Just wanted to make sure Feministe honored Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, who died yesterday of cancer. I went to a hippie socialist summer camp, and every year on Hiroshima Day, we’d sing “Where Have All The Flowers Gone.” Mary was charismatic, blinky-eyed, and honest…and her voice was positively wistful. She also really held it down for the women in the folk world, which, despite its peaceful plea for social justice, could be just as male-dominated as most other music scenes.
This early video, of “If I Had A Hammer,” is great.
I grew up listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary (although I realize I’m still a youngin at under-thirty.) We’d play their tapes on car trips. I only ever saw what she looked like when I fished a cassette out the bag we’d brought with us, when it was my turn to pick the music.
So I found the NYTimes article on her death to be rather jarring, as it repeatedly referred to her as the “sex appeal” of the group, and stated she wasn’t supposed to speak onstage because needed to remain “mysterious”. To me, she was her voice, full of life and energy and a wide emotional range that goes well beyond “mysterious female” and “sexy”.
Farewell, Mary. I’ll make sure my nephew grows up with Stewball, the big fat frog, and answers that blow in the wind.
thanks.
I’m not very familiar with her music, but “If I had a hammer” was the first song I worked on in an English as a Foreign Language class. I was 10 years old; more than twenty years later, I still remember, not just the song but also that very happy lesson. She was one of the earliest steps to help me use this tool that is the English language.
Rest in peace.
PPM was the first concert I ever attended and I will never forget Mary’s unique combination of luminosity and groundedness. She was a force and she will be missed.
Thanks for this. I grew up in the Australian folk music movement of the 70s, and Mary Travers was one of our icons. All we young girls wanted to sing like her (and/or Joan Baez or Judy Collins – ideally a super combination of them all!).
The PPM harmonies were stupendous, and the way her voice soared – utterly glorious.