Original WG lyrics. No big surprise. Woody was a well known communist. Pete is handing over to Bruce because his days are numbered.
Bruce will carry the “torch” until he finds another weak-kneed guitar strummer to carry the “message”.....
Like Peter Paul and Mary he is one of the undead.
Good analysis. Seeger is still a communist though without a Party. He has supported the Stalinist CPUSA, the Trotskyites’ Socialist Workers Party, the Maoist publication “Guardian” (US weekly), the Stalinist formerly CP formerly Maoist “Workers World Party” - ANSWER and IAC, and just about every other form of communism on the political spectrum.
Woody Guthrie was a hardcore Party man who also liked to write and sing, as is Seeger. His son is a leftist who liked Hanoi.
Springsteen is a jerk and is the right person to be Seeger’s successor, as you pointed out, but he doesn’t have the communist history that Guthrie and Seeger brought to music and agitprop. What he will do in the future will be interesting to watch.