Six weeks ago we went to a concert at Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center (The Original Woodstock site). My husband, my sister, my brother-in-law a good friend and myself. We went to see Peter, Paul and Mary.

This would have been my 5th or 6th (lost count) PPM concert ... but this one was different. Mary was not there. The notice came out two weeks before the concert that she would not be able to attend due to ill effects of a recent chemo-therapy treatment. No, we did not turn our tickets in, we went ... how could we not when Peter and Paul came out and said they were giving this concert in her honor.
The concert was great, as always ... and then after the intermission they came out and said it was time to do a song just for Mary ~ and played the opening chords for "Leavin' on a Jet Plane". As artists do at many live concerts they asked the audience to join in ... and we did ... singing loud and strong (and sounding pretty damn good I might add!). When the song was over Peter informed us that as Mary always sings the lead in this song, neither he nor Noel Paul had been singing lead ... WE did, the audience had carried Mary's part the entire song and as we all came to this realization ~ there was not a dry eye in the house.

This memory was only part of my collective memories today upon learning of the passing of Mary Travers last night.

The summer between third and fourth grade my sister and I sang in summer chorus ... standing on risers in the school yard adjacent to our yard, singing three-part harmonies to "Lemon Tree", "If I Had a Hammer", "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and "Cruel War". My sister and I spent the following years singing them all by heart.

As I grew up in the 60's the more political folk music they sang with the social conscience became important to my life in other ways.

When my sister got married, my cousin sang Noel Paul's "Wedding Song" at her wedding.

At my first wedding, my sister and her husband sang "For Baby For Bobby" - OK, well, that turned out to NOT be a favorite memory, but anyway ...

... years later, Michael took me on our first real "date" to see Peter, Paul and Mary perform at the concert for the New York City Coalition for the Homeless. This was the concert where I got kissed on the cheek by Peter, and both he and Noel Paul signed my album cover.

In the years that followed there were the midnight trips to Cape Cod, the girls sleeping in the back of the van and us driving all night (to get to the campground for early early site call). We stayed awake all night by singing PP&M - harmonizing and memorizing every word to "Well, Well, Well" ~ (and we can do it to this day), OK, well maybe the girls didn't ALWAYS sleep through it 'cause they can sing a pretty mean PPM too!

Other concerts over the years kept us in touch with their new songs and singing the old ones.

At my parent's 50th anniversary party we (the collective kids) and spouses sang - and played our own "modified lyrics" version of "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" to my parents (no dry eyes there either)

Of course it goes without saying that you know what dominates the "folk" playlists on both of our i pods. And my youngest daughter sings along with us whenever they play.

And now Mary is gone, and we are broken hearted. We have lost a friend. Thank-you Mary for your unique voice, the messages you were never afraid to share and the joy and inspiration and depth of experiences you gave to our lives.

Posted by sunybank at September 18, 2009 03:49 AM