PETER YARROW, NOEL PAUL STOOKEY E MARY TRAVERS - IF I HAD A HAMMER

IF I HAD A HAMMER

PETER YARROW, NOEL PAUL STOOKEY E MARY TRAVERS.

SONGWRITER: LEE HAYS & PETE SEEGER

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: THE MAGIC DRAGON

LABEL: WARNER RECORDS

GENRE: FOLK

YEAR: 1962

 

     Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961, during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoire included songs written by Yarrow and Stookey, early songs by Bob Dylan, and covers of other folk musicians. They were enormously successful in the early- and mid-1960s, with their debut album topping the charts for weeks, and helped popularize the folk music revival. After the death of Travers in 2009, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform as a duo under their individual names.

     Mary Travers said she was influenced by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and the Weavers. In the documentary Peter, Paul & Mary: Carry It On — A Musical Legacy, members of the Weavers discuss how Peter, Paul and Mary took over the torch of the social commentary of folk music in the 1960s.

      The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. Peter, Paul and Mary received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.

       Peter, Paul and Mary is the debut studio album by American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in May 1962 on Warner Bros. Records. Released in both mono and stereo on catalog nº 1449, it is one of the rare folk albums to reach Nº1 in the US—staying for over a month. The lead-off singles "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree" reached numbers 10 and 35 respectively on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.

      The album was reissued as 180 Gram vinyl in 2016 under the Waxtime Label as #772125. The Waxtime issue has three Bonus tracks: which are side 1 #7 - "One Kind of Favor" (Live), side 2 track #7 - "The Times They Are A' Changin'" (Live) and track #8 - "If I Had My Way" (Live).

        At the Grammy Awards of 1963, their recording of "If I Had a Hammer" won the Best Folk Recording and Best Performance by a Vocal Group Grammies.

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, uh

 

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, oh

 

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 song of out a warning

I'd sing out love between

My brothers and my sisters

All over this land, oh

 

Well, I've got a hammer

And I've got a bell

And I've got a song to sing

All over this land

It's the hammer of justice

It's the bell of freedom

It's a song about love between

My brothers and my sisters

All over this land

It's a hammer of justice

It's a bell of freedom

It's a song about love between my brothers and my sisters

All over this land.