Blacklisted in the 1950s for his espousal of leftwing causes, Seeger spoke out on everything from racial segregation and nuclear proliferation to the Vietnam War and, more recently, the Occupy Wall Street movement.
When he turned 90, the banjo-playing bard had a birthday bash thrown for him in Madison Square Garden where Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Ani DiFranco and Bruce Springsteen, who released a Seeger Sessions covers album in 2006, were among the celebrants.
“He's gonna look a lot like your granddad that wears flannel shirts and funny hats,” Bruce told the assembled masses. “He gonna look like your granddad if your granddad can kick your ass. He remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself."
Among the first to react to the news here was Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, another noted fan, who tweeted: “Aaaahhhh, Pete Seeger is dead. Fear maith é. Bron orm an sceal seo a fhail.”
His fellow Ulsterman Duke Special reflected: "I love Pete Seeger's description of music's ability to lift us above our troubles, help us to understand our troubles and occasionally to do something about our troubles. An inspiration."
BBC deejay Lauren Laverne put it nicely when she said: “Still thinking about Pete Seeger's amazing century on earth. Loved and hated by precisely the right people. What a guy.”
There was a nice comment from fan Arun Gupta who noted, “Pete Seeger is more worthy of a national holiday than all US Presidents combined.”