Quite a few lies and distortions about Pete Seeger floated around in the ether

[No Elephants]

for decades and reared their ugly heads again as soon as he died. Most of them were political lies and distortions, but there was also a musical one.

The musical one is that, when Bob Dylan plugged in at the Newport Folk Music Festival, "purist" Seeger was so incensed that he ran "purple-faced" backstage to cut the electrical cable. Some even say he tried to cut the cable with a hatchet. Dylan was so incensed that he did not return to the Festival for 37 years.

This is Seeger's version.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/allenstjohn/2014/01/28/pete-seeger-dead-at-94-and-the-real-story-behind-his-electric-feud-with-bob-dylan/

The above does not explain why Dylan did not return, but that may have had something to do with the booing of the audience and the grief that Dylan's former fans gave him after the concert. Or, maybe it was something else entirely. But I doubt Seeger was the reason.

I never knew enough about music to understand that controversy anyway. If Maggie's Farmis a folk song when sung to accompaniment by an acoustic guitar, how does accompaniment with an electric guitar convert it to a rock song?

In another context, unrelated to the folk festival, Seeger had mentioned that his father had told him, "Pete, never get into an argument about what folk music is and isn't."

As far as not being able to understand lyrics, Sinatra had once allowed that his only objection to rock 'n roll was that he couldn't understand the lyrics and lyrics were everything. Sinatra said that he could, however, understand the lyrics of Elvis's records. And one can imagine that Seeger thought lyrics were everything as well.

[Enthusiast]

1. That was completely awesome!

I dragged out some Bob Dylan from the music section of the HD. I really enjoyed it. I had not heard those most familiar Dylan tunes for a very long time.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in the time of the greatest music in all of history. Many people of the past might believe the same. But they would be mistaken.

[No Elephants]

2. Wow. Glad you enjoyed it so much.