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LA, LA
LA, LA, LA
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>> It's the "30 Minute
Music Hour," I'm Andy Moore.
Tonight, an evening
with Peter Yarrow.
? AND FROLICKED ?
? IN THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? IN A LAND CALLED ?
? HONAH LEE ?
? PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
? YES, HE LIVED BY THE SEA ?
? AND FROLICKED ?
? IN THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? IN MADISON COUNTY ?
? LITTLE JACKIE PAPER ?
? HE LOVED THAT RASCAL PUFF ?
? AND HE BROUGHT HIM STRINGS ?
? AND SEALING WAX ?
? AND OTHER FANCY STUFF ?
? OH, PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
LIVED BY THE SEA ?
? AND FROLICKED ?
? IN THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? IN A LAND CALLED ?
? HONAH LEE ?
? PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
? LIVED BY THE SEA ?
? AND FROLICKED ?
? IN THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? RIGHT HERE WITH YOU AND ME ?
? TOGETHER THEY WOULD TRAVEL ?
? ON A BOAT ?
? WITH BILLOWED SAILS ?
? AND JACKIE KEPT ?
? A LOOKOUT ?
? PERCHED ON ?
? PUFF'S GIGANTIC TAIL ?
? NOBLE KINGS AND PRINCES ?
? WOULD BOW WHENE'ER THEY CAME ?
? PIRATE SHIPS ?
? WOULD LOWER THEIR FLAGS ?
? WHEN PUFF ROARED OUT ?
? HIS NAME ?
? OH, PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
You can sing along.
? LIVED BY... ?
Frolicked in the autumn mist...
? FROLICKED IN ?
? THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? IN A LAND CALLED ?
? HONAH LEE ?
You used to sing along.
? PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
? LIVED BY THE SEA ?
? AND FROLICKED IN ?
? THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? IN A LAND CALLED ?
? HONAH LEE ?
? WELL A DRAGON LIVES FOREVER ?
? BUT NOT SO ?
? LITTLE GIRLS AND BOYS ?
? PAINTED WINGS ?
? AND GIANT'S RINGS ?
? MAKE WAY FOR OTHER TOYS ?
? ONE GRAY NIGHT IT HAPPENED ?
? JACKIE PAPER CAME NO MORE ?
? PUFF THAT MIGHTY DRAGON ?
? HE CEASED HIS FEARLESS ROAR ?
? HIS HEAD WAS BENT IN SILENCE ?
? GREEN SCALES FELL AWAY ?
? PUFF NO LONGER WENT TO PLAY ?
? ALONG THE CHERRY LANE ?
? WITHOUT HIS LIFELONG FRIEND ?
? PUFF COULD NOT BE BRAVE ?
? SO PUFF, THAT MIGHTY DRAGON ?
? SADLY SLIPPED ?
? INTO HIS CAVE ?
Actually...
? I'M GOING TO SING YOU ?
? ANOTHER END ?
? BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU ?
? TO BE SAD ANYMORE ?
I can change this song
any way I want, you know why?
Because I wrote it
with my friend...
fifty years ago.
And it's always been in my mind
to say that really
the end of this song
is loving and good
for humankind.
Jackie did leave Puff,
and he grew up, as we all do.
? ?
And he did his part
to try to help to save
a challenged world.
That is true.
He fell in love.
And he and his beloved
had a child.
And after a while, it became
very clear that it had been
a long while before
Puff could have an indication
that Jackie still loved him
so much.
So Jackie told his daughter,
why don't you go and do lunch
with Puff and play with him
like I used to do,
and here's some fancy stuff,
and a dragon's ring and
magic stuff.
And you can have him
just like I had him, too.
? SO HIS DAUGHTER ?
? WHOSE NAME WAS SANDY ?
Sandy Paper...
? WENT TO HONAH LEE ?
? AND THERE WAS PUFF ?
? AND OF COURSE ?
? PUFF WAS LONELY ?
? AS HE COULD BE ?
He said, "Jackie?"
She said, "No, I look
like my daddy, I'm Sandy."
"Sandy," he said,
"Can we play together?"
She said, "Of course, Puff,
and Jackie loves you very much.
He's never forgotten you."
? AND THAT'S WHY ?
? PUFF IS HAPPY ?
? AND HE'S GONNA LIVE ?
? FOREVER, TOO ?
? JUST AS ALL DRAGONS WILL ?
? IF THEY SING HIS SONG ?
? LIKE ME AND YOU ?
? RIGHT NOW ?
? PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
? LIVED BY THE SEA ?
A little louder!
? AND FROLICKED ?
? IN THE AUTUMN MIST ?
? IN A LAND CALLED ?
You don't know this song?
? HONAH LEE ?
? PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON ?
? LIVED BY THE SEA ?
? AND FROLICKED IN ?
( crew singing )
? IN A LAND CALLED ?
? HONAH LEE ?
? ?
And that's the problem
we have with this song
is the young people
have forgotten how to sing.
We used to sing all the time,
folks.
We used to sing at marches.
We used to sing at parties.
We used to sing because we loved
each other, and it formed
a sense of community.
Whether it was singing,
"Row, row, row your boat,
gently down the stream"
when you were younger,
or whether it was singing
"Puff the Magic Dragon"
or this song at the opening
of the March on Washington in
1969 to end the war in Vietnam.
At the time,
this was a song of peace.
And it's lasted all this time.
And now it has, like all songs,
different meanings, however,
"Puff the Magic Dragon,"
forget it,
there's nothing about drugs,
I promise you.
Okay, you don't believe me,
I just saw you go like...
Don't roll your eyes at me.
That's not the way to behave.
Respect my years.
I was 20 years old 50 years ago.
I wrote this song
with Lenny Lipton.
I was at Cornell, I know,
a minor institution to you.
But it was an institution of
learning, and at that time in
1959, nobody knew about drugs.
The farthest anybody got
was beer.
( sighs )
I was too innocent.
Yes, there was a time
I was too innocent.
Okay, in any event,
this has other meanings,
it's not specifically
about peace,
but it's not not about peace.
Listen to it,
and you'll understand.
It's one of the songs that I've
written that I'm proud of
in special ways.
? ?
? TELL ME WHY YOU'RE CRYING ?
? MY SON ?
? I KNOW YOU'RE FRIGHTENED ?
? LIKE EVERYONE ?
? IS IT THE THUNDER ?
? IN THE DISTANCE YOU FEAR ?
? WILL IT HELP ?
? IF I STAY VERY NEAR ?
? YOU KNOW I AM HERE ?
? AND IF YOU TAKE MY HAND ?
? MY SON ?
? ALL WILL BE WELL ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? AND IF YOU TAKE MY HAND ?
? MY SON ?
? ALL WILL BE WELL ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? DAY IS DONE ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? DO YOU ASK WHY I'M SIGHING ?
? MY SON ?
? YOU SHALL INHERIT ?
? WHAT HUMANKIND HAS DONE ?
? IN A WORLD ?
? FILLED WITH SORROW AND WOE ?
? IF YOU ASK ME WHY ?
? WHY THIS IS SO ?
? I REALLY DON'T KNOW ?
? BUT IF YOU TAKE MY HAND ?
? MY SON ?
? ALL WILL BE WELL ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? AND IF YOU TAKE MY HAND ?
? MY SON ?
? ALL WILL BE WELL ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
In the third verse, the father
wonders why the son is smiling
and then he realizes the son has
not grown up yet to be cynical,
to be disaffected,
to be disappointed, alienated.
The son is filled with hope and
promise, so he says to his son,
"Take my hand, my son.
Now it's time for you to infuse
me with hope and courage
and lead me."
That's the other meaning
of the song.
? TELL ME WHY YOU'RE SMILING ?
? MY SON ?
? IS THERE A SECRET ?
? YOU CAN TELL EVERYONE ?
? DO YOU KNOW MORE ?
? THAN THOSE THAT ARE WISE ?
? CAN YOU SEE WHAT WE ALL ?
? WE ALL DISGUISE ?
? THROUGH YOUR LOVING EYES ?
? AND IF YOU TAKE MY HAND ?
? MY SON ?
? ALL WILL BE WELL ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? AND IF YOU TAKE MY HAND ?
? MY SON ?
? ALL WILL BE WELL ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? DAY IS DONE ?
? WHEN DAY IS DONE ?
? DAY IS DONE ?
? WHEN THE DAY IS DONE ?
? ?
I heard you singing.
>> I was singing, but what did
you think of that singing?
>> I loved it, I loved it.
I want to sing a song
with you now.
>> Right this second?
>> Right now, yes.
Get your ukulele.
>> All right.
>> Here we go.
I used to sing this at Cornell
with the kids when I saw them
transformed by singing together.
This was in 1959, where
their consciousness was zilch,
there was all the fraternity
system,
and blacks were invisible,
and women were trading beads.
And when they would sing this
song, a traditional song and
others, they'd become caring,
hopeful, wonderful people.
And seeing that, instead of
going into what I should've
done, which is market research,
and it's a pity that the field
of market research lost me,
I went to Greenwich Village
and sang folk music.
Here we go.
? ?
? WE SAIL ON THE SLOOP JOHN B ?
? MY GRANDFATHER AND ME ?
? AROUND NASSAU TOWN ?
? WE DID ROAM ?
? DRINKING ALL NIGHT ?
? GOT INTO A FIGHT ?
? I FEEL SO BROKE UP ?
? I WANT TO GO HOME ?
? ?
? SO HOIST UP ?
? THE JOHN B SAIL ?
? SEE HOW THE MAINSAILS SET ?
? CALL FOR THE CAPTAIN ASHORE ?
? LET ME GO HOME ?
? I WANT TO GO HOME ?
? LET ME GO HOME ?
? I FEEL SO BROKE UP ?
? I WANT TO GO HOME ?
? ?
>> Yay!
>> What a treat.
>> What a treat is right.
>> How do you think I would've
done at Cornell?
>> I think you would've done
brilliantly, but you would not
have been on the 11 year plan.
In those days, you would've
flunked out three times,
but gotten through it
in seven years.
>> Well, that would've
been cheaper.
"Day is Done" was the second
song before Peter and I
sang together.
It's also the backdrop
of this beautiful book.
>> It is, and you see, there
aren't any human beings in this
until the very last pages.
They're all bears, and owls,
and deers, and
it's all daddies holding...
Look at this, I have
a granddaughter, Valentina,
and I hold her like this.
We must have a sense
that we care about each other.
Care about each other, not just
in feeling, but in actions,
that we act respectfully
toward one another.
>> When people are here and when
they're gone, and a very dear
person is gone now from your
family, your musical family.
>> That's true.
>> And we're barely a week
from Mary's memorial.
What was that like?
>> Well, forgive me for this,
but life intervenes.
The memorial was an
extraordinary expression of
an outpouring of the spirit that
she inspired in people, that
they in turn inspired in her.
When you heard, it was
interesting, it wasn't just a
remembrance of her, it was,
in the very best of senses,
the imperative of carrying on.
And then the sweetness of this,
when Tom Paxton sang this.
? ?
? IT'S A LESSON ?
? TOO LATE FOR THE LEARNIN' ?
? MADE OF SAND ?
? IN THE WINK OF AN EYE ?
? MY SOUL IS TURNING ?
? IN YOUR HAND ?
? ARE YOU GOING AWAY ?
? WITH NO WORD OF FAREWELL ?
? WILL THERE BE NOT A TRACE ?
? LEFT BEHIND ?
? WELL, I COULD'VE ?
? LOVED YOU BETTER ?
? DIDN'T MEAN TO BE UNKIND ?
? YOU KNOW ?
? THAT WAS THE LAST THING ?
? ON MY MIND ?
And the whole audience, 2000
people in this riverside church,
sang together the song
that Mary had made iconic,
and we said goodbye to her.
And it says, "As I lie in my bed
in the morning without you,
each song in my breast
dies a borning."
When I first sang that with Tom
after Mary died, we were on
a book tour together, he has his
first book out that I'm working
with him on, a marvelous story.
It brought us both to ars
because our songs,
they don't "die a borning,"
but there's part of us
that's missing.
Mary was a remarkable person,
as Gloria Steinem contributed
her thoughts, she allowed women
to look at themselves and say,
"I don't have to be secretive,
I don't have to be manipulative,
I can be a real parity person
with others."
And when, for instance,
I was talking about David Hawk,
when we first met.
His wife, Joan Libby-Hawk said,
"When I saw Mary, I said,
oh my God, I can be like that.
And guess what,
the men never minded it."
Men adored Mary,
and yet when you heard her sing,
you didn't say,
what an extraordinary voice,
her technique is off the scales,
you just heard that yearning.
So when she sang...
? IF YOU MISS ?
? THE TRAIN I'M ON ?
? YOU WILL KNOW ?
? THAT I AM GONE ?
? YOU CAN HEAR ?
? THE WHISTLE BLOW ?
? A HUNDRED MILES ?
Sing with me, now.
? A HUNDRED MILES ?
? YOU CAN HEAR ?
? THE WHISTLE BLOW ?
? A HUNDRED MILES ?
She wasn't just talking about
somebody who says, "I don't have
a shirt on my back and a penny
to my name, I can't go."
She's talking about a nation
that couldn't go home
to what we believed in
until we did address
the Civil Rights movement.
And there her yearning
for something better would
characterize the voice of Mary
Travers to all of America.
>> Musically speaking, to the
musician in her, to the musician
in the trio, how did you
play off of her voice?
>> You know, Mary has the
character of a lead voice.
Your attention is drawn to it.
And she and I had voices that
could blend extraordinarily.
In fact, there were a lot of
portions where we sang duo, for
instance, we'd sing "Jesus Met
The Woman At The Well," and the
voices were like a Rothko
painting where you can't tell
where one color ends
and the other one begins.
It's like something that happens
in a family, as it does with my
daughter, with whom I sing on
all of these songs in the books,
like "Day is Done," so
it's like the Everly Brothers,
you know?
So Mary and I, we were brought
up in the same political
and musical traditions.
Noel, however, Noel Paul,
if you listen to him,
had a different kind of voice.
If you listen to "Lemon Tree."
? ?
I'll play a little bit
for those of you who don't know.
? WHEN I WAS JUST A LAD OF TEN ?
? MY FATHER SAID TO ME ?
? COME HERE AND TAKE A LESSON ?
? FROM THE LOVELY ?
? LEMON TREE ?
? DON'T PUT YOUR FAITH ?
? IN LOVE, MY BOY ?
? MY FATHER SAID TO ME ?
? ?
You'll find that love is like
the lovely lemon tree.
Now, he sang it like a crooner,
because his background was pop
and rock, he even had a group
called "The Birds of Paradise."
So he had to morph
into our relationship,
but we learned from him, too,
because he also had jazz.
When he sang, you know the song
that he wrote called
"What's Her Name?"
I don't know if you've
ever heard of it.
>> No, but you can hear it,
he's almost ready to scat
on some of these.
>> Yes, exactly.
And it was he that fell
in love with the Beatles
and kind of brought us
to kind of dig with it.
He wrote the song,
"I Dig Rock and Roll Music...
and I love to get the chance..."
>> I hope that you can sing a
couple more songs in just a
moment, but have you ever been
nervous before a performance?
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Yeah, even still?
>> No.
>> No, I'm not onstage,
as you have found out,
until I'm actually doing it.
As a matter of fact, in order
to keep myself in another place
where it's real, I tend to be
very kind of scatological.
>> You're in places that some
people could hardly stand
the thought of performing.
>> That's right.
>> The John F. Kennedy
White House, what was that like?
>> We sang at the National Guard
Armory after his first year
in the presidency,
to honor him and raise money.
And at that gathering, there
were icons such as Eve Montan,
Carol Burnett,
Gene Kelly,
Joan Sutherland,
the opera singer.
And we sang "Lemon Tree"
and "If I Had a Hammer," which
was a huge hit at that point.
And it was after "Lemon Tree,"
our second hit.
We went to the vice president's
home where we sang,
Mary in her long,
full-length satin white gown.
I want to tell you, Mary and I
were brother and sister, but
if that had not been the case,
I mean, nobody could stand
how beautiful she was.
She was just exquisite.
Of course, the president
couldn't have been less
interested in her.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
He had an eye for the women.
And Jackie adored her, too.
And at a certain point, she sang
"500 Miles," and everybody
just sighed.
And then we sang "Puff the Magic
Dragon," and before I sang it,
I said, because folk music
had not become popular.
I said,
"This is called folk music.
And in folk music it's very
common for people, rather than
standing as you are, to sit down
on the rug and share with us,
and just sing along."
And guess who the first person
sitting on the rug was?
The president.
And he sat down, and of course
everybody else sat down.
But there were no old people
in the White House then who
couldn't sit down on the rug,
it was all young people.
He was a very young president.
>> Interesting that he was
the first one to sit.
>> We sat down and we sang
together, and at the end of it,
Jackie stayed longer than she
had for a long time at any
party, and the band that was
really Lawrence Welk kind of
music, or maybe it was Lawrence
Welk himself, broke into the
Twist, and there was Lyndon
Johnson twisting with Mary
Travers, and it just broke it up
into a sense of warmth and
humanity as folk music does.
And that's really the point
I want to make.
All of these songs that
I'm singing now, or that are
in the books that I've done,
are free for all educators
to bring back
to the lives of children.
Go and download them for free
from operationrespect.org
which is the non-profit
that I founded ten years ago.
>> I want to ask you a little
more about that in our next
brief interview segment, but I'd
like to trot away now and ask
you to sing a couple of songs
with me out of your hair.
>> I'd like you to trot away.
( laughter )
It's a pleasure
to be here with you,
and I'm looking for my capo.
I want to sing a song that my
daughter loved.
We sing it sometimes
when we're in concert.
Bethany Yarrow is a wonderful
singer by herself, mainly
international roots music,
now she's in France singing.
But as a child she loved this
song and I thought I'd sing it
for you.
? ?
? IF I HAD WINGS ?
? NO ONE WOULD ASK ME ?
? SHOULD I FLY ?
? THE BIRD SINGS ?
? NO ONE ASKS WHY ?
? I CAN SEE IN MYSELF ?
? WINGS AS I FEEL THEM ?
? IF YOU SEE SOMETHING ELSE ?
? KEEP YOUR THOUGHTS ?
? TO YOURSELF ?
? I'LL FLY FREE THEN ?
? YESTERDAY'S EYES ?
? SEE THEIR COLORS ?
? FADING AWAY ?
? THEY SEE THEIR SUN ?
? TURNING TO GRAY ?
? YOU CAN'T SHARE IN A DREAM ?
? THAT YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN ?
? IF YOU SAY THAT YOU SEE ?
? AND PRETEND TO BE ME ?
? YOU WON'T BE THEN ?
? IF I HAD WINGS ?
? NO ONE WOULD ASK ME ?
? SHOULD I FLY ?
? IF I HAD WINGS ?
? NO ONE WOULD ASK ME ?
? SHOULD I FLY ?
? HOW CAN YOU ASK ?
? IF I'M HAPPY GOING MY WAY ?
? YOU MIGHT AS WELL ?
? ASK A CHILD TO PLAY ?
? THERE'S NO NEED ?
? TO DISCUSS ?
? OR UNDERSTAND ME ?
? I WON'T ASK OF MYSELF ?
? TO BECOME SOMETHING ELSE ?
? I'LL JUST BE ME ?
? IF I HAD WINGS ?
? NO ONE WOULD ASK ME ?
? SHOULD I FLY ?
? THE BIRD SINGS ?
? NO ONE ASKS HER WHY ?
? I CAN SEE IN MYSELF ?
? WINGS AS I FEEL THEM ?
? IF YOU SEE SOMETHING ELSE ?
? KEEP YOUR THOUGHTS ?
? TO YOURSELF ?
? I'LL FLY FREE THEN ?
? IF YOU HAD WINGS ?
? NO ONE WOULD ASK YOU ?
? SHOULD YOU FLY ?
? IF WE HAVE WINGS ?
? NO ONE ASKS US ?
? GROW YOUR WINGS ?
? YOUR OWN WINGS ?
Respect them.
Become a person
who knows no bounds,
who doesn't follow
the rules of society
without examining them,
who seeks to make the world
a better place...
? AND YOU WILL FLY ?
? AND WE WILL FLY ?
? AND THAT'S A TRADITION ?
? THAT MADISON, WISCONSIN ?
? KNOWS WELL ?
One of individualism.
Madison, Wisconsin...
? FLIES ?
( applause )