Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Introduction

In a Nutshell

Think that Pete Seeger's music is just old-school, corny, folksy stuff from bygone days? 

Think again. 

Throughout his life, humble old Pete Seeger found himself at the center of more than a few big dramas, spanning a remarkable period of American history ranging from the 1940s right up to Barack Obama's inaugural. In 1967, after 17 years of being blacklisted in Hollywood for his political radicalism, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" got him back into the spotlight—by being temporarily banned from network TV. 

Although presidential insults have since become par for the course in the mainstream media, it seems that back then, people didn't just go around calling wartime presidents "big fools."

About the Song

Shmoop Connections

Pete Seeger thought he had seen it all. 

He'd been scorned for his union involvement and Communist Party affiliations in the 1940s. He'd been deployed in World War II and sung songs for American soldiers in distant places. He'd been blacklisted during McCarthyism and the Red Scare, threatened with violence at civil rights demonstrations, and disinvited from presidential dinners and TV appearances because of his political associations. 

So, when he wrote "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," a thinly veiled attack on President Lyndon B. Johnson's policy of escalation during the Vietnam War, he probably wasn't too surprised when it caused a stir. 

Plus, as it turned out, his antiwar allegory might have actually reflected the sentiments of nearly half the nation.

On the Charts

Despite garnering a decent amount of attention for being controversial, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" didn't chart. 

In the end, Seeger hardly needed a chart-topping history: Among many other honors, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He also received the Harvard Arts Medal in 1996 despite having dropped out of Harvard in 1938.