If I Had A Hammer

[Bundbuster]

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 'bout the love between
my brothers and my sisters
All all all over this land.

If I had a bell
I'd ring Cheney, Rove, & Delay's heads
so hard they could never hear,
think, or speak again.

[liberalhistorian]

1. ROFLMAO!

I love that song, especially Peter, Paul and Mary's version (and if you've ever seen them in concert, as I have three times now, you'll know they do a helluva version of it in concert), and that's just PERFECT! I'm sure the songwriter would agree as well.

[Bundbuster]

2. Recently listened to the Trini Lopez version

and couldn't get it out of my head.

But yeah, PP&M did alot of great stuff back in the day - even radical considering the era (late '60's). Most people who weren't around then think PP&M were wusses - hah!

[NightTrain]

3. If I had a hammer, there'd be no folk music!

:evilgrin:

[Burma Jones]

4. Amen. (n/t)

[Bundbuster]

5. If I had a hammer

There'd be no

Eminem
Yani
Benny Hinn
Ahhnulld
Halliburton
Bob Dornan
Robert Novak
Pat Boone
Coalition For Family Values
Pat Robertson
Rupert Murdock
Ted Nugent

Hold me back

[liberalhistorian]

6. No, I won't hold you back

at all, you're doing just great and keep it up!!!!

[Bundbuster]

11. OK - DON'T hold me back...If I had a hammer

I'd use the claw end on

Fred Phelps
Richard Perle
Henry Kissinger
Anita Bryant
Clarence Thomas
Dennis Hastert
Ken Lay
Charlton Heston
Bill Bennett
Ann Coulter
Katherine Harris

THEN I'd hammer 'bout the love between my brother and sisters
all all all over this land.

[liberalhistorian]

7. Oh, yeah?

Ha! And just see if you get any on March 19, pal!!:evilgrin: :bounce:

[NightTrain]

8. But I don't want to get any folk music. On March 19th or ever!

:P

[liberalhistorian]

10. LOL!

Oh, don't worry, on March 19, 20, and 21, I will make sure you are definitely occupied with, ahem, other activities!:evilgrin:

[Bundbuster]

9. OMG - I'm getting caught in the

NightTrain/liberalhistorian Triangle!

Hey - you guys have a blast on March 19. Soooo romantic!

[OneBlueSky]

14. you, sir, are culturally deprived . . .

without the Guthries and Seegers and Carter Families of the world, the music you value would be much diminished . . .

[NightTrain]

17. Actually, I was just being my usual smart-assed self

My original remark was directed at all that watered-down quasi-folk music that has plagued us since the 1950s: the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul & Mary, the Chad Mitchell Trio...you know, that kind of phony, white-bread bullshit masquerading as folk.

I like folk music that has teeth and sounds *real*. And the artists you cited are perfect examples of that!

Incidentally, I feel the same way about many other genres, like blues, gospel, jazz, and country. Give me the genuine article and save the watered-down bullshit for the clueless masses!

[name not needed]

12. stop, hammertime!

:)

[Bundbuster]

13. Oh...and if I had a hammer

There'd be no Hammertime.

[OneBlueSky]

15. time to revive some of the old Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger . . .

and Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs songs of 30 years ago, dust 'em off, and start singin' 'em . . . the best music is not the music you listen to . . . the best music is the music you make yourself, and with others . . . when folks sing/make music together, they get motivated to do other things together . . . like making change happen . . .

[ThoughtCriminal]

16. Folk Music - Almost everything else is a fad

it endures over decades and even centuries.

[mykpart]

19. Watched "Bound For Glory"

(Woody Guthrie bio) last nite. I love the Pete Seeger song about the boxes.

See the boxes on the hillside
Pretty boxes made of ticky-tacky,
and so on . . . .

[OneBlueSky]

23. actually, that's a Malvena Reynolds song . . .

that Pete also loves, and sings frequently . . .

Little Boxes
by Malvina Reynolds

Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytacky
Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they were put in boxes and they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and there's lawyers, and business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course and drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp and then to the university
Where they are put in boxes and they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

[Bundbuster]

18. U may flame me, but

I really liked Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Tom Rush, Joni Mitchell, Jesse Colin Young, Dion, Pete Seeger.

Yes, there was some real co-opted pablum too, but the better stuff is still good listenin'.

[mykpart]

20. Who sang this?

Is there a heaven for balloons, my friend?
Is there a place to which they go?
Or do they simply fade away into the sky?
I think that I shall never know.

[Gore1FL]

21. I turned my 111 year old son on to Peter, Paul and Mary

I hear If I had a hammer" quite a bit now.

They have a kickass CD out called "Songs of Conscience and Concern".
It is filled with some of their less-known songs.

[Bundbuster]

22. Hmmm...if your son is 111, that would make you....

(Kidding - it's 2 a.m., the witching hour)

Do the younguns here realize that the '40's, '50's, and '60's folk singers (Guthrie, Seeger, Ochs, Van Ronk, etc.) were the Liberals of their time? Some of them were brought up on Commie charges, fer Chrissakes!