Pete Seeger

Springsteen to Seeger: "You Outlasted the Bastards"

by: Katrina Vanden Heuvel  |  Visit article original @ The Nation

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Pete Seeger celebrated his 90th birthday in a star-studded concert in Madison Square Garden. (Photo: Reuters Pictures)

    "You outlasted the bastards, man," Bruce Springsteen told the roaring crowd.

    I think that was my favorite line at the rollicking birthday concert celebrating Pete Seeger's 90th!

    There were other uplifting, astonishing moments Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, at a five-hour concert which Seeger only OK'd because it raised much-needed funds for his Clearwater project--a non profit organization which the oft-maligned bard started in 1969 to clean up his beloved, polluted Hudson River.

    Fifteen thousand people, of all ages, (okay, median age was probably 55) danced, clapped and sang along as Seeger did a soaring version of "Amazing Grace" and the saintly looking Joan Baez sang " Where Have All the Flowers Gone."

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/050609E?n

Amazing Grace en de ironie: 'John Newton, the author of the lyrics to Amazing Grace, was born in 1725 in Wapping, London, United Kingdom.[1] Despite the powerful message of "Amazing Grace," Newton's religious beliefs initially lacked conviction; his youth was marked by religious confusion and a lack of moral self-control and discipline.[1]

After a brief time in the Royal Navy, Newton began his career in slave trading. The turning point in Newton's spiritual life was a violent storm that occurred one night while at sea. Moments after he left the deck, the crewman who had taken his place was swept overboard. Although he manned the vessel for the remainder of the tempest, he later commented that, throughout the tumult, he realized his helplessness and concluded that only the grace of God could save him.'  En dus niet allereerst de slaven.