Here’s a tip of the pressman’s paper hat to 90-year-old Pete Seeger and art of communication

Folk singer extraordinaire Pete Seeger turned 90 this week. As one who has always appreciated the art of communication and persuasion, I’ve been a fan of Seeger — when I agreed with his politics and when I didn’t.

Neither he nor I were too keen on the Vietnam war. We both supported desegregation. We generally parted ways over his free-floating liberalism. But I still love a good argument.

He’s had a interesting career, including refusing to answer questions by HUAC.

I saw him many, many years ago on a tiny stage at the annual Red River Revel in Shreveport, La. He and a collection of aging, mostly African-American folk and blues singers were doing Leadbelly tunes.

He performed on his birthday Sunday in New York in a rare appearance. There are plans for him to perform this fall at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

For your amusement here is a minute of Seeger’s “Newspaper Man.” I have the full three minutes on my iPod. My favorite line: “It could be press-titution, I don’t know.”

Here's another verse: