Mary Travers 1936-2009
We lost an amazing voice today. Mary Travers was the beautiful alto voice of Peter, Paul and Mary. She was my first crush as a singer (the second, Linda Ronstadt), and she has remained a favorite all my adult life. With long, bright blonde hair and bangs, she was modishly beautiful, yet sang decidedly un-modish folk music. She was not only a voice in music, but in social justice as well who, along with her bandmates, worked tirelessly for civil rights in the 1960s and beyond. She was also an accomplished and published poet. On her post-PPM solo album, entitled Mary, she read one of her poems:
Erika with the windy yellow hair
Dancing through the day or moping by the stair
My joy to know my Erika with the windy yellow hair
Yesterday I met her running home from school
Her face was tear stained, she didn't know I knew
But I do, I do
But today she had a song to sing and a poem she knew
And with a kiss and a hug she just dashed away, she had things to do
I do too, I do too
Lithesome child, I turn with care
When viewing you on step or stair
All my hope and love for you,
My Erika of the windy yellow hair
Dancing through the day or moping by the stair
My joy to know my Erika with the windy yellow hair
Yesterday I met her running home from school
Her face was tear stained, she didn't know I knew
But I do, I do
But today she had a song to sing and a poem she knew
And with a kiss and a hug she just dashed away, she had things to do
I do too, I do too
Lithesome child, I turn with care
When viewing you on step or stair
All my hope and love for you,
My Erika of the windy yellow hair
You will be missed, Mary. All my hope and love for you, our Mary, with the windy yellow hair.--W.S.
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