{"id":1331,"date":"2009-12-28T21:00:05","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T21:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.georgethomasclark.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2010-06-17T21:13:53","modified_gmt":"2010-06-17T21:13:53","slug":"mary-travers-sings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/mary-travers-sings\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Travers Sings"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I wandered into the Internet searching for something I can\u2019t remember and is anyway irrelevant since nameless subjects flowed into each other forming a serendipitous road that led to a 1963 photo of Mary Travers singing beside a video link to \u201cIf I Had a Hammer.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d heard the studio version of the song many times on radio in the 1960s but only rarely since.\u00a0 As one quickly conquered and still captivated by the rock \u2018n\u2019 roll revolution, I was only mildly curious when clicking to reacquaint myself with this President Kennedy-era folk hit by Peter, Paul, and Mary. <\/em><\/strong> I may have been unlucky.\u00a0 Mary\u2019s performance at the Newport Folk Festival blew me into fantasy land from which I won\u2019t be able to entirely escape until early January when I return to my modest stage, teaching English to dozens of appreciative adults who\u2019ll turn my thoughts outward.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How did Mary Travers enchant me from a 1963 night?\u00a0\u00a0 Imagine a leading lady at her most beautiful, a social activist at her most dynamic, a great vocalist at the pinnacle.\u00a0 All coalesce when Peter, Paul, and Mary <\/em><\/strong>return for their encore.\u00a0 Tall, angular Paul Stookey is on the left and short Peter Yarrow stands to the right.\u00a0 Both men are goateed and armed with acoustic guitars.\u00a0 In the center, framed by two large microphones, like bull horns connected by a head, stands blonde Mary.\u00a0 From the first words, \u201cIf I had a hammer,\u201d her angelic voice soars, and as she sings \u201cI\u2019d hammer in the morning\u201d and \u201chammer in the evening\u201d and \u201chammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,\u201d the power of her words and her presence grows, and in perfect harmony with Peter and Paul she promises, \u201cIf I had a bell, I\u2019d ring it in the morning\u2026I\u2019d ring it in the evening\u2026All over this land.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a minute in, Mary is possessed, shaking her blonde mane as she declares, \u201cIf I had a song\u2026.I\u2019d sing out danger, I\u2019d sing out a warning\u2026All over this land.\u201d \u00a0Releasing words through a large and sensuous mouth, she pounds and caresses listeners through the climax, \u201cIt\u2019s the hammer of justice, It\u2019s the bell of freedom, It\u2019s the song about love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands in the audience must have wanted to meet Mary Travers after this performance, to feel her energy a foot away, and millions around the nation and world feel the same listening to the group\u2019s many classic songs, and are saddened she died in September after several years battling leukemia.\u00a0 She was seventy-two.<\/p>\n

Editorial note: Peter, Paul, and Mary sang \u201cIf I Had a Hammer\u201d at the 1963 \u201cMarch on Washington\u201d civil rights rally before more than two hundred thousand people.\u00a0 Mary said she was close to Martin Luther King as he delivered his immortal \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech, and that King had earlier held her three-year old daughter on his lap.\u00a0 Words and music to \u201cIf I Had a Hammer\u201d were written by Lee Hay and Pete Seeger.<\/p>\n

To hear Peter, Paul, and Mary sing \u201cIf I Had a Hammer\u201d at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, please click here <\/strong>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I wandered into the Internet searching for something I can\u2019t remember and is anyway irrelevant since nameless subjects flowed into each other forming a serendipitous road that led to a 1963 photo of Mary Travers singing beside a video link to \u201cIf I Had a Hammer.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d heard the studio version…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314,92,316],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nMary Travers Sings - George Thomas Clark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/mary-travers-sings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mary Travers Sings - 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