Gone to Flowers, Our Best One

I saw him perform live back in the '80s. He sang "This Old Man" with new lyrics referring to Ronald Reagan and everybody roared.

The audience was full of middle-aged lefties who sang every word of every song with him.

Even then, in ostensible "peacetime," his music and words were so powerful. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like to sing his songs at wartime protests in the '60s. Until I sang them at wartime protests in the aughts.

The Permanent War may have outlasted Pete Seeger, but it will never outlast his songs.