Creativity Quote by Pete Seeger

There is a quiet defiance tucked inside Seeger’s plainspoken line: if you want to scrutinize me, fine - I’ll answer by doing the work. Coming from a musician who spent years in the crosshairs of Cold War suspicion, “glad” isn’t just politeness; it’s strategy. He frames disclosure not as capitulation to authority, but as an extension of craft. The pivot is the last clause, “because singing is my business,” which drags the conversation away from ideology and back to labor. He’s not arguing abstract rights; he’s insisting on a job description.

The intent is almost mischievously narrow. “What songs I have ever sung” sounds like a harmless cataloging of repertoire, but in the era of blacklists, songs were treated like affiliations, lyrics like evidence. Seeger turns that premise inside out: if you’re going to judge him, you’ll have to do it on the record, and the record is music. It’s a refusal to be reduced to rumor or forced confession; he offers transparency on his own terms.

Subtextually, it’s a defense of folk music as civic speech. Singing isn’t a hobby or decoration here; it’s a livelihood and a public service, a way to circulate memory, grievance, hope. By claiming it as “business,” Seeger punctures the idea that art is safely apolitical. In his mouth, the ordinary word becomes a shield and a dare: you can subpoena a person, but you can’t un-sing a culture.