the golden thread

pete seeger was an unknown quantity to me until one day i discovered that songs written by him, and sometimes even sung by him were actually his. songs such as "where have all the flowers gone?", "if i had a hammer (the hammer song)", and "turn, turn, turn!" which i had heard sung by other people, had sung myself in school choirs, hummed along to on the radio and even sung with students i had taught myself, had for some strange reason never been connected by me with a man who i had read about and heard about - a man with a kind of mythical stature connected to the revival of folk and the resurgence of the protest song but which i had for the longest time not actually connected to specific songs.

so today i went wandering across the net to listen to some of pete's music and came across this lovely piece. the accompanying video appears to be the opening song for a special tv show.

oh, had i a golden thread


oh, had i a golden thread

and needle so fine

i'd weave a magic strand

of rainbow design
of rainbow design.


in it i'd weave the bravery 
of women giving birth,

in it i would weave the innocence 
of children over all the earth,

children of all earth.


far over the waters

i'd reach my magic band

through foreign cities,

to every single land,

to every land.


show my brothers and sisters

my rainbow design,

bind up this sorry world

with hand and heart and mind,

hand and heart and mind.


far over the waters

i'd reach my magic band

to every human being

so they would understand,

so they'd understand.



words and music by pete seeger (1958)
(c) 1959 by stormking music inc.