Dick Blakeslee

Who was Dick Blakeslee?

Richard Cleveland Blakeslee was an American professor of English who is best known as the author of the folk song "Passing Through". Quoting from the book by Ronald D. Cohen and Dave Samuelson which accompanies the ten CD set "Songs for Political Action", in discussing the People's Songs organization in Chicago,

"Curiously, the most popular song to emerge from Chicago didn't come from the downtown office, but from the city's southside Hyde Park neighborhood. Dick Blakeslee became interested in folk music while attending the University of Chicago. In late 1947 or early 1948, he and Dick Crolley sent a home-cut disc of their compositions to People's Songs in New York. Blakeslee's "Passing Through" was chosen for publication. Pete Seeger learned the song and sang it throughout Henry Wallace's 1948 presidential campaign. Today, "Passing Through" remains an enduring folk standard."

Over the next half century "Passing Through" was recorded by many artists including The Highwaymen, Cisco Houston, Earl Scruggs, Leonard Cohen, Valdy and Kind of Like Spitting. It was often sung at union rallies and state fairs and over the years acquired verses not written by Blakeslee, such as a Lincoln verse.