For over seventy years, Peggy Seeger has been a pillar of folk music and political activism. Now, entering her 90th year (born June 17, 1935), the musician and progressive stalwart has announced she will officially retire from solo recordings and concerts. The younger half-sister of Pete Seeger has lived an extraordinary life writing songs, making records, confronting social issues, and speaking out. Her newly released album, Teleology, is a wonderfully touching and whimsical finale to her solo recording career. Confronting both the world and the personal, these songs flow from today’s charged politics to the inevitable acceptance of slowing down and growing old.
Let’s begin with the meaning of the album title (and also its title track), Teleology. Peggy Seeger explains within her liner notes, “Teleology: the belief that everything that has happened has done so with a specific purpose or use in mind, the arrow called Time heading for a predetermined bullseye called Now.” Seeger adds she always wondered if her career would end with a “bang or a whimper.” This album confirms her vocals and enthusiasm are as stirring and engaging as ever.
Things definitely start off with a bang on the first track in support of struggling workers. “Sing About These Hard Times” hits the nail on the head, proving Peggy Seeger has her heart with the working class. The lyrics, biting and honest, stand against capitalism, and are infectiously easy for listeners to sing along with, the key to a great folk song.
Life gets harder every year.
Those with the least have the most to fear.
Those with the most, they just don’t care.
The big corporations got no home.
The men on the Hill got hearts of stone.
They worry my life like a dog with a bone.
When will the good times roll?
Solidarity with everyday folks continues with the protest song, “Sit Down” (co-written with Maurice Sugar).
When the rich get richer and the poor stay poor, sit down, sit down.
When there’s always cash for another war, sit down, sit down.
When public services get the axe, sit down, sit down.
And corporations pay no tax, sit down, sit down.
Seeger compassionately explores the heartbreak of leaving or losing one’s home. “Driftwood” deals with immigrants arriving at a foreign shore, leaving the only home they ever knew behind.
Home, homeland, a place where we belonged.
We had a life there, now it’s gone.
We were born there, we lived and died.
Now we are driftwood, caught in the tide.
Strangers in a strange land.
Hoping for a helping hand.
Is that hard to understand?
“No Place Like Home” describes homelessness, losing a job, living on the streets, and trying to catch the eyes of passersby.
My job went east, my life went west.
Every day another test.
To find another place to rest.
There is no place like home.
Can you spare some change for this broken place.
This aching body, weathered face.
A word, a smile from anyone.
Compassion is a mother tongue.
Peggy Seeger’s longtime partner and eventual husband was British left-wing activist, singer-songwriter, and actor, Ewan MacColl. MacColl penned “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” as a love song to his future wife. Here, Seeger sings a heartfelt, tender rendition of this timeless classic in loving remembrance. MacColl died in 1989.
Seeger, who is bisexual, took encouraging advice from her second life-partner, singer-songwriter Irene Pyper-Scott, and began co-writing new songs with others. Seeger plays piano on the dreamy “Through the Clouds,” co-written with her daughter-in-law, Kate St. John. Both her sons, Calum and Neill MacColl, contribute profusely to the new album, not only in composing but also playing keyboards, guitar, mandolin, autoharp, and adding background vocals. This truly was a Seeger family collaboration.
There are playful songs offered as well. “I Want to Meet Paul Simon” will bring a lighthearted smile to many a music lover’s face. An inspiring little tale of “Hope” showcases Seeger’s mature voice, which has aged like a fine wine.
As Peggy Seeger approaches her 90th year, the theme of aging and accepting change is just as inspirational here as her political songs. The album contains selections that will have listeners ponder the constant flow of time. “Slow” praises the joy of small, slower pleasures in our fast-paced, busy world.
The world speeds up as I slow down.
Everything moves so fast.
Cardboard cities (built on sand).
Nothing is made to last (that long).
Life so precious, blink and it’s gone.
Father Time still singing his song.
“Apple Tree” is the touching finale to this emotionally packed collection. The song confronts the peaceful acceptance of aging within the natural world surrounding us. Encouraged by Seeger’s gentle, sincere voice, it may induce tears of poignant reflection in some listeners.
The old apple tree is dying.
Barren branches beg the sky for rain.
A climbing rose embraces her now.
Sweet perfume, flowers and thorns.
Life moves on.
Life moves on.
In Peggy Seeger’s own words, “Bringing a song out of nowhere together with gifted musicians is a thrilling experience, a journey coaxing a song from a subject, a distant thought, an emotional moment.”
Peggy Seeger describes this as her final ‘solo’ album, so let us hope this incredibly talented and socially conscious musician will remain an inspiration in other forms going forth. Born in New York City, Seeger has made the United Kingdom her home for many years and has U.K. citizenship. Along with her half-brother, Pete Seeger, she experienced various forms of blacklisting in the United States during the 1950s in response to her left-wing social activism.
Peggy Seeger’s 2025 Final Farewell and 90th Birthday Tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland is currently scheduled through June. The album, Teleology, made in the U.K., is released through Red Grape Music Ltd.
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