http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24VOo7-ctKU Pete Seeger's masterpiece is the hardest-edged of all of his songs. While "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" taught its message by caressing us and making us weep, "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy" slams us over the head so hard that it hurts our ancestors. Fortunately, "Muddy" came about at the height of the Vietnam War, when the political climate was just right for a song like this. The lyrics loosely tell the story of the Ribbon Creek Incident. Said incident took place at Parris Island, a Marine Corps training camp, in 1956. Matthew McKeon, a drill instructor at the Island, marched his recruits into a swampy tidal creek known as Ribbon Creek during maneuvers. McKeon had a few drinks before the march, and was arguably still drunk; drunk enough, anyway, to march his platoon into the creek so far that six of his recruits drowned. McKeon was found guilty of negligent homicide and was fined, confined to a prison farm for nine months, and received a dishonorable discharge. Seeger took the story of the incident, put it into the middle of WWII, lowered the body count to one, and slapped a message onto the tail of the song. He compared the bullheaded sergeant to Lyndon B. Johnson, calling them both stupid to keep pushing us forward, against all reason, for a fruitless cause (in Johnson's case, escalating the war in Vietnam). Seeger was extremely brave for recording this little ditty. After all, the last verse calls Johnson on the carpet in no uncertain terms. The veteran who sings the song talks about reading the paper & seeing another "big fool" telling us "to push on." You don't have to be a genius to know who the big fool is. That bluntness, of course, was just what the doctor ordered in the turbulent days of the 1960s. The song became a hit, not in spite of its controversy, but because of it. Of course, we're long past the days of Vietnam. It's a testament to the strength of Seeger's songwriting that "Muddy" is still as biting today as it was back then. The lyrics have the power to bring the images they portray to life, putting us in the middle of the platoon with the ill-fated sergeant. It's just about as perfect as a protest song can get, because it forces you to think. It's songs like "Muddy" and the other songs on this list that ensure that Pete Seeger will forever live in the hearts of music lovers. There you have it: the six greatest songs by the late folk genius, Pete Seeger. What songs have we missed? Disagree with our choices? Let us know in the comments below!
Alan Howell is a native of Southern California. He loves movies of any and all kinds, Hollywood, indie, and everywhere in between. He loves pizza, sitcoms, rock and pop music, surfing, baseball, reading, and girls (not necessarily in that order).