The great folksinger Pete Seeger passed away in January 2014 at the age of 94. He was born on May 3, 1919 in Manhattan, and he went on to become an important activist on a number of issues throughout his life. And he taught us how important folk music can be. It is impossible to sum up his impact on music and on the world, but one story about a TV show appearance tells us a lot.
The Smothers Brothers
The Smothers Brothers became famous for their battles with censors during the run of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS from 1967 to 1969. I have been reading the interesting book Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”
In Dangerously Funny, Bianculli explains how the brothers worked to get Pete Seeger on their show. Television networks had effectively blacklisted Seeger from most TV shows because of the singer’s political views. The brothers convinced CBS to allow Seeger to appear on their show, and Seeger appeared on the premiere episode of the second season of the show on September 10, 1967.
But CBS would cut out one of Seeger’s songs, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.” CBS censors had asked Seeger to omit the last verse of the song, but after he refused to do so and sang the entire song, CBS edited out the song from the show.
“Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”
“Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” recounts a story about World War II captain (“back in 1942”) leading his men. He takes his men deeper and deeper into the “big muddy” as the “big fool” tells them to push on until the captain gets sucked into the mud.
CBS censors had asked Seeger to omit the last verse of the song, which connected the story to the Vietnam War. Seeger, noting that the last verse was the whole point of the song, refused to do so and sang the entire song during taping. So CBS cut the song from the broadcast.
CBS had a reason for being cautious. The network previously received complaints from President Lyndon Johnson about another episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. So the network did not want Seeger to use the verse referring to Pres. Johnson as a “big fool.”
Well, I’m not going to point any moral;
I’ll leave that for yourself;
Maybe you’re still walking, you’re still talking,
You’d like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers,
That old feeling comes on;
We’re — waist deep in the Big Muddy,
And the big fool says to push on.
The September 10, 1967 Broadcast
Although some sources state the show broadcast on September 19, most sources put the show on September 10, which is consistent with the show’s Sunday broadcasts. During this episode, Bobbie Gentry and Pete Seeger performed but Seeger’s performance of “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” was cut.
A video shows the Pete Seeger segment as it was broadcast, with “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” cut out. At 1:12, after the Seeger segment opened with Seeger already singing “Wimoweh” with the audience, Seeger has a banjo. Then a few seconds later after a cut, he is holding a guitar.
After “Wimoweh,” Seeger originally sang “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” during the taping. But since CBS cut out the song, we see Seeger next singing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” with a different instrument.
Seeger’s Return to The Smothers Brothers
The following post on YouTube claims that this clip below of Seeger singing “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” is the performance that was cut from the season 2 premiere. But, as you can see, Seeger is wearing different clothes than he had for the Season 2 premiere, so this video is from a later performance on the show that actually aired.
After CBS cut out the song from the September broadcast, Tom Smothers made sure that the story of the censorship appeared in the media. Because of the bad press, and probably because the Vietnam War had become even more unpopular in recent months, the Smothers Brothers were allowed to invite Seeger back later in the season, when he again sang “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.”
Seeger was a class act who agreed to return after being cut in the previous appearance. CBS this time aired the song.
The Legacy of the Battle with Censors
Only three days after CBS finally showed Pete Seeger singing “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite made his own controversial appearance. He closed his February 27, 1968 broadcast with what would become his famous commentary about the Vietnam War. Cronkite, though, did not have to hide his sentiment in a tale about World War II.
Maybe because Pete Seeger, Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers, and others had not been afraid to speak out against the war, Cronkite, who was then one of the most respected people in America, could make his famous editorial about his views on the Vietnam War. Check it out.
On his website, Seeger recounted his experience with “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: “Of course, a song is not a speech, you know. It reflects new meanings as one’s life’s experiences shine new light upon it. . . . Often a song will reappear several different times in history or in one’s life as there seems to be an appropriate time for it. Who knows?”
Who knows? Amen. Rest in peace.
What is your favorite censored song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
When Lyndon Johnson heard that broadcast—his second most famous broadcast after raising his eyeglasses and clearing his throat for John F. Kennedy while reporting his death—LBJ confided to his closest advisors, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the country.” But that too was later in the year, though not by much. Before Senator Eugene McCarthy, before Senator Bobby Kennedy, and before CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite, a World War II veteran got on TV’s flagship station and voiced his own doubts about the course his country had taken in napalming a tiny Southeast Asian country back into the Stone Age.
On February 25, 1968 Pete Seeger sang Waist Deep In the Big Muddy, and this time the CBS censors did not object. Had they too joined the growing opposition to the war?
Every time I read the papers that old feeling comes on
We were waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
Lyndon Johnson, like Len Chandler’s song said, had beans in his ears.
You know who was listening? Walter Cronkite, that’s who. After all, if it worked for the Smothers Brothers, why not Uncle Walter? Indeed, just two days later, on February 27, Cronkite broadcast his Special Bulletin, and famously said, “We are mired in stalemate.”
He might as well have said, “We are waist deep in the Big Muddy.” That is why Pete Seeger’s antiwar song is the Mona Lisa of protest songs. It was not only the song that broke the blacklisting of America’s greatest folk singer, it played a significant role in changing “the hearts and minds” of the American people. Can a song change the world? Well, this song did. It helped to end the War in Vietnam.
As noted in the post above that includes the video of Cronkite’s statements, the timing of Seeger’s performance and the newscast is definitely interesting. There does seem to be some confusion about the date of the broadcast of Seeger’s performance. Wikipedia states that it was on February 25, which would mean that Cronkite’s comments came two days later, as you note. Other sources that seem more reliable state that the Seeger broadcast was on February 24, so that was why we went with the three-day separation. While it is interesting that sources disagree about the date (and I’ll have to look further into it), it matters little whether it was two or three days, as these two major television events were very close together. Thanks for your comments.