SONG OF THE DAY
“Lemon Tree” – Peter, Paul & Mary (Peter, Paul & Mary, Warner Bros., 1962). Written by Will Holt.
INTERESTING FACTS (from wikipedia)
– Unlike most folk musicians who were a part of the early 1960s Greenwich Village music scene, Travers actually grew up in that New York neighborhood.
– In 1938, the family moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. She attended the Little Red School House there, but left in the eleventh grade to pursue her singing career.
– While in high school, she joined The Song Swappers, which sang backup for Pete Seeger when Folkways Records reissued a union song collection, Talking Union, in 1955. The Song Swappers recorded a total of four albums for Folkways in 1955, all with Seeger.
– Travers also was in the cast of the Broadway-theatre show, The Next President.
– They performed at the August 1963 March on Washington.
– Pete Yarrow said this of Mary upon hearing of her passing:
I believe that, in the most profound of ways, Mary was incapable of lying, as a person, and as an artist. That took great courage, and Mary was always equal to the task. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of my relationship with Mary Travers over the last, almost, 50 years, is how open and honest we were with each other, and I include Noel Paul Stookey in this equation. Such honesty comes with a price, but when you get past the hurt and shock of realizing that you’re faulted and frequently wrong, you also realize that you are really loved and respected for who you are, and you become a better person. The trio’s growth, our creativity, our ability to emerge over the years completely accepting of one another, warts and all, was a miracle. This gift existed, I believe, because of the music itself, which elicited from each of us the best of who we were. When we performed together, we gave our best to each other and to the audiences who came to hear us.
MY TAKE
I am so sad to hear that Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul & Mary fame) has passed away. She has been a voice throughout my entire life. As a child, my dad sang several of the group’s hits on a weekly basis in an effort to lull us to sleep—“Lemon Tree” was my favorite, but also “If I Had A Hammer” and “Puff The Magic Dragon”. I love how soft and powerful their songs are. I love folk music’s honesty, and Peter, Paul & Mary were among the truest auteurs of that form, its truth and its power.
Their music seemed to find me everywhere. I can remember going through my Grandma Kelly’s tape collection looking for something—anything—that I could listen to for a car trip we were taking together. She was not a woman who listened to much music, and I had very little to choose from in her “collection”, but what little she did have included the greatest hits of PPM on tape, as well as a John Denver cassette, both of which suited me just fine. I can remember my first roommate in college, Amber, laughing that I was such a huge PPM fan, and that she never imagined that someone our age who would say that, or would sit in their room and rock out to them (both of which I did, out loud and proud). I can remember listening to “Freight Train” on repeat for nearly two straight days when I discovered the song a few years back—its acoustic guitar opening completely mesmerized me. I can remember a painting class where my teacher hadn’t known of PPM’s Christmas recordings, so I rushed home to copy them for her and bring them in the next day for her. And I can remember every November those same recordings getting dusted off and played consistently for weeks on end (mixed in with Steve & Eydie, Mel Torme, and other great Christmas records).
I didn’t know Mary had a solo career, and am grateful to have discovered this fact through the research I conducted for this blog entry. Her voice was so solid, strong and pure, everything I’ve ever wanted my voice to be as a performer. Though she also performed a genre and songs close to my heart, it was her distinct and pure vocals which drew me to her music and kept me coming back for more.
First, I hope you enjoy the Top 10 list: it’s completely personal and reflective of many specific moments in my life, and not at all to be taken as a review of the quality of their discography. It’s more like a Top 10 Greatest PPM memories. Also, I hope you enjoy the youtube playlist I’ve put together. Through these live concert clips, you can see the warmth of friendship between band mates, the character they possessed, and their incredible live aura. I am amazed at their occasional humor when introducing tracks or speaking to an audience between songs. It’s as if I’ve discovered some incredibly important fact about an old friend, and as I laugh I think about how I’ve always sensed I liked them fully and without reserve, and now it is confirmed.
How could you not love this woman?
TOP 10 LIST
MY TOP 10 PETER, PAUL & MARY SONGS
- Lemon Tree
- Freight Train
- This Land Is Your Land
- Where Have All The Flowers Gone
- Children Go Where I Send Thee
- A’ Soalin
- Light One Candle
- 500 Miles
- Blowin’ In The Wind
- If I Had A Hammer
VIDEOS OF THE DAY
Many songs and live concert clips to enjoy here, curated specially for you, my sweet sweet readers!
WEBSITES TO CHECK OUT
A GREAT RESOURCE FOR PPM LYRICS AND VIDEOS
AN INCREDIBLE ALUBM OF PPM’S SOLO YEARS, I WILL BE OWNING THIS SOON