i'm waxing nostalgic today. As the years fly by and the birthdays mount up and the mirror becomes my 'enemy' it is a moment like mary's passing that i truly realize my youth is forever gone. Yet it also reinforces the joy i have in the man i've become. a man who sees social injustice and wants to change it. and who has always fought to do so. a man who sees that all men and women are equal. a man who hates racism and war. all war. all racism. guess this is why i hate republicans also.
peter, paul and the beautiful and charming mary travers helped form me and my beliefs through their music and the truth they showed in the songs they chose to sing. they, along with the amazing joan baez, introduced me to bob dylan. hell that would have been enough. they also taught me the natural wonder and beauty of harmony. harmony in music and the harmony in mankind that might exist if we only cared enough and tried a bit harder.
one summer night in forest hills stadium...everything was perfect. the weather, the star shine and the moonlight. the music, the singers and my open heart. i was transfixed and transformed as i watched and listened to peter, paul and mary live. for the first time.
''leaving on a jet plane'' was mary's chance to fly solo and shine.
''puff the magic dragon'': the ode to marijuana for those of us who wanted it to be that.
"where have all the flowers gone" :an anti war song that sounded gently but protested loudly.
"blowing in the wind" asked the questions our hearts and minds had to answer. unfortunately most people answered wrong.
''the times they are a changing'' is the one song my parents wish i had never heard. i took up it's battle cry and there was no turning back. everything changed for me. no society, religion or mass think tank would ever own me again. i started to become a free thinker...a happy intellectual. i became an adult. i have no regrets.
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''day is done'': a lullaby for children and adults alike. and damn if we still don't know when each and every day is still done.
''the great mandela'': the lyric spoke to what many dads and sons go through. different generations when values of war and peace collide. it caused difficulty in my family and yet we all came out the better for it as the years went flying by.
rest in peace mary. you and your friends peter and paul helped influence a generation...well those of us who listened.
