Puff the Magic Dragon Tonight in Person - 1966
Puff the Magic Dragon was probably the first of Peter, Paul and Mary's string of folk song hits that those of us of a certain age remember hearing as children. I was in the playroom basement of my cousin's house when this first came on the radio, catching my fancy. Many years later I heard that "Puff" was an allusion to smoking pot, getting high but my childhood impression of it as a simple, catchy pop-folk song never changed.
Leaving On A Jet Plane
Ms. Travers once told the music magazine Goldmine: "People say to us, 'Oh, I grew up with your music,' and we often say, sotto voce, 'So did we.'
Below:
If I Had A Hammer
I remember belting this out in grade school chorus.
Peter Paul and Mary, If I Had A Hammer
Lyrics:
If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger,
I'd hammer out a warning,
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
If I had a bell,
I'd ring it in the morning,
I'd ring it in the evening,
All over this land
I'd ring out danger,
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
If I had a song,
I'd sing it in the morning,
I'd sing it in the evening,
All over this land
I'd sing out danger,
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.
It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
Blowin' in the Wind
Tonight in Person - 1966
The real deal. Born and bred in Greenwich Village, NY, here Mary Travers is shown at an anti war news conference in 1967.
Mary Travers, whose ringing, earnest vocals with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary made songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” enduring anthems of the 1960s protest movement, died on Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. She was 72 and lived in Redding, Conn.
The cause was complications from chemotherapy associated with a bone-marrow transplant she had several years ago after developing leukemia, said Heather Lylis, a spokeswoman.
Ms. Travers brought a powerful voice and an unfeigned urgency to music that resonated with mainstream listeners. With her straight blond hair and willowy figure and two bearded guitar players by her side, she looked exactly like what she was, a Greenwich Villager directly from the clubs and the coffeehouses that nourished the folk-music revival. NYTimes.com
Thanks for the Peter, Paul and Mary tribute. They were unique for the time and their music lives on.
Posted by: Dan | September 22, 2009 at 08:18 AM