The Autumn mist is soon to visit us once again, but with the death of Mary Travers, her living voice will sadly no longer be with us. Their "Puff, the Magic Dragon" song is a beautiful childhood memory for me. As "Peter, Paul and Mary" their music not only hold for me childhood memories, but childhood lessons.
Their versions of "If I Had A Hammer" and "Blowin' in the Wind" were to me the definitive interpretations of these songs. I knew that these were more than children's songs of fantasy like "Puff." There was a message there. They were trying to tell me something, something that was going on in the world. Something about what was right and what was wrong in the world. I felt that Peter, Paul and Mary's sound was like they were singing to children like me in whatever they sang. As boy who loved airplanes, a song like "Leaving on A Jet Plane," also held a special place for me.
On NPR this morning I heard a clip of Mary talking about how far social justice had come, since the 1960s. She said that what had been accomplished was great, but that the work of social justice will never be done. That is so true. We must pick up our hammer and continue to learn and to teach about what is right and what is wrong in the world.
No, Mary cannot sing us a song any longer in this life, but her work will live. Like Puff's magic, we can still hear her sing to us, the children of the 1960s and the children of today and tomorrow. Click on Link to listen and watch.

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