Post by erik on Jun 24, 2023 20:10:31 GMT -5
One of the folk music movement's great groups is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight with a significant anti-Vietnam war protest song written at the height of what had become an ugly, protracted misadventure for America in 1969.
DAY IS DONE (Peter, Paul, and Mary; Warner Brothers; 1969)—For much of the 1960’s, the most popular group in the folk music revival/scare was the trio of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers, collectively known as Peter, Paul, and Mary. Adapting a straight-ahead acoustic folk style and close harmony singing, Peter, Paul, and Mary were at the vanguard not only of that movement but also the civil rights and, eventually, the anti-Vietnam war movements that were going on. During the first years that they were on the charts, from 1962 through 1965, they helped introduce the world outside the folk movement to writers like Pete Seeger (“If I Had A Hammer”), Gordon Lightfoot (“Early Morning Rain”; “For Lovin’ Me”), and, most notably, Bob Dylan (“Blowing In The Wind”; “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”). All of these songs were not only major parts of the folk music movement, but they also had an impact on the Billboard Hot 100, comprising a hit list that even included the somewhat controversial 1963 children’s classic “Puff The Magic Dragon” (which was somehow thought to be an ode to smoking pot). Even as the British Invasion and Dylan’s conversion from acoustic folkie to electric rocker were turning the music world upside down, Peter, Paul, and Mary continued to be largely acoustic (though their 1967 hit “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” moved a little bit closer to folk-rock). Late in 1968, however, they recorded an all-children’s album in the form of Peter, Paul, and Mommy; and included on the album was a thinly veiled anti-Vietnam war song written by Yarrow entitled “Day Is Done”. Yarrow had written the song from the perspective of his younger brother, who faced (and obviously feared) being drafted into the military to fight in Vietnam. The album version of the song featured an orchestra and a children’s choir from the Westminster Ethical Society in New York City. Although not an overtly big hit per se, “Day Is Done” nevertheless managed to reach #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early June 1969; while Peter, Paul, and Mommy managed to reach #12 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart. The trio performed the song at the big anti-war demonstration in Washington D.C. in November of that year. It proved to be the last song the trio would record, though a re-release of their 1967 recording of John Denver’s “Leaving On A Jet Plane” would become their all-time biggest hit, reaching #1 just before the end of 1969.
DAY IS DONE (Peter, Paul, and Mary; Warner Brothers; 1969)—For much of the 1960’s, the most popular group in the folk music revival/scare was the trio of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers, collectively known as Peter, Paul, and Mary. Adapting a straight-ahead acoustic folk style and close harmony singing, Peter, Paul, and Mary were at the vanguard not only of that movement but also the civil rights and, eventually, the anti-Vietnam war movements that were going on. During the first years that they were on the charts, from 1962 through 1965, they helped introduce the world outside the folk movement to writers like Pete Seeger (“If I Had A Hammer”), Gordon Lightfoot (“Early Morning Rain”; “For Lovin’ Me”), and, most notably, Bob Dylan (“Blowing In The Wind”; “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”). All of these songs were not only major parts of the folk music movement, but they also had an impact on the Billboard Hot 100, comprising a hit list that even included the somewhat controversial 1963 children’s classic “Puff The Magic Dragon” (which was somehow thought to be an ode to smoking pot). Even as the British Invasion and Dylan’s conversion from acoustic folkie to electric rocker were turning the music world upside down, Peter, Paul, and Mary continued to be largely acoustic (though their 1967 hit “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” moved a little bit closer to folk-rock). Late in 1968, however, they recorded an all-children’s album in the form of Peter, Paul, and Mommy; and included on the album was a thinly veiled anti-Vietnam war song written by Yarrow entitled “Day Is Done”. Yarrow had written the song from the perspective of his younger brother, who faced (and obviously feared) being drafted into the military to fight in Vietnam. The album version of the song featured an orchestra and a children’s choir from the Westminster Ethical Society in New York City. Although not an overtly big hit per se, “Day Is Done” nevertheless managed to reach #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early June 1969; while Peter, Paul, and Mommy managed to reach #12 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart. The trio performed the song at the big anti-war demonstration in Washington D.C. in November of that year. It proved to be the last song the trio would record, though a re-release of their 1967 recording of John Denver’s “Leaving On A Jet Plane” would become their all-time biggest hit, reaching #1 just before the end of 1969.