Farewell, Mary Travers

[filkertom]

Incredible sadness. Mary Travers, of the seminal folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, has passed away at the age of 72.

Which of their songs touch you? For a start, of course, there's "Puff the Magic Dragon", and "If I Had A Hammer", and "Leavin' On A Jet Plane", and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and and and....

Comments

[lizziecrowe.livejournal.com]

A great sadness indeed. Puff the Magic Dragon is my favorite. Makes me want to cry every time. No dragon should be without his paper friend. It's like a frog without his boy. Thanks for the heads up, tom. :)

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

Do I have to pick a song? Because Peter, Paul and Mommy was part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I kept meaning to go see them play, and I never did.

*deep sigh*

Rest well, Ms. Travers. You done good.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Don't Go Down to the Quarry and Hangman for starters.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

Leaving on a Jet Plane is one of my favorite songs. That so many singers have recorded it is a testament to how good of a song it is.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Elaine and I saw Peter, Paul and Mary several times. Over the years, we couldn't help but notice that Mary's voice was becoming weaker and more gravelly. It got to the point that we just started passing on the opportunities to hear them live.

But we do have their wonderful albums when her voice wasn't ravaged by time and cigarettes.

Stewball, Lemon Tree, Right Field, Light One Candle, Day Is Done...

[karjack.livejournal.com]

The first song I remember hearing was Lemon Tree. I liked it so much, their best hits album was the first I ever owned, at the tender age of five.

Too many beloved songs to list.

[jss]

Too many to list. RIP Mary Travers.

I was flying once (well, I've flown much more than once, but you know what I mean) and sitting at the gate waiting for my flight. The plane arrived and its passengers disembarked and one of the first few off looked like Mary Travers. "Nah, it couldn't be her," I thought. What are the odds that I'd see Someone Famous just getting off a random airplane mid-day on a weekday with no security presence or anything? The guy a few steps behind her looked like Noel ("Paul") Stookey, and sure enough, the three of them were on that inbound flight to wherever the heck it was to play a show. My brush with fame.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I was raised on Peter, Paul & Mary. I cannot possibly pick specific songs; they all touched me. But the ones which I can think of right now, through a haze of sadness, which simply took my breath away, were the golden, twining voices on "Weave Me the Sunshine," the incredible five-utterly-different-part harmony done with three voices and two guitars on "A'Soalin'," and the raw, vibrant energy of practically anything off their first album. That album, which I still have my dad's original copy of on vinyl, was so much part of my growing up that I don't think there's anything on it I haven't memorized.

Farewell, Mary. We will miss your golden voice and your kindness.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Which of PP&M's songs touch me? All of them.

"The Song Is Love" is one of my favorites, and "Weep for Jamie".

[tarrestrial.livejournal.com]

"Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" always evokes a strong response for me personally, but I have sung their songs to many a child over the years. Her talent and her vision will be missed.

[ladypoetess.livejournal.com]

They did a version of the lullaby my mother sang to me every night of my childhood, "All Through the Night." It always chokes me up.

Of course, "Puff the Magic Dragon" is way up there, too. As is the version of "We Shall Overcome" from the live album Around the Campfire.

[batyatoon]

Oh. Oh, no.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

I saw them a few years ago in Des Moines...2005 maybe? I'm so glad I took the opportunity when I did.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Their take on "Blowin' in the Wind" still brings tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t4g_1VoGw4

But the one that just *kills* me, every single time, is The Great Mandala.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

By the time I turned 4, I knew all the words to "Puff" & would sing them every time my family drove over the good-sized mountain between our house & what passed for civilization in that part of PA. There was a little house at the top with what must have been a glorious view, & it seemed like a good perch for a dragon. I'm sure my parents were grateful when I stopped doing that. ;)

PP&M taught me to love & crave vocal harmony, period, full stop. When I was 9 or 10, I borrowed their 1st LP from an aunt & it grabbed me by the spine & hasn't let go yet.

I saw them several times at Wolf Trap outside DC. All the voices got rougher with age, but the spirit behind them stayed the same & once the crowd started singing along, that was all that mattered. Last month, just Peter & Paul made the annual visit, a harbinger of tonight's news.

Thank you kindly, ma'am. Rest well.

[jss]

Update: I just heard that Henry Gibson died too.

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

It wasn't their song, but they do "Home Is the Heart Is" (http://www.mp3lyrics.org/p/peter-paul-amp-mary/home/) and it always moves me.

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

I don't think I could choose! But I get all misty and nostalgic every time I hear "Puff".

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

It does make me cry every time. Dammit, too many of the good ones are gone, and I don't know who the good ones are coming up.

[jenrose]

This... only not my childhood, but my first child's, Peter Paul and Mommy Too.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Oh...wow. Great sadness as they were one of the groups I always wanted to see in concert and now I'll never get that chance.

As for songs it's a fight between Puff and Blowin in the Wind.

Some friends of mine and I go night fishing often. Just last week the one friend had the iPod on shuffle playing in the boat and Puff cycled up and played. Not one of the three of us grown men said anything but "Cool!" when it came on. That says something about the magic in their music.

She will be greatly missed. :-(

[jenrose]

I think I saw them play live just once, my Kailea, who is now 16 and on her way to getting her license soon, was a hyperactive 3 or 4 year old who could not sit still, but danced all the way through the concert, an outdoor concert, my daughter would run up and down the grassy aisle, but she LOVED that music.

I was born in 1972, and Peter Paul and Mary were just ubiquitous in my parents' house, along with Joni Mitchel and Joan Baez and the Beatles and and and... my dad worked in a record store in 1968, can you tell?

I just... so very very sad.

Mary

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

I saw the three of them on my 13th birthday in Seattle (August 11, 1962). The concert was wonderful, but the record that stuck in my mind was Bob Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In." I don't remotely remember Dylan's version; it was Peter, Paul, and Mary all the way. "The Great Mandella" -- yes. The whole album for Album 1700, and "I'm In Love With a Big Blue Frog." I will remember her.

Nate

[tealbeen.livejournal.com]

We sing "Light One Candle" every year at our Hanukkah party, with a CD of them singing it trying to keep us on tune.

As are so many others of their repertoire, a very powerful song.