By Will Kennedy
Folk music has long been a passageway for societies to tell the stories of their culture. With revolutions concerning race, freedom of speech, war, gender, and more, the Sixties are an integral age in the history of modern America. As the most popular folk group in the Sixties, the band Peter, Paul and Mary held the unique opportunity to be a voice in this era.
In 1961, manager Albert Grossman created Peter, Paul and Mary after auditioning several singers in New York City. By 1962, the band’s debut album, “Peter, Paul and Mary” held the number one spot on Billboard Magazine’s top 100 for seven weeks. With songs like “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” on this album, the band gained notoriety for its social commentary concerning broad ideals related to freedom of speech, civil rights, and anti-war principles. With their rapid rise to fame and influence, Peter, Paul and Mary were pushed from nobodies to musical political activists in a matter of months. Performing at paramount moments of protest in the Sixties, such as the March on Washington in 1963 and the March on the Pentagon in 1967, the band clearly represented more than just its melodious songs. Through their music, Peter, Paul and Mary captured the fighting spirit of young protest culture in the Sixties. However, this exciting and unifying protest culture began to fracture, as civil rights, antiwar, and free speech movements began to hold each other back. And just as young society could not remain unified under differing coalitions, Peter, Paul and Mary could not be a voice for them all, leading to the mirrored fall of the band along with the young spirits they sang for at the end of the decade.
While it may not be one of Peter, Paul and Mary’s most erudite songs, “If I Had a Hammer” supports all young people in standing up for themselves in this decade. With its building expressive and upbeat melody, “If I Had a Hammer” was a call to arms for the young and fed-up individuals of the early Sixties. Not explicitly mentioning any of the major issues of the time, the lyrics therefore could be applied however the listener desired. The song begins announcing “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, ah-ah/ All over this land.” This exact set is repeated thrice, replacing “hammer” with “bell” and “song” respectively. Thus, the song lays out two main ideas, the first being a message warning of danger. Here, the song represents how early protesters called out various corrupt institutions in the US, from universities to systemic racism, warning young Americans of the dangers that lie therein. The second being a call to peace, love and understanding, which appealed to the young activists and peacemakers opposing war and institutional racism in America. The song then hammers home these ideas in the final lines of the song, claiming “It’s the hammer of justice/ It’s the bell of freedom/ It’s the song about love between/ My brothers and my sisters.” With key words like justice and freedom, the audience felt uplifted by this song, singing for any injustice or freedom that might be of their main concern. However, while Peter, Paul and Mary did sing this song at the March on Washington, hinting that the song may be about race, the lyrics remain broad and all encompassing, displaying how young protesters felt that the movements regarding speech, race, and war all existed in conjunction at the start of the decade.
Continuing this repetitive lyrical style throughout their debut album, the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” poses a critique of the war centric culture of the United States. Having each been born in the late 1930s and similarly to many young people in the Sixties, Peter, Paul, and Mary all grew up in wartime, a time which romanticized dying for your country and sending your husband off to war. As WWII ended in their young childhood, the band members likely all felt the shift from a predominately woman-filled America, to one in which the husband controlled the family and the wife stayed home: a reality outlined by Betty Freidan. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” begins with the lines “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?/ Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?/ Where have all the flowers gone?/ Young girls have picked them, every one/ Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?” and continues on to repeat these lines five times, replacing “flowers” and “Young girls have picked them.” The song displays how the flowers are picked by young girls who give them to men. The men who go off to war as soldiers subsequently die, leading to newly dug American graveyards to sprout with flowers for new young girls to pick — an endless cycle of sorrow. The song insinuates the ever continuous pattern of love, war, and death plaguing the United States and asks when the country might learn that this pattern is unsustainable. Through this song, the band conveys their anti-war message, a consensus among children raised in the mid twentieth century. Antiwar protests were prominent in the early Sixties, but with the Vietnam War just around the corner, this song grew to represent the history of the Sixties. Soon, this generation would understand all too well the torturous darkness and pain that war could bring. In an era in which women were told their lives revolve around men, and in which men were told their purpose lies in their patriotism, this song voices the opinions of the new generation. In this new generation, women did not live for men and men did not live to die.
Moving into 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary release their popular cover of the song “Blowin’ in The Wind,” a slow song pondering the justification of death and war in the United States. The song begins with strong lyrics, asking “How many roads must a man walk down/ Before you call him a man?” In the Sixties, older generations pushed the idea that men must be strong, bear the burden of their families, and fight for their country proudly. Young men of this age combatted this ideology, pointing out the hypermasculine standard for men in the U.S. This message can be seen not only through anti-war protests throughout the generation, but also in general society, as LGBTQ and cisgendered men fought to break gender norms through occupations, dress, and relationships. The song goes on to pose further questions concerning unnecessary wars, ignorance, and death, noting that the answers to these questions were “blowin’ in the wind,” further displaying how young people in the Sixties felt neglected in their plea for peace. Culturally, this unanswered plea drove many young Americans to protest systems of power, displaying how nationalism began to dwindle in this generation.
In 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary released what would become one of their most standout songs, “Puff, The Magic Dragon.” The song’s meaning has been long debated, picking up two interpretations, both applicable in the context of the Sixties. Many people suspected this song was about drugs, specifically marijuana. Older generations knew of the immense pot smoking that took place throughout the counterculture movement and suspected that this song correlated. The song’s whimsical story and fairytale Dragon named Puff caused some conservative adults to condemn the song. In the true nature of the counterculture movement, young people in the Sixties embraced the song; the condemnation by older generations likely inspired more young adults to smoke. Upon listening to the lyrics, though, a different aspect of counterculture is represented. The song tells the story of Puff the imaginary dragon and a young boy named Jackie Paper. The pair grows together, playing each day, until “One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more,” as he became too old to play with imaginary dragons. Thus, “Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave/ So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave.” The song tells of the woes of growing up, how one loses their sense of wonder and naive courage. Similarly, the sad reality of the counterculture movement was that many of these young, motivated, audacious kids would not uphold their liberal views as they grew older. As the counterculture movement began to dissolve, with different sects forming, many of these once radical people were forced to grow up in the quelling system that they tried to disband. The movement, while it did alter many Amercians opinions on dress, drugs, and free speech, was essentially doomed from the start. Because the movement was so focused on changing the individual, it did not target its real enemies in systems of high order. Thus the movement changed individuals’ opinions and popular culture, but its success became its downfall in that counterculture no longer is counter-culture when it becomes popularized. As counterculture fragmented, the links between other movements of the age began to break as well. Like Jackie Paper in “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” young people in the Sixties eventually gave up their hopeful imaginations, giving into what was essentially the same society they tried so hard to change.
Peter, Paul and Mary released “Because All Men Are Brothers” in 1965, a ballad for the people of a fracturing country. 1965 was a time of wins and losses for progressive Americans. Not too long after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, finally making segregation illegal. In 1965, however, the civil rights movement suffered the murder of Malcolm X. Additionally, the United States entered the Vietnam War in 1965. With these polarizing events, movements began to see more differences than similarities. In a time when hope fluctuated, Peter, Paul and Mary’s song, “Because All Men Are Brothers,” represents how young people tried to remain united. The song declares “Let every voice be thunder, let every heart beat strong/ Until all tyrants perish our work shall not be done/ Let not our memories fail us the lost year shall be found/ Let slavery’s chains be broken the whole wide world around.” The song called Americans to keep fighting together through these trying times. The U.S. involvement in Vietnam complicated and intertwined the movements for free speech, antiwar, and civil rights more than they had already been. While most young people opposed the war, African Americans bashed their country for “liberating” people across the world while abusing Black Americans. While Black people fought for their rights, many white liberals at university attempted to avoid the draft, an opportunity many people of lower class did not have. Still, most young liberals agreed that the war was detrimental. “Because All Men Are Brothers” urges young individuals to not forget the extreme losses and wins they had experienced together in order to foster collective opposition towards the war, but in effect displays how collectivity might have run its course.
By 1968, this unity and collectivity began to fall apart as the US continued to push troops into Vietnam and Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. After years of helplessly protesting war, and with MLK Jr. dead, many aging supporters of anti-war and civil rights causes began to wind down. They were not giving up, per say, but, like Peter, Paul and Mary, many of these original protesters were in or close to their thirties and began to edge toward crestfallen complacency. “There’s Anger in the Land” describes a tired, worn woman, “Her two eyes blazed in anger/ And her throat throbbed agony.” Like this woman, activists felt that they had fought too hard over the past decade for such little reward, and how the government heedlessly sent resources to Vietnam felt like adding insult to injury. The woman says “Once my heart could cry in sorrow/ Now it lies there on the floor/ In the ashes by the hearthstone;/ They can’t hurt it anymore.” This woman displays the woes of this generation, constantly vying for change, yet receiving none, eventually conceding. These young people felt if they could reach apathy, then no longer would these issues afflict them.
1969 marked the conclusion of a momentous decade in American history, as well as the last year Peter, Paul and Mary remained a trio (until a reunion in 1978). As the members are each 30, 31, and 32 in this year, they begin to shy away from political activism, releasing a children’s album titled “Peter, Paul and Mommy.” On this album is a song called “Day Is Done,” a song which focuses not on war, rights, or freedom, but on forlorn consolation. The song features a parent speaking to their son, asking “Do you ask why I’m sighing, my son?/ You shall inherit what mankind has done/ In a world filled with sorrow and woe/ If you ask me why this is so, I really don’t know.” These lyrics speak to the now grown-up protester of the early Sixties. In the beginning, everything had been so new and exciting for these young people. With protests, drugs, and singing and dancing, these kids were living the life they wanted. But over the years, reality set in as tragedy followed tragedy with little real political advancement in any area; their plates were too full. I see these lyrics as a self reflection done by these young people. After all this fighting, the world they would pass on would bear little difference to the one the decade began with. Their powerful anger and vitality had turned into a heavy “sigh” and the question “why?”; why, after all this time, does the world remain so very barbarous? The song finishes repeating the line “day is done,” as these aging activists concede to the fact that their era is coming to an end, trying to find comfort in their valiant acts of protest of the years past.
From “If I Had a Hammer” to “Day Is Done,” Peter, Paul and Mary captured the reality of the young and liberal culture in the Sixties, from its bright-eyed enthusiasm to its sedated capitulation. The band began the decade with their whole careers ahead of them, releasing songs of jubilance and optimism. By the end, the trio lost their vivacity, producing both slow, melancholic tunes and passive children’s lullabies. The history of the Sixties, though ending on a dismaying note, remains captured in these songs. These activists fought hard and true, battling war culture, systemic racism, and a suppressive system, gaining small victories along the way, and bands like Peter, Paul and Mary recorded these battles through their songs. The resilient and determined young people of this age are what the decade will always be remembered for. The unremembered history, however, is the dissipation of these various movements as they battled each other for a voice, as if only one oppressed group might gain liberties for themselves. Yes, these activists sparked change, but when the exhilarating newness of having a collective voice faded away, these young adults were left with only anxieties, fears, and violence. Young people fought with unprecedented spirit and power for social change in the Sixties, but these varying movements began to step on each other’s toes, and one short era could not handle so many revolutions. Civil rights, free speech, and antiwar movements grew together until eventually growing too large and toppling down. Just as the protest culture of the Sixties met its limits, so did Peter, Paul and Mary, and the essence of the era was brought to a slow and uninspired retirement.
Americana 