"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" is a

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

written by

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

and

Lee Hays Lee Elhardt Hays (March 14, 1914 – August 26, 1981) was an American folksinger and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in soc ...

. It was written in 1949 in support of the Progressive movement, and was first recorded by

the Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs fr ...

, a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. It was a #10 hit for

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...

in 1962 and then went to #3 a year later when recorded by Trini Lopez in 1963. The Weavers released the song under the title "The Hammer Song" as a 78 rpm single in March 1950 on Hootenanny Records, 101-A, backed with "Banks of Marble".

Early versions

The song was first performed publicly by

and

on June 3, 1949, at

St. Nicholas Arena The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York City from 1896 until 1962. The rink was one of the earliest indoor ice rinks made of mechanically frozen ice in North Americ ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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. It was not particularly successful in commercial terms when it was first released. It was part of the three songs Seeger played as the warm-up act for Paul Robeson's September 4 concert near

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from ...

, which subsequently erupted into a notorious riot.

Hit versions

It fared notably better commercially when it was recorded by

twelve years later. Their version of the song, released in July 1962 off the group's debut album became a Top 10 hit, and won the

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for Best Folk Recording and Best Performance by a Vocal Group. Trini Lopez's 1963 single went to number three on the same ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' chart. It was included on his album '' Trini Lopez at PJ's'' (Reprise R/RS 6093).

Other versions

Martha and the Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosali ...

performed it on their 1963 album ''

Heat Wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

''. * Ross MacManus, father of

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

, sang the song with the Joe Loss Orchestra on the BBC's '' Royal Variety Show'' in 1963. * The

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is common ...

album ''

Sam Cooke at the Copa ''Sam Cooke at the Copa'' is a live album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. The album was released in 1964 in the United States by RCA Victor. It was Cooke's only live album to be released during his lifetime; '' Live at the Harlem Squar ...

'' (1964) contains a live version of the song. *

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...

covered the song in 1968. It was republished in 1993 as part of the '' Highly Illogical'' compilation, and in 1997 as part of the ''

Spaced Out ''Spaced Out'' (known in French as ''Allô la Terre, ici les Martin'') is an animated series, co-produced by Alphanim Productions, Tooncan Productions and Cartoon Network Europe, in association with several other companies and television networ ...

'' compilation. Critics derided Nimoy's version, calling it "a real lowlight." Sado-masochistic performance artist Bob Flanagan pounded nails into his scrotum while playing Nimoy's version. * Chilean singer

Victor Jara The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

included a Spanish-language version of the song titled "El martillo" ( es, The Hammer) on his 1969 album '' Pongo en tus manos abiertas''. Promoting left-wing political ideas, Jara was making a connection between U.S. civil rights concerns and the same in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. Later, in 1971, he covered another U.S. song: the political satire of "

Little Boxes "Little Boxes" is a song written and composed by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, which became a hit for her friend Pete Seeger in 1963, when he released his cover version. The song is a social satire about the development of suburbia, and associa ...

". *

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his c ...

released the song in 1972 with his wife June Carter Cash singing harmony. The song hit number 29 on the US country chart in August 1972, and it was included on his album '' Any Old Wind That Blows'' (1973). Cash's version was more in the

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...

vein, powered by two electric guitarists:

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

on lead and solo, and

Bob Wootton Robert "Bob" Wootton (March 4, 1942 – April 9, 2017) was an American guitarist. He joined Johnny Cash's backing band, the Tennessee Three, after original lead guitarist Luther Perkins died in a house fire. He remained Cash's guitarist for ...

handling rhythm. * Wanda Jackson released the song as a single in 1969. It was included on her album ''The Many Moods of Wanda Jackson''. It reached number 41 on the US country chart in April 1969. *

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...

recorded an unrehearsed version of the song with a star-studded group in 2004, but the track was left out of the resulting album '' We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions'' (2006) because Springsteen was concerned that the song's fame would upstage the lesser-known songs on the album. The album was successful, attracting more fans to Seeger's music. In 2018, Springsteen's Seeger Sessions version of "Hammer" was released in a compilation album titled ''Appleseed's 21st Anniversary – Roots And Branches''.

Legacy

The song "If I Had a Hammer" was a freedom song of the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. It had a tremendous impact on the American youth in the sixties who protested in many ways against the American culture they grew up in. It helped to spark the hippie movement.

Charts

References

External links

Lyrics on Arlo Guthrie websiteRoss MacManus performing the song
{{authority control 1949 songs 1962 singles 1963 singles Songs written by Pete Seeger The Weavers songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs Pete Seeger songs Trini Lopez songs Sam Cooke songs The Coasters songs Johnny Cash songs Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Warner Records singles Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Albert Grossman Song recordings produced by Milt Okun Reprise Records singles Protest songs Number-one singles in Mexico Communist songs