View From The Back Porch: The Power of Music

The Power of Music

Music has been a part of my life for 65 years, since I took accordion lessons when I was 7. I eventually taught myself to play piano (somewhat) and guitar (poorly, but…), and played sousaphone, trombone, and baritone horn in high school band. Even now, sometimes, I would prefer being alone with the stereo on nearly full blast, or with headphones so I don’t disturb others.

And what would be playing would probably begin with “B” – Bach, Beatles, Beach Boys.

One notable exception though, would be Peter, Paul and Mary – anything they did.

This morning, about 4 AM, I was awakened when Barry put a CD on the clock radio which is between our beds. Now we’ve had this radio for several years, and it has never, and I mean NEVER, been tuned to anything but NPR, through our local public broadcasting station, WEKU, out of Eastern Kentucky University.

What awakened me was that he had put a PP&M CD on. And as I listened to it, it hit me. I have been a fan of PP&M since high school, in 1962, when two friends and I played the trio in a school talent show. I eventually purchased nearly every one of their albums, notably

“Peter, Paul And Mary” (1962)	” (Moving)” (1963)	“In The Wind” (1963),
“In Concert” (1964)	“A Song Will Rise” (1964)	”See What Tomorrow Brings” (1965)
“Album” (1966)	“Album 1700” (1967)	“Late Again” (1968)

But more than the fact that they were and still are my favorite performers, several of the songs they sang seem to speak to me today.

PP&M, along with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and other significant folk singers and groups, became the conscience of the 1960s -- from anti-war, to pro-civil rights.

Several PP&M songs that still resonate in 2019 as much as, if not more than, they did in 1962, include If I Had A Hammer, Blowin' In The Wind, This Land Is Your Land, Because All Men Are Brothers, The Times They Are A'Changin', and Where Have All The Flowers Gone.

Justice, Freedom and Love – we don’t seem to have as much of any of these as we used to just a few short years ago. So to remind us, from “Peter, Paul and Mary” in 1962, If I Had A Hammer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E

IF I HAD A HAMMER

Seeger/Hayes- Ludlow Music Corp. - BMI

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.

Civil rights – we made great strides during the decades of PP&M; now we’re going backwards. From “In The Wind”in 1963, Blowing In The Wind - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI

BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Bob Dylan- Special Rider Music - SESAC

How many roads must a man walk down

Before they call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

How many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years must a mountain exist

Before it is washed to the sea?

How many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

How many times can a man turn his head

And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

How many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

How many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Whose country is it? Corporate greed, “bought” politicians – we need to remember just WHO this country belongs to. From “(Moving)”m 1963, This Land Is Your Land - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks7SY2V73oY

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Woody Guthrie -Ludlow Music Inc. BMI

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled, and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

And all around me a voice was singing

This land was made for you and me!

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway

I saw above me that endless skyway

I saw below me those golden valleys

This land was made for you and me!

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

As the sun was shining, and I was strolling,

And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling,

As the fog was lifting, a voice was saying

"This land was made for you and me!"

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters,

This land was made for you and me.

Racism and hatred, like I’ve never seen in my lifetime – Black, Hispanic, Muslim – anyone who is not white and male. We need to start singing, from “See What Tomorrow Brings”in 1965, Because All Men Are Brothers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcRGfGFxtFs

BECAUSE ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS

Bach/Glazer- Amrita Music Corp. ASCAP

Because all men are brothers wherever men may be

One Union shall unite us forever proud and free

No tyrant shall defeat us, no nation strike us down

All men who toil shall greet us the whole wide world around.

My brothers are all others forever hand in hand

Where chimes the bell of freedom there is my native land

My brother's fears are my fears yellow white or brown

My brother's tears are my tears the whole wide world around.

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 New Progressives -- Since the 2018 election, things are changing. The rise of the new left, progressives, women and other minorities now represented in Congress, reminds us that, from “The Very Best of Peter Paul and Mary” in 1964, The Times They Are a-Changin’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dcaSCYnvtY

THE TIMES THEY ARE A' CHANGIN'

Bob Dylan- Special Rider Music-SESAC

Come gather 'round people where ever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone,

For the times they are a' changin'!

Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen

And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times they are a' changin'!

Come senators, congressmen please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside and it's ragin'

It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

For the times they are a' changin'!

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a' changin'!

The line it is drawn the curse it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin'

And the first one now will later be last

For the times they are a' changin'!

Endless war – first Korea and Viet Nam, to Iraq and Afghanistan, with those in the current administration who wouldn’t mind war with North Korea, Iraq, and Venezuela at the same time, “Peter, Paul and Mary” in 1962, Where Have All The Flowers Gone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmBLSGy6g58

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE

Pete Seeger- Sanga Music Inc -BMI

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 everyone.