Wimoweh pete seeger7/3/2023 The song doesn't mention Vietnam but the “big fool” obviously refers to Johnson who got the country deeper into the quagmire in Southeast Asia. The captain drowns and the sergeant orders the unit to turn back. The captain, whom Seeger calls a “big fool,” ignores his sergeant's warnings that the river is too deep to cross. The song tells the story of a platoon of soldiers wading into the mud of a river while on a practice patrol in Louisiana in 1942. At the taping, Seeger sang “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” a song he had written earlier that year, inspired by a photo of American troops slogging through a deep river in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Seeger showed up to tape the second season's opening show on September 1, which was scheduled to air September 10. Network chief Paley agreed on the condition that Seeger avoid singing any controversial songs-a demand that was, from the outset, guaranteed to provoke the Smothers brothers' and Seeger's defiance. Midway into the first season, however, the show's popularity gave the Smothers more leverage with the recalcitrant network executives. The brothers had requested that Seeger be invited to perform, but CBS refused. One sketch that lampooned President Lyndon Johnson so upset the president that he phoned CBS founder William S. In 1967, CBS invited the brothers to host their own variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which became a huge success, appealing to young viewers by inviting major rock and folk artists as well as comedians who reflected the political and cultural rebelliousness of the era. Tom and Dick Smothers were among many musicians inspired by Seeger's artistic and political contributions. In the 1960s he sang with civil rights workers in the South and at the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and helped popularize “We Shall Overcome.” But ABC refused to allow Seeger to appear on Hootenanny, which owed its existence to the folk music revival Seeger had helped inspire. Most colleges and concert halls refused to book him and he was banned from network television.ĭuring the blacklist years, Seeger scratched out a living by giving guitar and banjo lessons and singing at the small number of summer camps, churches, high schools, colleges, and union halls that were courageous enough to invite the controversial balladeer. (He never spent time in jail and the conviction was overturned on appeal in May 1962). In 1955, Seeger was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to discuss his political affiliations before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Seeger left the Weavers but his solo career also fell victim to the Red Scare. Radio stations stopped playing their songs and their records stopped selling. They lost their television show contracts and nightclub bookings. For a brief period in the early 1950s, as a member of the Weavers quartet, he performed in prestigious nightclubs, appeared on network television shows, and recorded several hit songs, including “Goodnight, Irene,” “Tzena Tzena,” “Wimoweh,” and “So Long It's Been Good to Know You.” But as engaged radicals, they were an easy target for the Red Scare's blacklist. Seeger had been blacklisted from network television since the 1950s because of his leftist politics. But when Tom and Dick Smothers invited him on their show, many people still viewed him as a dangerous radical, marginalized by the nation's political, business, and media establishment. Seeger, who died in 2014, is now viewed as a legendary figure in American history. The story of that appearance, and that song, illustrates the tumultuous political tensions of the era and was a bold act of defiance against corporate media power. Fifty years ago this week, folk singer Pete Seeger performed the controversial anti-war song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour show on CBS television.
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