How Many Seas Must A White Dove Sail… Mary Travers Takes Wing
Sep 16th, 2009 | 13 responses
It was a time, it was a time… hard rain’s gonna fall,.. but don’t think twice it’s alright, it’s all gonna be alright babe…
Mary Travers, has passed the bar at age 72 from leukemia after a bone marrow transplant gave her three more years.
The long blonde-haired original was the female contralto voice in the American folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary which rose to prominence in the civil rights decade, the 1960s.
Miss Travers sistered her ‘brothers by another mother,’ Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey and together they sang and played acoustic guitar… and became a significant part of the rhythm section of tired feet marching, hands praising, voices raising to sing the old traditional hymn, not with cynicism, but because many people who marched, believed all was possible: We Shall Overcome.
Miss Travers, Mr Yarrow and Mr Stookey made a music that was part of the backdrop and the tears, as three civil rights workers were slaughtered by members of the KKK, as Kent State witnessed the shooting of students by state militia, and later then still, as Martin lay in his pool of blood… Martin who had sung with Mary, marched with Mary and Paul and Peter… and they sang this version of If I Had A Hammer….
Imagine Martin, beefy and brown and from poor town, Mary the fair Nordic-like blonde who would live in Conn., Paul and Peter, both like their name-sakes’ in features, everyone beautiful but no one ugly with hate. And, so they sang…
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.
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.
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 sing out a warning
I’d sing out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.
It’s the hammer of Justice,
It’s the bell of Freedom,
It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
It’s the hammer of Justice,
It’s the bell of Freedom,
It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
This seeming simple song, words by Lee Hays, music by Pete Seeger ©1939, was originally sung by the Weavers.
Though some in our time have forgotten, and only hammer each other and hold little understanding of Justicia, not even realizing they have a noble song to sing… this folk anthem is still carried in the souls of many. ‘If I Had A Hammer’ is about the archetype of the Forge and the anvil, the muscled and strong maker of Love and Justice in the human soul, the one who can see and lift the iron, the durability in matters, the one who can stand the heat of the fire and not douse it, nor back away…
the song is about the one who can bear the smoke off the water, the hard work of hammering out Love and Freedom and Justice. With love magnified and muscular. Between Brothers and Sisters. All over the land.
Go well, Mary.
13 Responses to “How Many Seas Must A White Dove Sail… Mary Travers Takes Wing”
I had a chance to meet Mary at our local PBS station here in Connecticut a few years ago. We talked for about 10 minutes, and it was just a thrill to meet her. PP&M are legends in the music industry with the brand of folk music that made you think. I am just heartbroken at her passing.
Godspeed Mary Travers!!!!
My sympathy to her friends, family, and fans. Although I wasn't a fan of her music I know what its like to lose a musical performer you really like, I still miss Jerry Garcia.
I was a longtime fan of PPM, and their music stirred my conscience as I was growing up, and helped me to see the need for social justice during the Civil Rights era.
Its hard to believe she's gone- as they've been together my entire life. RIP
The image of Mary with her granddaughter on her knee (a PBS PPM Special) should (could?) tell us all that she is resting in peace.
“Don't think twice it's alright”
But in Garcia's case, you really DO have his Ben & Jerry's ice cream to comfort!
I wasn't a real fan of her music, or substantial parts of her politics, but Mary Travers, like her musical partners, was a very talented artist. They made beautiful music that many people enjoyed. My sympathies go out to her family and friends.
Dr. E., one small detail: I think your reference to “passing the bar” is slightly off. One passes the bar exam to practice law. “Crossing the bar” was the maritime euphemism for having passed on.
dear Orsonbuggeigh. Thank you for your kind helpfulness. And you are right. Tomorrow I will try to find it for you, the phrase I was pulling from memory is from an old prayer on a holy card, a poem actually, from maybe the 1930s. It was used at my great aunt's funeral. We grew up on a great inland ocean. It's called 'crossing the bar,' I think. Just a sec, I'll google it real fast here… I have GOT to go to bed, I have been up too late 10 nights in a row, like 4 am… hold on…
Well, well, what a glory google can sometimes be… here 'tis: by Alfred Lord Tennyson… about his dying… one of the most poignant 'here's where to stand to have peace about end of life' prayers I know…
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Thank you again.
dr.e
And this too … 'the bar' means a sandbar…. for small craft it can be a treacherous thing to cross it without running aground …stopping the voyage seaward, esp during low tide. When there can be a 'groaning' /moaning of crossing the bar as the vessel sands along the bottom, and the boat sways.
take care,
dr.e
I was going to make a note about this last night, but just waited instead — the most interesting story that quickly sprang up last night was that after folk died as a trend, her band didn't — they did better than ever. A sixties (onward) icon is gone.
thanks DLS. That's a good addition.
Too many memories. Peter, Paul and Mary at the Dane County Colesium, their first concert after the death of MLK. Tears from the stage, a tribute from each, their usual humorous comments left out, tall Mary head low in sorrow as she spoke. There are many memories of those who changed us. Joan Baez raising her voice for justice, meeting Pete Seeger in a men's room…somehow so appropriate, Phil Ochs taking his life in desperation, Joan Collins singing barefoot and alone in a small room. Artists who cared and changed us. A time of turbulence and naivety, of growing and thinking and forming. Mary Travers, a gentle soul who was part of that. I saw you weep for Dr. King; I weep for you and thank you for all you meant to so many.
Have always loved folk music. . . Peter Paul and Mary have always been present on the list of “Evergreen Songs, no matter how many times i have heard some of their songs they are fresh. . .
How many miles have i walked with the soul singing Blowing In the Wind, i could not count. . . A few years back took a years break from my career and worked as a horse wrangler at a women's empowerment ranch in the Flint Hills in Kansas. . .women would come from all over the world for an authentic ranch experience. . .so many memories of bailing alfalfa hay on a 50 year old Massey Ferguson (Granny M) tractor. . .listening to Blowing in the Wind as tiny purple and yellow butterflies fluttered and deer grazed on the edges of the hay patches. . .Their music has always been about the soulful places. . .
May Mary Travers rest in peace and all things good. . . .
The first concert I ever attended was when I was 11 and it was a PPM concert. My older sister took me.
I am truly bummed out. She was great!
Rest in Peace Mary.
Ghosty