today’s singing light in the dark pilgrimage is dedicated to Pete Seeger who died 9 years ago today, the father of  folk music and a shepherd extraordinaire still calling us to embody our better angels by singing love and to the crew of Challenger who died 37 years ago on this day… for nearly seven decades, Seeger was a musical and political icon who helped create the modern American folk music movement… seeing himself as a sower of seeds, Pete lit quite a path from the 1930’s through to 2014 when he died…

a prominent civil rights activist, Seeger helped popularize the anthem “We Shall Overcome,” in the 1960s, he was a vocal critic of the Vietnam War inspiring generations of protest singers and later he was at the center of the environmental and anti-nuclear movements…

let’s perfume this honoring of Pete with a few of his songs that nudged us all along lightening the way… re-member or if you are young enough, member these words, interbee with them opening to what stirs within…

“If I had a hammer,
I’d hammer in the morning,
I’d hammer in the evening,
All over this land,
I’d hammer out danger,
I’d hammer out a warning,
I’d hammer out love between,
My brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.”

“Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one.
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?”

“We shall overcome.
We shall overcome.
We shall overcome some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I know that I do believe,
We shall overcome…”

thanks bee for this archive of America’s music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along and as Pete would say, one teaspoon at a time…