Pete Seeger's Vietnam war song..."Waist Deep in the Big Muddy".

[madfloridian]

Run time: 03:04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4   Posted on YouTube: December 19, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 04, 2009 By DU Member: madfloridian Views on DU: 2860

 
I hear he is 90 years old now. What a great man.

Lyrics from the You Tube link:

The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on, I've forded this river
About a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy, but just keep sloggin'.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were waist deep in the Big Muddy,
And the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment,
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nelly,"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination.
Men, follow me. I'll lead on."
We were neck deep in the Big Muddy,
And the big fool said to push on.

All at once the moon clouded over.
We heard a gurglin' cry.
A few seconds later the Captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around, men.
I'm in charge from now on."
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the Captain dead and gone.

We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Then the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
About a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.

Now 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.

Waist deep in the Big Muddy,
The big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy,
The big fool says to push on.
Waist deep, neck deep,
Soon even a tall man will be over his head.
We're waist deep in the Big Muddy,
And the big fool says to push on.

And we just keep on getting waist deep in big muddies, and our soldiers are told to push on.

There are some wonderful songs of his available for download at E-Music. You can listen to part for free, pay to download.

http://www.emusic.com/artist/Pete-Seeger-MP3-Download/10561740.html

[madfloridian]

1. He sang this on the Smothers Brothers, but CBS would not allow it to air.

I saw the segment at You Tube without this song.

[elleng]

2. And then they 'nuked' the Smothers Brothers.

Nothing like U.S. history!

[madfloridian]

3. And the FBI dogged Seeger's footsteps.

I guess it was all those union songs and anti-war songs and such. :hi:

[elleng]

5. Right; J Edgar couldn't STAND the beat!

.

[liberalhistorian]

6. Hubby and I saw the Smothers Brothers in concert

last summer and they were AWESOME! They played a lot of old controversial clips from the show and even some that didn't air and defiantly sang "we're still here!!" They are indeed, and just as good as ever.

[madfloridian]

7. I would love for some station to carry reruns of their show.

But I am not sure we are enlightened enough yet for the networks. It was such a great show.

[Baby Snooks]

8. They way they nuked the Dixie Chicks...

It's amazing how a country that guarantees freedom of speech in its Constitution only allows it if the current junta approves it.

I cannot fathom Obama stooping that low but then I can fathom some of those around him stooping that low.

I read somewhere that Eisenhower personally objected to the McCarthy hearings. But he had to deal with Nixon and apparently found it easier not to engage him. When he warned us about the "military-industrial complex" he should have added a warning about Nixon perhaps by warning us about "the dictators among us" although some believe if you read his comments in that one address carefully he was referring to Nixon just as much as he was referring to Bush and Dulles.

Most on DU do not remember Eisenhower. He was a different type of Republican than those who followed him. He put an end to the McCarthy hearings by inviting the cast of I Love Lucy to the White House. No one said a word. And not long after, the hearings ended. Everyone really did love Lucy and loved Eisenhower as well for his truly magnificent welcoming of America's most famous "communist" in the White House just as she was about to be called in front of the committee. She wasn't called and that really was the end of McCarthy. Unfortunately it wasn't the end of Nixon.

[madfloridian]

10. I had forgotten that about Lucille Ball and Eisenhower.

Thanks for the memory. :hi:

[madfloridian]

4. More video: FBI pursued Seeger to the point where he could not get a job...

and the only people he could sing for were kids. From a PBS special.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh0elZi0KG4

[Bette Noir]

9. Pete's the best.

[sazemisery]

11. Pete is a national treasure.

I applaud all he has tried to do for our country.

[madfloridian]

12. How Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Finally Got on Network Television in 1968

http://www.peteseeger.net/givepeacechance.htm

Pete Seeger explains:

Most of my life I have assumed that the kind of songs I sing would not normally get played on the airwaves. I pointed to examples like Woody Guthrie's song, "This Land Is Your Land" to show that they don't have to get played on the airwaves. If it's a real good song, it will get spread around anyway.

But in 1967 I wrote what I thought was a real good song, and I knew there wasn't time for it to get around the country. People were being killed every day in Vietnam. I had a recording contract with Columbia Records at that time, and my friends there even agreed to put out a record of it; but the sales department just laughed at us both. The records stayed on the shelves and weren't even sent to the stores.

But two young comedians had a successful television show, and they asked their bosses if I could be a guest on their show. The Smothers Brothers were turned down by CBS TV at first, but finally they said O.K. I flew out to California and sang some songs that had been sung by American soldiers in four different wars-the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, and lastly this song, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy." It was a story song, kind of an allegory, describing a bunch of soldiers training during World War II and the captain tells them to ford a muddy river. But as it gets deeper the sergeant urges they turn around. The Captain says, "Don't be a Nervous Nelly. Follow me." But the Captain is drowned and they find his body stuck in the old quicksand. And the last verse says, "Every time I read the paper, those old feelings come on/We are waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on."

Son of a gun, when the show was supposed to be played on the air, the song had been scissored out of the tape by the higher-ups at CBS Television. Now the Smothers Brothers did a clever thing. They took their argument to the newspapers and they got lots of free publicity. They said, "CBS censors our best jokes, they censored Seeger's best song. It ain't fair." Finally in the month of January, 1968, the word came from New York, "O.K., O.K., you can sing the song if you want."

On 48 hours' notice I flew out to California, taped the song, and this time 7 million people saw it and even got some extra newspaper publicity. Only one station, I think, in Detroit, scissored the last verse out of the tape.

Did the song do any good? No one can prove a damned thing. It took tens of millions of people speaking out, before the Vietnam War was over. A defeat for the Pentagon, but a victory for the American people.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[OneBlueSky]

14. I was working on the Clearwater project with Pete just around this time . . .

and was fortunate to have been able to attend MANY Seeger concerts, most of which were in local high schools to raise funds for the Clearwater's construction . . . must have seen him do this song 20 or 30 times -- but never got tired of it, and neither did his audiences . . .

funny story about Pete that you might enjoy . . . despite his progressive credentials, Pete is at heart one of the most conservative people I know . . . change doesn't come easy for him, and he generally resists it at all costs, at least initially . . .

around 1969 and 1970, when I was attending all these performances -- some large, some small, all great -- I and a couple of guys I was hanging out with noticed that when Pete wanted to emphasize the guitar or banjo, he had to hold the instrument up to the mike and, consequently, couldn't sing at the same time . . . so one day a couple of us were sitting around and suggested that he get a couple of pickups, one for the guitar and one for the banjo, so he wouldn't have to do that . . .

"Nope, I don't do electric music," was his answer.

"But Pete, it's not "electric" music. It's just moving the mike from the stand to the instrument."

"Nope, can't do it," he says.

And he maintained that position until he started touring with Arlo in the mid to late 70s, at which time Arlo made the same suggestion and, in fact, showed Pete that he himself had pickups on his instruments. Even then it took awhile, but Pete ultimately relented, got some pickups, and was able to emphasize the guitar AND sing at the same time. And it only took a decade or so for him to make the change.

Love him to death . . . :)