Payton Jager on “We Shall Overcome” by Pete Seeger (1963)

In her podcast, Payton Jager gives a brilliant and encompassing listen not just to Pete Seeger’s version of “We Shall Overcome,” but to the folk song in its myriad versions from slavery through labor strikes, the Highlander Folk School, the Civil Rights Era, and into the present. Asking what made the song so conspicuous and prevalent in the 1960s, Payton analyzes its musical qualities, its lyrics, and its cultural moment, situating it among other “freedom songs” and exploring the song’s political resonance today.