Folk Music
Peter, Paul and Mary – The Marvelous Toy
I used to listen to song a lot with my parents house on audio cassette tape as a kid, and somehow it felt really good on this wet winter night. It's 50 years old now, although when I listened to the song, it was only about 15 years old.
Eric Andersen – Thirsty Boots
"Thirsty Boots" is a Civil Rights era folksong by American singer-songwriter Eric Andersen that first appeared on his 1966 album 'Bout Changes 'n' Things. According to the album's liner notes, the song "was written to a civil rights worker-friend. Having never gone down to Mississippi myself, I wrote the song about coming back."
The song, one of Andersen's best known, has been covered by artists such as Judy Collins, John Denver, Anne Murray, and The Kingston Trio. In various stage appearances, Collins has claimed that Andersen wrote the song's last verse on a matchbook cover while in her bathroom.[citation needed]. Eric Andersen tells this story himself in the documentary Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation[1] Bob Dylan also recorded this song for his album Self Portrait, but it did not make the final cut. However, it was released as a 7" vinyl single in April 2013 from Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series Vol. 10.
Andersen has stated in interviews that Phil Ochs encouraged him to finish the song, and later recordings of "Boots" were dedicated to the late folksinger.
Malvina Reynolds – God Bless the Grass
Seems like an appropriate song for 4/20.
God bless the grass that grows thru the crack.
They roll the concrete over it to try and keep it back.
The concrete gets tired of what it has to do,
It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows thru,
And God bless the grass.
If I Had a Hammer – Peter, Paul & Mary (1962)
Phil Ochs – What Are You Fighting For
Peter, Paul and Mary – Christmas Dinner
I haven't heard this Peter, Paul and Mary song in decades, and it reminded me of my childhood. So I thought I would share it.