I just ran across a fun meme for Advent 2014. The twitter hashtag is #Adventmusic and evidently the assignment is to select one song per day throughout the season of Advent (November 30-December 24). This year the challenge is to start with the year you were born, and each day pick one from the next year. This will certainly be an interesting walk down memory lane. And thank you, Internet, for being the wind beneath my wings, or at least the resources at my fingertips. This should be fun.
1962 If I Had a Hammer (Peter, Paul & Mary)
It seems very appropriate for me that Peter, Paul & Mary are there the year I'm born. In October, 1962, their first album was released and it reached the number one spot in the Billboard charts, staying there for over a month. This was quite an accomplishment for a folk group. Throughout my life, it seems that Peter, Paul & Mary have never been far from my side. This album was a favorite of mine growing up, and their music remains part of the soundtrack of my life today. "If I Had a Hammer" is my go-to song when I teach students the basics of folk song construction, and although I'm shocked when students tell me they've never heard of it (or of Peter, Paul & Mary), I'm always happy to right that wrong and fill that hole of their education.
Their singing is impeccable, their harmonies tight, and their songs (often written by the giants of folk music like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan) were, and still are, profound in their simplicity. When compared to popular music today with all its theatrics, special effects, auto-tune nonsense, drum machines, electronic manipulations and elaborately choreographed dance breaks, it's inspiring to see that three singers, two acoustic guitars and one stand up double bass (always off camera) were able to take the world by storm and become a lasting voice of reason, protest, understanding and hope, all over this land.
Their singing is impeccable, their harmonies tight, and their songs (often written by the giants of folk music like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan) were, and still are, profound in their simplicity. When compared to popular music today with all its theatrics, special effects, auto-tune nonsense, drum machines, electronic manipulations and elaborately choreographed dance breaks, it's inspiring to see that three singers, two acoustic guitars and one stand up double bass (always off camera) were able to take the world by storm and become a lasting voice of reason, protest, understanding and hope, all over this land.
