Peter, Paul but no more Mary

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: