- Lee Elhardt Hays
Lee Hays (
March 14 ,1914 -August 26 ,1981 ), was an American folk-singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass withThe Weavers . Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcomingracism , inequality, andviolence in society.Childhood
Lee was born in
Little Rock ,Arkansas to William Benjamin Hays and Ellen Reinhardt Hays. William was aMethodist preacher who moved from parish to parish, so Lee lived in several towns inArkansas and Georgia during his childhood and learned to singsacred harp music in his father's church. When he was five, he witnessed publiclynchings of African-Americans.College
He studied at Commonwealth College, in
Arkansas , during theGreat Depression . At the same time, he preached in local churches and wrote stories, plays, and songs.Eli Jaffe , aplaywright and fellow student, said that Lee "was deeply religious and extremely creative and imaginative and firmly believed in the Brotherhood of Man."Trade unionism
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quote=" [Orval Faubus|Orval [Faubus] was a grass-roots populist in his early days, and worked at the Highlander school. He was in charge of the sanitary facilities, and he kept it beautiful; he even put curtains up in the windows of the two-holer we had. But what he was best at was shoveling it out, a function which had to be performed periodically. He really put his back into it. Now he's in the Arkansas State House, performing the same function."
source=Lee Hays to Steve Courtney|During the 1930s he left college and became a unionactivist , teaching at theHighlander Folk School inTennessee . He also lived inNew York City during this period, and met and played alongside musicians likePete Seeger ,Woody Guthrie ,Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly ),Cisco Houston ,Burl Ives , andJosh White .In 1940 and 1941, Lee performed with
Pete Seeger 'sAlmanac Singers . Many of the songs they played at union halls and strike meetings around theUnited States were written by Lee, including "Which Side Are You On? ", "Plow the Fourth Boy Under ", and "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan". He often adaptedChristian hymns andspirituals to serve as union songs.The Weavers and the McCarthy era
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quote="If it wasn't for the honor, I'd just as soon not have been blacklisted."
source=Lee Hays|In 1948, Lee formed
the Weavers with Seeger,Ronnie Gilbert andFred Hellerman . Hays wrote and co-wrote some of their hits, including "Kisses Sweeter than Wine ," and "If I Had a Hammer ." Because of his involvement withleft-wing groups during the 1930s and 1940s, Lee came under suspicion ofCommunist sympathies during theMcCarthy era .He was present at the
Paul Robeson performance inPeekskill, NY , that sparked thePeekskill Riots onSeptember 4 ,1949 . Lee escaped in a car with Guthrie and Seeger after a mob claiming to be anti-communist patriots stormed the theatre, attacking the audience and performers.In 1950, Lee Hays was named, along with the rest of
the Weavers , in the anti-communist tract "Red Channels " and was placed on the industry blacklist. He wassubpoena ed by theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities to answer questions aboutCommunism , which he refused to do, pleading the Fifth Amendment.The Weavers , unable to perform on television, radio, or in most music halls, broke up in 1952. Another entertainer,Lee Hayes , may also have been banned from entertaining because of the similarity of his name. "Hayes couldn't get a job the whole time I was blacklisted," Hays claimed.Later life
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quote="If [Benedict Arnold| [Benedict] Arnold] was successful, we would have had a set of horse-faced rulers, but that might be preferable to what we have now."
source=Lee Hays, at theHudson River Revival in Croton Point Park, June 1981|In 1958 Lee began recording children's albums with a group which included
Alan Arkin and others as The Baby Sitters.He appeared with his old friend Woody's son,
Arlo Guthrie , in the film "Alice's Restaurant" (1969), in which Lee plays himself as areverend at a 1960 evangelical meeting.In 1967, he moved to Memory Lane, off Mount Airy Road in
Croton-on-Hudson , New York. There he devoted himself to tending his organic vegetable garden,cooking ,writing , andsocializing .He was
overweight and suffered fromdiabetes , so as he got older his health deteriorated. Eventually, both his legs had to be amputated. Younger friends, among themLawrence Lazare andJimmy Callo , helped take care of him.Hays took part in several Weavers reunions, the last of which was in November 1980 at
New York City 'sCarnegie Hall . His last public performance was withthe Weavers on June 1981, at theHudson River Revival in Croton Point Park. Thedocumentary film "" was released in 1982.He died on
August 26 ,1981 fromdiabetic cardiovascular disease at home in Croton. He was cremated and his ashes were mixed with hiscompost pile .References
* Coogan, Harold. " [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1669 Lee Elhardt Hays (1914–1981)] ", [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/ "Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture"] .
* Courtney, Steve. " [http://www.bencourtney.com/hays So long to Lee Hays] " (obituary), "North County News", September 2-8, 1981. p.7
* Stambler, Irwin, and Grelun Landon, eds. "The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music". New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983.
* Willens, Doris. " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0803297475/ The Lonesome Traveler: A Biography of Lee Hays] ". New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988.
* "" Warner Brothers, 1982.
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371630/ Lee Hays] at theInternet Movie Database .
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