50 YEARS WITH PETER PAUL AND MARY (2016)
Directed and produced
by Jim Brown
MVD Visual, 78
minutes, Unrated.
★★★★★
Let's start 2017 off right. My album and movie of the month
are the same: 50 Years with Peter Paul
and Mary. Feeling dispirited about life in modern America? Take a 78-minute
dose of this outstanding documentary and you won't need to call me in the
morning. This one is filled with all of the classic PP & M hits, a
veritable potpourri stretching from "Blowing in the Wind" to "Wedding
Song."
The film is a love letter to the trio and I will grant that
it's an expurgated missive–one that only hints at downsides such as Mary
Travers' four marriages, or Peter Yarrow's alcoholism battle and his 1970
conviction for making sexual passes at a 14-year-old girl. Mainly it deals with
unpleasantness by showing the group's meteoric and confusing rise; and by
placing them within the chaos of the era in which it occurred. The trio presaged
other PR-created bands such as The Monkees and The Sex Pistols. If you never
thought you'd see PP & M in the same sentence with such company, read on.
Producer Albert Grossman created Peter Paul and Mary from nothing in 1961. Mary
Travers (1936-2009) was a Red Diaper baby who was weaned on Pete Seeger, Paul
Robeson, and union activism. She dropped out of high school to become a member
of a group called the Song Swappers but, by 1961, was seen as talented but too
independent; Grossman's first choice, Carolyn Hester, turned him down. Peter
Yarrow was a minor solo artist at the time, and. Grossman originally wanted
Dave Van Ronk, but chose Stookey–an unknown–when he decided Van Ronk wasn't
commercial enough. Originally, being commercial was what it was all about. The
Folk Revival was near its peak and acoustic music was white hot. Thus was born
Peter Paul and Mary, a name chosen for its Christian/Biblical suggestiveness,
though two of its central figures were Jews (Grossman and Yarrow) and Paul was
only Stookey's middle name.
Grossman was such a brilliant promoter that PP & M were
"stars" from the get-go; their 1962 debut album contained two songs
that charted: "Lemon Tree" (# 35) and "If I Had a Hammer"
(#10). Word of mouth and glowing reviews led to a second album, Moving, in 1962 and a #1 single:
"Puff the Magic Dragon." (As the video notes, it was just a cute song
and the anachronistic pot metaphors are simply folklore.) The rest, as the
saying goes, is history. From "Puff" onward, the trio recorded eight
more albums and charted with 17 other singles. Their 1963 cover of Bob Dylan's
"Blowin' in the Wind" reached # 2; Dylan's original didn't chart!
(Little known fact: Dylan has never had a # 1 hit.) 1969, PP & M topped the
charts once again with "Leaving on a Jet Plane." Peter Paul &
Mary were the ultimate cover band; they only wrote a handful of their own
songs: "Puff," "Day is Done," "I Dig Rock and Roll
Music," and "Wedding Song" among them. Instead they performed
what many listeners came to see as "definitive" versions of songs
from others: "Jet Plane" (John Denver), "Early Morning
Rain" (Gordon Lightfoot), "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
(Ewan MacColl), "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (Pete Seeger),
"There But for Fortune " (Phil Ochs), "Don't Think Twice"
(Dylan)….
If you wonder why, the video answers with its glorious
concert footage. PP & M made the successful transition from beatnik
bohemianism to political folk and pop stars through sheer talent and evolving
values. If PP & M strike you as sedate and overly packaged, watch and
listen carefully. First, consider those amazing three-part harmonies. (If you
think they're easy, you try
harmonizing with Mary Travers!) Both Stookey and Yarrow were far better guitar
players than most realize, each wielding their instruments with verve, command,
and driving energy. And there is a reason why Ms. Travers gets credit for
inspiring generations of female musicians. Watch it for yourself. Give Mary
Travers a song in 4/4 and watch her sock the first beat with a right uppercut
and nail it the floor with a left hook on the three. She has been oft imitated,
but seldom matched. Say what you want about how they cleaned up songs, tamed
Dylan's rebellious spirit, or made pretty music that was supposed to be angry.
Say it, because you'll find yourself singing along and smiling the whole way
through the video.
Whatever you do, don't label PP & M a bunch of
commercial phonies. The video captures wonderfully the trio's political
evolution–their work with Central American campesinos,
their commitment to civil rights and peace movements, Stookey's deepening
spirituality, Yarrow's redemption, and Travers' discovery of feminism. Name
your cause–PP & M walked in the footsteps of musician activists such as
Seeger, Ochs, and Joan Baez. After musing upon the chaos of the 1960s and
1970s, think also upon the grace they achieved moving forward. Try to stay
dry-eyed as Yarrow and Stookey reflect upon Travers' death from leukemia in
2009.
This is an uplifting video that blends interviews, anecdotes,
recollections, and concert footage. Idealism is the glue that holds together
changing styles, ideals, and the passage of time. It made me nostalgic, but
also hopeful. Lord knows we can use all the hope we can get.
Rob Weir
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