous thing they ever heard.

On another occasion a year later, I, in my stupidity, would ask one magus if it was him with whom I had a discussion about Country music a few days ago. It was obvious he was gravely hurt by my stupidity, he told me that if I had asked this to someone from an younger generation, one would have taken it as an insult. He, however, in his magnanimousness, forgave my stupidity and did not take offense!

Thus I never dared to tell that I respect Pete Seeger and love his music. Perhaps they would have castrated me if I had told them that I loved the music of someone in his late '80s. I am sure that none of the magi knew about him, and Pete Seeger's name wass the ultimate unfashionable, stupid thing to mention in front of such wise people.

However, being the stupid person that I am, I still stand by my word: I love and respect Pete Seeger, because when many great and smart people pissed in their pants when McCarhty screwed them, Pete Seeger dared to defy McCarthy and stand alone, for which he was blacklisted for a decade. This is the same Pete Seeger who, at the age of 86, walked on the streets of New York with a saxophone in hand, taking part in protest march against the Iraq War. That is perhaps one of the reasons that when a 79 year old, feeble-voiced Pete Seeger made a tour to land as remote from his homeland as India, people there faught for a place to attend his concerts!

If Old Folkie's "We shall overcome" will be the anthem for the civil rights movement (perhaps in conjugation with, or as predecessor to, the more intelelctual "Times they are a-changing" of Bob Dylan), his "Where have all the flowers gone?" will enocourage a generation to protest against the Vietnam war. His life and activism would also encourage Harry Chapin (the "Cats in the cradle" guy), who gave him the monicker of Old Folkie, to perform in 100 concerts a year for charity!

The Boss, on the other hand, composed his "Born in the U.S.A." decades later, harshly criticising the US foreign policy (It is interesting to note that Ronald Reagan later used this song as his election campaign song). The Boss was a draft dodger incidentally; he went to attend the military physical tests and was declared unfit to fight. People who listened to his live performance of the song, "The river", are coignonat of this fact. (His friend, Oliver Stone, would go and fight in the Vietnam war, only to turn into one of the most vocal critics of the whole war for decades to come!). Pete Seeger wrote and sang, "Draft Dodger's Song"as a protest. The Boss has, over the years, been involved with various charities and social issues.

So, it is naturally interesting when the Boss releases an album with songs written by Pete Seeger. As CNN headline says, "Bruce Springsteen escapes from the box", which further adds that, "With 'Seeger Sessions,' the Boss digs into musical past".

Springsteen's interest in Seeger's songs grew ever since he recorded "We Shall Overcome" for a tribute album in 1997, a fascination towards which songs like "John Henry," "Erie Canal" and "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep" later contributed. He said: "I wasn't aware of the vast library of music that Pete helped create and also collected. Just this whole wonderful world of songwriting with all these lost voices. Great stories. Great characters. The songs have lasted 100 years, or hundreds of years, for a reason. They were really, really well-written pieces of music. They have worlds in them. You just kind of go in -- it's a playground. You go in, and you get to play around."

As CNN puts in: The Seeger Sessions" featured Springsteen making an album in record time. The rock hall of famer, who in the past went years between releases, did the new album in three days. The 13 songs, plus two bonus tracks, were recorded inside the living room of a farm house at Springsteen's New Jersey home -- with the horn section playing in the hall.

There were no rehearsals, no arrangements, no overdubs. Springsteen wasn't even sure if the results would become an album.

"It was just playing music," Springsteen said of the sessions. "I didn't have any intention for it. I knew that I enjoyed making this kind of music. ... It was really just purely for the joy of doing it. It was a lot of fun.".......

The songs once sung by Seeger "shine a continuing light on a whole set of not just wonderful stories, but obviously a lot of social issues, the direction the country is going down," he continued. "There's still a place for a lot of that music."

Once Springsteen decided to forge ahead with the project, he called Seeger with the news. Seeger asked which songs would be on the record.

"He'd start giving me the history of each song," Springsteen said. "He actually knows about all those things. So it was an enjoyable conversation, and I hope he likes the record."

As CNN mentions, Springsteen had no concerns about audience reaction towards his new album, because he considers that change is necessary for any successful musician. He expects that his adventurous fans will enjoy the album. As he tells: "Your job as an artist is to build a box, and then let people watch you escape from it. And then they follow you to the next box, and they watch you escape from that one. ... Escape artistry is part of the survival mechanism of the job. If you want to do the job well, you have got to be able to escape from what you've previously built."
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Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/25/music.springsteen.ap/index.html