Music Monday: Sailing Down My Golden River

"Sailing Down My Golden River" is perhaps one of the most iconic of Pete Seeger's river-themed songs. It is certainly a favorite of many Hudson River Maritime Museum staff, board members, and volunteers. 

​Pete Seeger wrote "Sailing Down My Golden River" in the 1960s, coinciding with his idea to build a replica Hudson River sloop as a way to educate people about the plight of the polluted Hudson River. To learn more about Pete's dream and the construction of the replica sloop that would become known as Clearwater, visit our online exhibit "Rescuing the River." 

Released on his fourth studio album, "Rainbow Race," in 1973 on the Columbia Records label, this version is a live recording from the 1979 Bread & Roses Festival. 

"Sailing Down My Golden River"
​Words and Music by Pete Seeger

​Sailing down my golden river
Sun and water all my own
Yet I was never alone

Sun and water, old life givers
L'll have them where ere I roam
And I was not far from home

Sunlight glancing on the water
Life and death are all my own
Yet I was never alone

Life for all my sons and daughters
Golden sparkles in the foam
And I was not far from home

Sailing down this winding highway
Travelers from near and far
And I was never alone

Exploring all the little byways
Sighting all the distant stars
And I was not far from home

Sailing down my golden river
Sun and water all my own
Yet I was never alone

Sun and water, old life givers
L'll have them where ere I roam
And I was not far from home

Yet I was never alone
And I was not far from home

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Do you have a favorite Pete Seeger song or memory? We were lucky to host Pete in 2012 for the "barn raising" of the timber framed structure at the museum called the Kingston Home Port and Education Center (affectionately dubbed "The Barn") - a building shared by the Hudson River Maritime Museum and our friends the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Appropriately, he played "If I had a Hammer" to the crowds, at the age of 93. 

If "Sailing Down My Golden River" brings up a special memory or meaning for you, please share in the comments! And if this is your first time hearing the song, what did you think?

Special thanks to Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Mark Heller for contributing to this post. 

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