All Mixed Up

Pete's put this song at the very front of his autobiography Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singalong Memoir, as an expression of how central he felt diversity was to his work and music. (It also expressed the fact that he often brought together different pieces to create his songs, such as writing new music to old words or new words to older tunes. Seeger first released the song on his 1965 "Strangers & Cousins" LP on Columbia Records. He said he liked the calypso beat in the melody.

The 1st video below is from a concert he gave in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1965. The 2nd is off of his "Rainbow Quest" public TV show. 

Peter Paul & Mary's recording appears on their 1992 "Flowers & Stones" album & also on the "Where Have All the Flowers Gone: Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. I" - the compendium 2-disc set of other artists singing Seeger's songs.

The Vermont choral ensemble Counterpoint recorded it as the tile track on their 2016 "All Mixed Up: Counterpoint Sings the Music of Pete Seeger".

You know this language that we speak
Is part German, Latin & part Greek
With some Celtic & Arabic all in a heap
Well amended by the people in the street
Choctaw gave us the word "okay"
"Vamoose" is a word from Mexico way
And all of this is a hint I suspect 
Of what comes next

D   G / A   D :// G   D / A   D ://

I think that this whole world
Soon, mama, my whole wide world
Soon, mama, my whole world
Soon gonna be get mixed up
Soon, mama, my whole world
Soon mama my whole wide world
Soon mama my whole world
Soon gonna be get mixed up

GA / D  AD //: D  GA / D  AD :// (3x)

I like Polish sausage, I like Spanish rice
Pizza pie is also nice
Corn & beans from the Indians here
Washed down by German beer
Marco Polo traveled by camel & pony
Brought to Italy, the first macaroni
And you & I as well as we're able
Put it all on the table (I think that this…)

There were no red-headed Irishmen
Before the Vikings landed in Ireland
How many Romans had dark curly hair
Before they brought slaves from Africa?
No race of man is completely pure
Nor is anyone's mind & that's for sure
The winds mix the dust of every land
And so will woman & man...

Oh this doesn't mean we will all be the same
We'll have different faces & different names
Long live many different kinds of races
And difference of opinion that makes horse races
Just remember the rule about rules, brother
What’s right for one is wrong for another
And take a tip from La Belle France: 
"Vive la difference!"..
w: Pete Seeger 1960  m: Louise Bennett  © 1965 (renewed) by Stormking Music Inc. All rights reserved.