Mr. Cat's Nostalgia Corner

Last night I watched a special program broadcast via Public Broadcasting Service about the folk-song trio Peter, Paul and Mary. I was totally unprepared for a particular segment of that program: film of the trio singing at the 28 August 1963 March On Washington--the very same event at which the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior delivered his brilliant message of hope, the "I have a dream" speech.

The trio's performance of "The Hammer Song (If I Had A Hammer)," written by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger and delivered from the same podium at which Doctor King would later speak, sent me into an emotional fugue from which I'm just now recovering. I'd never seen that film before; and immediately--after all these years--I was transported back to an era when everything seemed possible. I was nineteen years of age then; and in less than five years I'd be in the Republic of Viet Nam reading the Stars and Stripes front-page article about Doctor King's death. What a contrast existed between those events only a few years apart!

It's only natural for people younger than I to think of "The Hammer Song" as arcane, old hat, quaint. Mind, I'd not thought of it myself in many years! But, bang, there they were--one of my favorite musical groups standing before a huge audience at one of this nation's most historic events; and I was overcome with emotions which I cannot even describe. As is apt to happen when such troubling moments occur--and it is troubling to think about all that's taken place subsequent to that day in 1963--I've felt a need to share this with whomever might stop and listen.

Peter, Paul and Mary weren't just another folk-music group from back in the early '60s; they were the premiere popular-music group of the day, inspiring untold thousands of young people with musical messages of determination and hope. Truth be told, it's to a generation's credit that such credence was placed in what those musicians had to present; and I'm hoping (perhaps in vain) that such an emergence of support will be forthcoming today--for a musical group or soloist who can snap people out of insidious apathy and create in the public mind images worthy of remembering 40 years hence, lasting ideas of true justice and real peace.

Clicky:
"The Hammer Song (If I Had A Hammer)"


Peter, Paul and Mary at March On Washington, 28 August 1963


The audience, 28 August 1963


Peter, Paul and Mary: Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, Mary Allin Travers


The trio


Images of the trio are very hard to find on the inter-net.


Mary Travers' killer delivery still floors me.


Bob Dylan, Donovan, Mary Travers


Carrying it on


Five Grammys, five Top 10 albums, 37 Top 40 hits--of which 15 ascended into the Top 10--as well as six gold and three platinum albums



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They were and still are, one of my favorite groups Joe. I simply love the serenity in their voices as they raised them in unison against all that was wrong with the world in their music. I have all their records, and I still play them from time to time and I am transported back as well. Thanks for this thread, and the walk down Memory Lane-

I've heard that song sung for the first time by a former step father and I never knew the meaning really behind it until we sat and talked about it. He sang it at a church retreat. He was an episcopal minister.. I probably can sing it verse for verse, I really like that song.

Thanks, hissy and jugen, for taking the time to read that long post. Hissy, I'm green with envy! You have all those Peter, Paul and Mary recordings? I'll be right over.



Here's a little factoid which you may find interesting: Peter, Paul and Mary were asked to appear on the television program Hootenany! back in the day; but Pete Seeger (who co-wrote "The Hammer Song") hadn't been allowed on that program, due to his having been placed on the infamous "blacklist" during the McCarthy era; and so Peter, Paul and Mary refused the producers' repeated offers of more money--insisting they'd only appear if Seeger was invited as well. That never happened, but Seeger was invited to appear on The Smothers Brothers television program and did so--along with Peter, Paul and Mary.



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In 1963 I was 3 years old. I don't really remember the MLK speech or the events in Washington that day, but do remember seeing them appear on the Smother's Brother's show. I love that song. It's one of those songs that sends chills up your spine when you hear it.

Music certainly defined the times in the 60's. Some will say that it started with rock n' roll, but I think it was the compolation of folk, blues and rock n' roll all rolled into the era. When you really listen to music from that time, the roots are all intertwined. That's what made it so great.

Thank you for taking me back to memory lane!

Thanks for your memories, Momofmany! And I think you're exactly right: Popular music in the early and middle 1960s certainly encompassed a variety of musical genres, didn't it? I recall bluegrass, folk and jazz all being equally popular along with rock and roll.

And "The Hammer Song" as delivered by Peter, Paul and Mary does indeed go right to the bone! I never cease to be amazed by Mary Travers' projection in those early recordings.



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Joe, your historical reference threads are always a pleasure to read. Hope it makes the effort you went to in researching them worth it.

Thank you, Deb25! In this case, I'd say my effort was more than repaid. Indeed, here as elsewhere in Message-Board Land I've made huge posts which attracted little or nothing in the way of replies; but everyone who's replied to this thread has been very kind. Also, when it comes to these mega-posts of mine, it's as much a matter of getting something off my chest as it is an altruistic desire to inform others.



I suppose it's like face-to-face conversation in some respects. You've no doubt had the experience of telling somebody what for you is an important anecdote, only to have them say "How about them Cubs?" or "I've got to go now" or "Some weather we've been having, eh?"



Fortunately for me, this wasn't one of those times! Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to reply and for being in tune (pardon the pun) with this thread's original intent.



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Joe, I was born in 1974 and reading this thread, hearing the song and seeing the pics makes me wish I was there. I don't consider myself young any more at 30 but thank you for telling those of us who were'nt around then, about what must have been an unforgettable, life-changing and emotionally charged time.

Joe, thanks for that information. I grew up listening to Peter, Paul and Mary (Mom and Dad were folk music fans). During dinner, we'd be just as likely to be listening to "Puff the Magic Dragon" as any 80's music. And since I first read this thread, I've had "Take me for a ride in your car-car" running through my head.

Joe, I am a fifties baby (1954) and UK born and bred. I dont really remember the MLK speech as it affected us little over here until many years after (unless you were of the right age etc) I always thought Peter Paul and Mary a bit naff I must admit but maybe I should look again and have a reappraisal. So many good things have been said about their music here. We were only offered what was 'popular' and not anything in depth. I will say that Puff the Magic Dragon drives me totally mad and unfortunatly my opinion of PPM is based on that.This is due to being brought up in a ballet dancing family (mother teacher, sisters dancers) and this was at those horrid childrens dance festivals playing endlessly with small girls dancing dreadfully all hoping to become the next 'star' of stage and screen (I am forever scarred mentally by this image) However,the older I get the more 'open' I am for new things so will try again. My teenage years were made up of American Soul/Blue Stax Label i.e. Otis Redding (I remember wearing a black arm band when he died)!
Alexis

The song running through my head now is their racehorse song- Old Stillwall I believe was the name.

I also remember the big hoopla that came out after they released Puff the Magic Dragon, so many folks thought it was a promote smoking Pot song or that it was about a massive war weapon in the Vietnam war. When in actuality, one of Yarrow's friends who was in a fraternity at the time, just having left home, wrote it to say goodbye to the magic of childhood, where we all leave our imagination behind to enter the grown-up world of studies and work and application. It didn't help that after the song came out, someone in Vietnam did actually name a plane and a weapon Puff the Magic Dragon-

Thanks again Joe, for the memories.

MA, was it Stewball? You can go here and if you scroll to the middle of the page and click on the little note icon, you can listen to a short clip.

PS The Trips might like to listen to one of the tracks here

You are right Tania, I was pre-coffee-

Kumbulu! It's great to see you! Thanks for those links to musical snippets from The Irish Rovers and Peter, Paul and Mary. That era had slipped down a very long corridor in my brain, hiding in a dusty room, until I saw the television program to which I alluded earlier; and then it came roaring back, with a force I'd not expected.

Okeefecl, were your parents beatniks or hippies--or neither (or both)? Of course Peter, Paul and Mary appealed to a wide audience; hence their extreme popularity. I was attending college when "Puff The Magic Dragon" was released; and I still enjoy hearing that song!

Tulip2454, I can appreciate your dislike of a song which (at your location) was overplayed. Believe me, I've a list of such songs as well! And, ironically in this case, my list topper is "Dock Of The Bay"--closely followed by "Stairway To Heaven" and "Free Bird." When I was in the Republic of Viet Nam, Armed Forces Viet Nam radio played "Dock Of The Bay" at least once every hour for a year. Mind, I wasn't able to listen to the radio all that often; but when I did, there was Otis for the millionth time. Alas!

Hissy, I too recall the big magilla about "Puff The Magic Dragon" being a dope-smoking song: "Puff" supposedly indicated inhalation, "lived by the sea" was thought to be "lived by the 'C'," meaning cocaine, "little Jacky Papers" referred to rolling papers for making joints, et cetera. Personally, I thought all those suppositions were far fetched and self serving--for dope-smoking disciples and opponents alike. And I remember the "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunships quite well, as I saw them in action. Whoa!



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Originally posted by Mr. Cat
Okeefecl, were your parents beatniks or hippies--or neither (or both)? Of course Peter, Paul and Mary appealed to a wide audience; hence their extreme popularity. I was attending college when "Puff The Magic Dragon" was released; and I still enjoy hearing that song!

Click to expand...

Neither. Mom and Dad met at Catholic University, a pretty conservative place (although they did take over the cathedral to protest the firing of a popular [and gay] professor). I guess they just liked good vocal music, if that makes sense. We listened to the Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, the Mamas and the Papas...and I still do.

Yesterday I received in the mail Carry It On by Peter, Paul and Mary (Warner Brothers R2-73907 2003). It's a box set with four compact disks and one digital versatile disk, plus an 88-page book.



There's one more song I wanted you all to hear (even if you've heard it before) because I think it applies today as much as it did when the trio sang it 40 years ago. So click and enjoy: The Times They Are A Changin' (Live).











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I love the song "Times are a Changing"! We made a video tribute for my mom when she was terminally ill. Put pictures of her life to music, and for the period when her 5 kids were getting older, getting married and moving out, we played that song. Now I cry whenever I hear it.

That's a lovely thing you did for your mother, Momofmany. I wish I'd have done the same, when my mother became terminally ill.



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