The group was created by manager Albert Grossman, who sought to create a folk "supergroup" by bringing together "a tall blonde (Travers), a funny guy (Stookey), and a good looking guy (Yarrow)." He launched the group in 1961, booking them into the Bitter End, a coffee house in New York City's Greenwich Village that was a favorite place to hear folk artists.
The group recorded their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, the following year. It included "500 Miles," "Lemon Tree","Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and the hit Pete Seeger tune "If I Had a Hammer," ("The Hammer Song"). The album was listed on Billboard Magazine Top Ten list for ten months and in the Top One Hundred for over three years.
By 1963 they had recorded three albums; released the now-famous song "Puff the Magic Dragon", which Yarrow and fellow Cornell student Leonard Lipton originally wrote in 1959 and was on the charts in 1963; and performed "If I Had a Hammer" at the 1963 March on Washington, best remembered for Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Their biggest single hit came with the Bob Dylan song, "Blowin' in the Wind," which was an international #1 hit. It was the fastest selling single ever cut by Warner Brothers Records. For many years after, the group was at the forefront of the civil rights movement and other causes promoting social justice. Their later hit "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was actually written by the then unknown John Denver.
The trio broke up in 1970 to pursue separate solo careers, but found little of the success they did as a group, although Stookey's "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (written for Yarrow's marriage to Marybeth McCarthy, the niece of senator Eugene McCarthy) was a hit and has become a wedding standard since its 1971 release.
In 1978, they reunited for a concert to protest nuclear energy, and have recorded albums together and toured since. They currently play around 25 shows a year.[1]
The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.
In 2005, Travers was diagnosed with leukemia, leading to the cancellation of the remaining tour dates for that year. She received a bone marrow transplant and She and the rest of the trio resumed their concert tour on December 9, 2005 with a holiday performance at Carnegie Hall and were scheduled for several additional concerts in 2006.Sadly she passed away in Sept 2009.
Peter, Paul and Mary received in 2006 the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievment Award from Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Wasn't That a Time
Peter Paul & Mary Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Their faith was worn at Valley Forge,
Their faith was brotherhood.
Wasn't that a time, wasn't that a time?
A time to try the soul of men,
Wasn't that a terrible time?
But there they stemmed the rebel tide
And there their faith was saved
Wasn't that a time, wasn't that a time?
A time to try the soul of men,
wasn't that a terrible time?
The wars are long, the peace is frail, the madmen come again.
There is no freedom in a land where fear and hate prevail.
Isn't this a time, isn't this a time?
A time to try the soul of men,
Isn't this a terrible time?
Our fathers bled at Valley Forge, the snow was red with blood
Their faith was worn at Valley Forge,
Their faith was brotherhood.
Wasn't that a time, wasn't that a time?
A time to try the soul of men,
Wasn't that a terrible time?
In Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Wasn't That a Time," the opening verse pays tribute to the founding fathers and their Revolutionary War experience in Valley Forge. The Valley Forge winter was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, and the extreme conditions gave rise to a deepening of faith in the common cause among the soldiers. The snow was red with blood, a reference to the shedding of life-sustaining blood on a field of death. The founding fathers in this verse came together to fight for a shared cause and to persevere through a time of great pressure and commotion.
The next verse shifts the focus to the Civil War and the brave men who fought at Gettysburg. The song speaks of the burial of these brave men in soldiers' graves, an allusion to the courageous men who lost their lives during the war. The war tested the faith of the soldiers and the nation, but they were able to emerge from it with newfound strength, stamina, and character. The song suggests that the stakes were high, but the Union's ultimate victory ensured the continuation of a great and united nation.
In its final verse, the song references the struggles of the present time, including the fragility of peace, the prominence of war and hatred, and the absence of freedom in a land that fosters fear and hostility. The song implores the listener to examine the current era and recognizes that it could be equally as formative as the events that came before.
Line by Line Meaning
Our fathers bled at Valley Forge, the snow was red with blood
Our forefathers endured horrible suffering and bloodshed during the Revolutionary War at Valley Forge.
Their faith was worn at Valley Forge, their faith was brotherhood
Their trust and belief in one another was tested and sustained at Valley Forge.
Wasn't that a time, wasn't that a time?
Wasn't that a remarkable and significant period in history?
A time to try the soul of men, wasn't that a terrible time?
A time to truly test a person's character and strength, making it an extremely difficult time.
Brave men who fought at Gettysburg now lie in soldier's graves
Courageous men who fought during the Civil War at Gettysburg now rest in their final resting places.
But there they stemmed the rebel tide, and there their faith was saved
But it was there that they stopped the enemy advance, and their trust in each other was restored.
The wars are long, the peace is frail, the madmen come again
Wars seem to last too long, and peace seems too easily disrupted by those who seek to do harm.
There is no freedom in a land where fear and hate prevail
When fear and hate dominate, there can be no true freedom or justice.
Isn't this a time, isn't this a time?
Isn't this current time in history equally as significant?
A time to try the soul of men, isn't this a terrible time?
A time that will challenge humanity, and one that many will find extremely difficult.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: LEE HAYS, WALTER LOWENFELS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind