In light of Pete Seeger’s passing, PBS will be airing it’s American Masters documentary on the folksinger, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, on Friday, January 31 at 10:30 p.m. (and other times). Check your local listings and set your DVRs. Below is a short excerpt from that documentary with Seeger singing “To My Old Brown Earth.”
To my old brown earth,
And to my old blue sky,
I’ll now give these last few molecules of “I.”
And you who sing,
And you who stand nearby,
I do charge you not to cry.
Seeger wrote “To My Old Brown Earth” after attending the funeral of John T. McManus, co-founder of the radical newspaper, The National Guardian. Seeger later explained that when he sang at the funeral he regretted that he did not have an appropriate song. So he went home and wrote “To My Old Brown Earth,” a song about death but also a song about hope: “Guard well our human chain,/ Watch well you keep it strong.”
Update: For a limited time the documentary is streaming on the PBS website.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
