PEGGY SEEGER
The folk eminence talks luck, love and ridiculousness.
APICTURE OF serene elegance and wisdom, Peggy Seeger’s reflections on her unique place at the forefront of the folk revivals on both sides of the Atlantic are peppered with humour, song lyrics, acerbic asides, detailed descriptions and winning self-deprecation. Born in New York in 1935, she grew up in a folk music culture where both parents and brothers Pete and Mike held important sway, and much of her tenure in the UK involved a partnership with folk singer and activist Ewan MacColl. At 85, her latest LP, teasingly titled First Farewell, offers more measured views, but she’s as passionate, as ever, currently campaigning against building plans on fields near her home in Oxfordshire.
Given your family background, was it your destiny to be a musician?
I don’t believe in destiny. I believe in luck.
I was born into a marriage where the parents adored each other, the children didn’t rip each other apart and there was music in the house day and night. My mother was transcribing field singers for the [Alan] Lomax books and we kids were playing with puppets in the corner, learning the songs. It wasn’t destiny, it was luck.
Did your brother Pete inspire, advise or even pass comment on your work?
In the early days, no, but when he heard other people singing my songs he did say he thought I was a really good songwriter. Then he sang my song I’m Gonna Be An Engineer and it was the first time I was ever really honest with him, because Peter never really liked personal talk. But when he sang it he left out the verses that are in minor, and I said, “Pete, either don’t sing it or put the verses back in.”
When Roberta Flack went to Number 1 with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (written by MacColl for Seeger) were you ever jealous that it wasn’t your version?
No! We were angry, but I wasn’t jealous. I must admit, though, I’ve been jealous recently. When my book [2018’s memoir First Time Ever] was up for the Penderyn Music Book Prize, I wanted that prize, but Shirley Collins won it. I’m happy for her. I think she got a rough ride from Alan Lomax, but I’ve read all her books and she’s done an amazing job. I don’t begrudge Shirley – I figure my life is the prize I won.
Did you fall out with Shirley? She said some stuff about Ewan…
No we didn’t fall out. I had trouble believing what she wrote in her book [All In The Downs, 2017] about Ewan trying to seduce her in his flat. I mean, the flat had two bedrooms and one living room and in it lived his mother, his wife, his son and him – not the sort of place to take someone to seduce them. I don’t disbelieve Shirley, but I didn’t necessarily want to hear those things. But then Ewan was a fast worker…
Is it true you went back to America after Ewan died because you couldn’t get any work in Britain?
Ewan died in 1989 and I left in 1995. I had no idea who I was on my own. I took him on as a father figure and now he was gone. I was in a dreadful state – near nervous breakdown. So I had to find a way of performing on my own. Irene [Scott, her partner] said, “You can’t just get up there and lecture on politics. You’ve got to be funny and tell stories.” So I left for six years and it made it possible for me to get up on stage and not be shaking like a leaf.
What have you learned?
I’ve learned to be grateful. Recently there was something up on the web where I’m holding forth as Ewan’s echo chamber, and honest to god, I looked fantastic but I sounded ridiculous. And I’ve learned not to play songs so damn fast. I’ve learned as long as people keep singing First Time Ever, I will have a comfortable old age.
“Holding forth as Ewan’s echo chamber… I sounded ridiculous.” PEGGY SEEGER
Tell us something you’ve never told an interviewer before…
I’m a connoisseur when it comes to judging interviewers, and what I’d love to tell them is “You talk too much.” I want to say, “Ask a question …and then