Track Listing

1. Nameless Banjo Riff
2. False From True
3. Now We Sit Us Down
4. Pete's greeting (spoken)
5. Visions of Children
6. Wonderful Friends
7. The Water is Wide
8. Pete talks about Clearwater (spoken)
9. It's a Long Haul
10. Throw Away That Shad Net (How Are We Gonna Save Tomorrow?)
11. Song of the World's Last Whale
12. The First Settlers
13. The D Minor Flourish / Cindy
14. Pete's intro to If It Can't Be Reduced (spoken)
15. If It Can't Be Reduced
16. Spring Fever
17. Pete speaks about World War II (spoken)
18. When I Was Most Beautiful
19. Bach at Treblinka
20. We Will Love or We Will Perish
21. The story of Tzena, Tzena, Tzena (spoken)
22. Tzena, Tzena, Tzena
23. One Percent Phosphorous Banjo Riff
24. Pete speaks about involvement (spoken)
25. Or Else! (One-a These Days)
26. Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
27. Little Fat Baby
28. Arrange and Re-arrange
29. Alleluya
30. Pete's extroduction (spoken)
31. If This World Survives
32. How Soon?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10437 in Music
• Released on: 2008-09-30
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
On At 89, iconic folk musician and activist Pete Seeger's first CD since the Grammy-nominated 2003 Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 3 2-CD set, the peaceful warrior for human dignity surveys the progress that's been made in his lifetime and what still needs to be done to create a society of equals and to assure continued world survival.

Lovingly sequenced by producer/musician David Bernz, At 89 segues similarly themed songs into organic suites, using brief solo instrumentals and spoken introductions by Pete as links. Of the CD's 32 tracks, 26 have never been previously recorded by Pete. After the opening amble of Pete's "Nameless Banjo Riff," 89-year-old Seeger acknowledges on "False From True" that he's now of an age when it's time to reassess what's left to do - separating false from true, more important now than ever in this age of misinformation. He is joined on the next few songs of welcome and fellowship by the voices of his fellow Hudson River Valley, New York, musicians and friends, who are also heard singing and making music throughout the CD, adding to its sense of community. Among the contributing musicians are the members of Work o' the Weavers, a quartet (which includes Bernz) devoted to the repertoire and spirit of Pete's long gone but much-loved group; the Walkabout Clearwater Chorus; the After Hours Quartet; the Hudson River Sloop Singers, and other guests.

"The Water is Wide," a soothing duet between recorder and 12-string guitar, both played by Pete, provides the transition to the next set of songs ("It's a Long Haul," "Throw Away That Shad Net," "Song of the World's Last Whale," "If It Can't Be Reduced," "The First Settlers"), which address two of Pete's leading concerns - ecology and peaceful coexistence. The tragic uselessness of war ("When I Was Most Beautiful," "Bach at Treblinka") is lightened by a version of The Weavers' old favorite, "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena," that adds a hopeful mingling of recently added Arabic lyrics to the existing verses in Hebrew and English. The last segment of the CD circles back to the dangers of blind obedience (a new rendition of the Vietnam, and now Iraq, War parable, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"), and the need for personal involvement to save our planet from ourselves ("Or Else!" "Arrange and Re-arrange," "If This World Survives"). There's a particularly poignant moment on "Little Fat Baby" when Pete confronts his own mortality: "Some day, we'll be saying so long/Some day, it'll be time for me to move on").

But that day hasn't yet arrived. Pete is still sowing the seeds of peace and justice, whether inspiring Bruce Springsteen to carry on his legacy of musical tradition and personal activism or getting a classroom of school kids to sing songs in other languages. Like Tom Joad or Joe Hill, when there are wrongs to be righted or victories, however small, to be celebrated in the war between good and evil, that's where we'll always find Pete Seeger: in the flesh - leading a singalong - or in our hearts.

Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, September 28, 2008
"At an age where most men are struggling for breath, Pete Seeger has made a vibrant, full-bodied album that encompasses all his magnificent talents. . . Seeger is buoyed by guest vocalists, children's choirs, etc., but stays center stage throughout on this masterful outing by an American folk music giant heading into his 10th decade on Earth."

Ben Ratliff, New York Times "Critics Pick," Sept. 29, 2008
"Here's a record by a folk singer who is the opposite of an unhappy, delicate creature, who has no concern at all for the concept of the beautiful loser, who carries no loftiness or obscurantism about his own talent, who speaks to adults with the same clarity and care that one might speak to children, who believes that everything is done better in groups and yet puts enormous faith in the value of his individual effort. . . [a] sweet, antivirtuosic record . . . This is an artful gesture, but it's not just for art's sake."

Customer Reviews

A Most Fitting Capstone
I learned of this CD while I was watching the Dave Letterman Show. At 89 years old, Pete Seeger is still vibrant and youthful. This CD features some old songs and some new ones. Sometimes, Pete Seeger plays music; sometimes he talks; sometimes he talks to a musical background; other times he lets someone else do the singing.

I would highly recommend this CD to anyone who would like to explore the music of Pete Seeger, but doesn't know where to start. It is a most fitting capstone that brings together many aspects of the man's life and work; his gentle spirit; and his fiesty sense of justice.

The CD is also quite an achievement. In my collection of over 1,000 classical, jazz and folk recordings, I have only a few that reveal such enthusiasm at such an advanced age.

Some interesting comparisons are as follows: Frankie Laine recorded "Wheels of a Dream" at age 85. George Burns recorded music well into his 80s and early 90s. Classical musicians Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Vladimir Horowitz, Leopold Stokowski, and Pablo Casals made recordings into their 80s and 90s. I also once saw Lionel Hampton rock the Newport Jazz Festival at age 80; and last year I saw David Brubeck live in concert at age 87.

Mr. Seeger has reached the status of such luminaries and has become something of a national treasure; a living link to folk and protest music of the Great Depression; the Red Scare; the Civil Rights Movement; the Vietnam War Era; the Environmental Movement; and more. What else can be said except that a "people's history" of America can be told through his prolific body of music.

Do you give a legend less than five stars? I don't
Pete as 89 is as powerful as Pete at 50. The music he sings, with lyrics that matter, empowers him . My only criticism is the use of singers, but I have always like Pete to sing alone, or with an audience or with protest marchers. Choirs and such seem to dilute the power of his performance.
I have listened to Pete in all the "ages" of my life, and wish he has many more although he is 89!
One warning: Some of the songs are without Pete, and our songs he has done over the years. I would have preferred to use some earlier recorded songs of Pete, but these songs are very, very good.

Fabulous
I suppose there are folks who can resist, but it's hard to imagine a life and a talent that is any more authentic, and dedicated to bringing healing transformation to life, human and otherwise. Whether it's nurturing future generations, or the heroic nature of an elder living to the hilt beyond the traditional retirement formula, I dare you to encounter the tear that will likely appear - not of sadness, but joy.