The woman who was the Mary in Peter, Paul and Mary, has died.
Mary Travers was 72. I don’t think I ever saw her in a photo or on television, but I grew up with her voice and sang along to If I had a Hammer, Blown’ in the Wind and Puff the Magic Dragon.
I missed the politics in their songs – blame that on my youth at the time. And for years I thought Puff had a friend called Frolicin the Ottomus – blame that on my ears . I’m not sure when I worked out that they were singing Frolicked in the Autumn Mists.
I’d misheard the words. Other people thought there was a hidden meaning in the song, but the group put the record right on that in this version:
Homepaddock 
My sisters and I with our parents met Mary and the other lads back stage after their concert in Ak in about 1963. They had sung a song called ‘Blowing in the Wind’ by ‘ a young songwriter from New York who is writing wonderful fold songs, and he’s going to be very big’, they said. And they were right! So the first I ever heard about Roberi Zimmerman was from Mary Travers and Paul Stookey! Small world, as they say! She was a great lady. Also worth reading the part about her in Robt ‘s book ” Chronicles’.
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