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Well, hello. I’m still testing this.

Music Notes

A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff

. I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

SAD Holiday Potato

Oct 15, 2024 at 12:09pm
In response to "500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be) (ID cover)"

That was an amazing performance. Dan certainly has a sense of showmanship..

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 12, 2024 at 8:00am
In response to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (CCR)"

I've only known the Marvin Gaye version. I have to say that CCR did it justice. The drums and that bass. So cool.

Excellent choice!

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 12, 2024 at 7:45am
In response to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (CCR)"

Great song choice! There is also a version with Gladys Knight and the Pips that may or may not have been the first one. It was the first one that I heard.

1 Like

Dave Ryan

Oct 11, 2024 at 8:19am
In response to "If I Had a Hammer"

Puff the Magic Dragon is a great song for traumatising the kids. There's nothing like a happy ending, and that one is definitely nothing like a happy ending.

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 10, 2024 at 7:57am
In response to "Fast Car (Jonas Blue cover)"

This is great! I love this song and have heard a couple of different versions, but I've never heard this one. Thank you for sharing.

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 9, 2024 at 9:07am
In response to "Fortunate Son"

Love Centerfield and Have You Ever Seen the Rain, also!

So many wonderful songs!

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 8, 2024 at 9:00am
In response to "I Won't Back Down"

Great song choice!

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 8, 2024 at 6:15am
In response to "I Won't Back Down"

I like Tom Petty, too. My favorite song is Mary Jane's Last Dance. However, I like the message of I Won't Back Down. It's a fine choice.

1 Like

tracker

Oct 7, 2024 at 12:23pm
In response to "Creeque Alley"

This is when I like AI. The song is a story about when the group was formed. It was released when I had first started college. Where? In California! Good choice of song.

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 6, 2024 at 7:58am
In response to "Three Little Birds"

It's been a long time since I've heard this song. I don't know if I've heard it from beginning to end. I think it's just been in pieces in different instances. Thank you for sharing. I don't have a playlist, but the song is fun.

1 Like

October 11, 2024 at 6:26am

#1078096

If I Had a Hammer

My eighth track is from a defunct band, Peter Paul and Mary. They released If I Had a Hammer in 1962, but it has a history which stretches back thirteen years past this folksy trio.

Originally written by preacher Lee Hays in 1949 and set to music by Pete Seeger, it was viewed with distrust by others, as a progressive rallying cry by an artist with Communist ties. With this understanding, the song was squelched and kept mostly under wraps during the "Red Scare," until Peter Paul and Mary reworked the melody and made it a hit among sixties hippies.

The original author, Hays, only had "brothers" in the lyrics; when women complained it should be more inclusive, he balked and said it didn't flow as well with "brothers and sisters." But Seeger accepted the modification, making it an inseparable part of the song which was then taken up by the trio.

It was rather hard to find the full backstory on this song; I ended up reading an interview with Pete Seeger from the Washington Post all the way back from 1983 to get fascinating firsthand scoop. Link here,

but it's behind a paywall and you'll have to visit it in Incognito mode and quickly hit the x-shaped "stop loading" button on your browser toolbar to freeze the page so you can read it. Such is the result of a capitalist society…

My mom introduced me to If I Had a Hammer a few years ago. I like it; easy to remember, simple to understand, and a piece of American history from a time of division and unrest. I chose this as having a deeper, more hopeful and more socially aware theme than the other popular Peter Paul and Mary song Puff the Magic Dragon, which made me feel like crying the few times I heard it. If I Had a Hammer, on the other hand, is encouraging and thoughtful.

Words: 325.

2 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

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