Peter, Paul & Mommy by Peter, Paul & Mary

One of my favorite old records is Peter, Paul & Mommy by Peter, Paul & Mary. It is a collection of songs for children issued in 1969 (my copy is from the early 1980s). I still enjoy the songs, which are so familiar and comforting. I recently listened to this vinyl album on my turntable. Side one starts with “The Marvelous Toy” and side two starts with “Going to the Zoo,” both joyful songs written by Tom Paxton. Other popular songs I remember well are “Puff (The Magic Dragon),” “Day is Done,” and “All Through the Night.” My favorite on the album is “I Have a Song to Sing, O!” which the trio adapted from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Yeoman of the Guard; I feel very mellow listening to the beautiful harmonies.

I also have a fairly recent CD by the trio, called In These Times. The singers' voices have gotten older, but they can still belt out a good folk song to protest unfair labor practices, injustice, and discrimination. Hardly anyone else will sing union songs these days. The CD also includes a stirring rendition of “The Great Storm is Over,” a lively version of “All God’s Critters,” and a calm, sweet “Oh, I Had a Golden Thread.”

Many news sources reported in late April that Mary Travers would have a bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia. No date for the operation was stated. No major news sources have run stories since, but I did find an update on a folk music blog called The Back Porch News, which indicated that May 7 was the ninth day after surgery and Mary’s white blood cell count was rising. Other blogs that I found referred back to the same report. For further information, I recommend watching The Back Porch News or the Peter, Paul & Mary website.