Music Review: A Children's Celebration of Music

 A Children's Celebration of Music, various artists, AllMusic, 1992

This is a delightful collection of children's songs by the original artisits, some as long as 50 years ago.  Some are classic American Folk songs such as "This Old Man" by Pete Seeger and "Skip to my Lou" by John McCutcheon.  Peter Paul and Mary sing "Puff the Magic Dragon" and Loggins and Mesina sing "House on Pooh Corner."  There is also "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland.  A beautiful song is "Garden Song" sung by Maria Muldaur.  There is even "The Ugly Duckling" by Danny Kay and Gordon Jenkins.  Other artists include Paul Simon, Anne Murray, James Taylor, Burl Ives and the Doobie Brothers.  There are fifteen songs in total and all are enjoyable.  

Peter, Paul and Mary: In Concert

 Peter, Paul and Mary: In Concert, Warner Brothers Records, 1964.

Peter, Paul and Mary are a popular folk trio who in addition to writing some of their own music also covered Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Hedy Miles and others.  Peter Yarrow sings tenor and plays guitar, Paul Stookey is baritone and also plays guitar.  Mary Travers sings alto.  Together they make a very nice sound. and they were very popular in the 60s as part of the folk movement.

This album is of concert performances, but not one continuous concert.  They took recordings of several different concerts and put them together.  They start with a Bob Dylan son, The Times They Are a Changin'.  Later they sing another Bb Dylan, one of my favorite songs, Blowin' in the Wind, a classic. 

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?

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

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and 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

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?

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

They have some fun with Car Car and Puff the Magic Dragon.  

They end the two album set with anther 60s song, If I Had a Hammer.  

This album includes several comedy sketches, most bt Paul.  I didn't really get them and would have rather had more music.  

Music Review: The Very Best of Peter Paul and Mary

The Very Best of Peter Paul and Mary is an anthology album which includes much of the finer work.  These are my favorite:
04. If I Had a Hammer
05. Where Have All the Flowers Gone
I sang this song in Jr. High choir.  It is one of my favorite.  I remember the words a bit different.
06. Puff the Magic Dragon
08. This Land Is Your Land
09. Blowin' in the Wind
This is another of those songs we sang in Junior High, and then again in high school, a real choir version with parts.
14. The Times They Are A Changin'
A Bob Dylan song
16. Leaving on a Jet Plane
A John Denver song.
21. Wedding Song (There is Love)
this is one of my favorite.
He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. There is Love.

Well, a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two should be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now until the end
Woman draws a life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love. There is Love.

Well, then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it Love that brings you here or Love that brings you life?
Or if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there's Love, oh there's Love.

Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. Ah there's Love.
24. And When I Die
25. Weave Me the Sunshine  This one has a cool melody and rythym.
My only disappointment in preparing this I looked up Peter Paul and Mary.  Peter and Paul, Mary has passed away, asked the National Organization of Marriage to not play one of their songs at their rallies as their organization did not have the same as their activist values.  I was disappointed because I enjoy Peter Paul and Mary, and wonder why they would ask this.

Music Review: ***Peter Paul and Mommy Too

This CD was released by Peter Paul in Mary in 1993 as a recording for children.  I do not think this is their forte.  Some of the songs just go into gobbledegook as the try to be funny.  Those songs don't work.  However, there are a couple of songs which make this CD worthwhile.  Puff the Magic Dragon is a song that works, with its story of the boy and the dragon, and his outgrowing the dragon as he gets older.  However the song I like the most from this CD is the "Garden Song."
Chorus:
Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
Til the rain comes tumbling down

Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones
We are made of dreams and bones
I feel the need to grow my own cause the time is close at hand
Grain for grain, sun and rain I'll find my way in nature's chain
Tune my body and my brain to the music of the land

Chorus

Plant your rows straight and long
Temper them with prayer and song
Mother earth will keep you strong if you give her love and care
An old crow watching hungrily from his perch in yonder tree
In my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there

This song is beautiful, and almost makes it worth it to put up with the antics on some of the other songs.

They also strike a chord with "Somos el Barco", "Don't Ever Take Away Our Freedom" and "Pastures of Heaven."  Mary's alto quality is just beautiful to listen to, and Peter and Paul also have pleasant voices.  They work well together. 

The final song on this CD is another one of the special songs.  "We Shall Overcome" is a song of empowerment.  It came to signify the Civil Rights Movement.  These three sang the song on marches with Martin Luther King.  More recently other politicians have hijacked its message.  It is good to remind you that there is strength in numbers. 

We shall overcome, we shall overcome,
We shall overcome some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day

We shall all be free, we shall all be free,
We shall all be free some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day

We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome some day