If I Had a Hammer
| "If I Had A Hammer" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Peter, Paul and Mary | ||||
| from the album Peter, Paul and Mary | ||||
| B-side | "Gone The Rainbow" | |||
| Released | 1962 | |||
| Format | Vinyl single | |||
| Genre | Folk music | |||
| Length | 2:11 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Writer(s) | Pete Seeger, Lee Hays | |||
| Producer | Albert Grossman, Milt Okun | |||
| Peter, Paul and Mary singles chronology | ||||
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| "If I Had A Hammer" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Trini Lopez | ||||
| from the album Trini Lopez at PJ's | ||||
| B-side | "Unchain My Heart" | |||
| Released | 1963 | |||
| Format | Vinyl single | |||
| Genre | Folk music, Pop | |||
| Length | 2:59 | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Writer(s) | Pete Seeger, Lee Hays | |||
| Producer | Don Costa | |||
| Trini Lopez singles chronology | ||||
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"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary.
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[edit] Early versions
The song was first performed publicly by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays on June 3, 1949 at St. Nicholas Arena on W. 66th Street in New York at a testimonial dinner for the leaders of the Communist Party of the United States, who were then on trial in federal court, charged with violating the Smith Act by advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government.[1] It was not particularly successful when it was first released, likely due in part to the political climate of the time.[citation needed] It fared notably better when it was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary more than a decade later. Their cover of the song, released in August 1962, became a Top 10 hit.
[edit] Other versions
- Claude François released his cover "Si j'avais un marteau" ("If I had a Hammer") in November 1963.
- Trini Lopez on his 1963 album, Trini Lopez at PJ's (Reprise R/RS 6093), which reached #3 in the USA
- Rita Pavone sang "Datemi un martello" ("Give me a hammer") in 1963, using the same theme, but without any political overtones.
- The Seekers released the song in 1963.
- Leonard Nimoy, which appeared on his 1968 album, The Way I Feel.
- Folk Artist Víctor Jara also sang a cover titled "El Martillo" ("The hammer") on his 1969 album, Pongo En Tus Manos Abiertas.
- U-Roy recorded a very violent version of the song called "Hammering" in 1972.
- Hernaldo Zúñiga recorded a cover version in Spanish for the Mexican group Fandang titled "Dame Aquel Martillo" that was released in 1991.
- Sam Cooke recorded the song in concert.
- The Coasters released a version of the song.
- Les Surfs released another cover "Si j'avais un marteau."
- Lili Ivanova did a cover in Bulgarian of Pavone's version.
- Emil Dimitrov recorded a cover in Bulgarian of the Trini Lopez version.
- Kidsongs released a version on video and DVD on "Yankee Doodle Boy (AKA Sing Out America)."
- Brian Johnson recorded a version of the song.
- The Von Trapp Children recorded a version.
- Waldemar Matuška Kladivo recorded a version in czech
[edit] Legacy
The song "If I Had a Hammer" was a Civil Rights anthem of the American Civil Rights movement.
The song was also was a common selection for "folk masses" in Roman Catholic Churches.[citation needed]
Wikileaks chose the song as their "Wikileaks song".[2]
[edit] In popular culture
- Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron, whose nicknames included "Hammerin' Hank" and "The Hammer," titled his autobiography, I Had a Hammer.
- "If I Had a Hammer" is a fourth season episode of Dexter in which the eponymous character is investigating a serial killer's use of a hammer.
- "If I Had a Tail-Hammer" is a second season episode of Digimon.
- Peter, Paul & Mary's version of the song is used in the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind during a sequence in which "Gong Show" host Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) has an on-air nervous breakdown due to his years as a CIA assassin, and visualizes the entire audience as dead bodies.
- In May 2005, colleagues of then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay sang "If I Had a Hammer" at a dinner held in support of him during the investigation that eventually led to his indictment on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to violate election law. The song was chosen in reference to his nickname "The Hammer." On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart joked about the dissonance between the song's progressive history and DeLay's conservative politics, saying, "If Tom DeLay actually had a hammer, he would bludgeon Pete Seeger to death."[3]
- "If Al Had a Hammer" is a sixth season episode of Married... with Children. Also, in a fifth season episode, "You Better Shop Around, Part I," Marcy tells Al: We sang our favorite folk songs like, "If I Had A Hammer, I'd Drive It Through Al Bundy's Skull."
- "Steve's Hammer (For Pete)" by Steve Earle references Seeger's song through its title and its content.
- Israeli hip-hop band "Hadag Nahash" based its top-chart single "אף אחד" ("Nobody") on the song.
[edit] References
- ^ "Town Talk," The Daily Worker, June 1, 1949
- ^ http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Inspirational_Material
- ^ http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-june-1-2005/tommy
