Product Description

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 03/23/2004 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4103 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: German, English, French, Japanese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.com
The importance of being earnest is vividly illustrated in Carry It On, which chronicles the enduring work of folksingers Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers, who at the time of this comprehensive, 80-minute documentary had already marked their 40th anniversary as a trio. There are nearly three dozen tunes (or parts of tunes) here, ranging from "Lemon Tree" in 1962 to several new performances from '03. And while their earlier music now sounds somewhat tame, even quaint (or, in the case of "Puff the Magic Dragon," cringe-inducing), at the time, Peter, Paul and Mary's pro-civil rights, anti-Vietnam War stances were considered rather radical, helping pave the way for Bob Dylan (whose "Blowin' in the Wind" they performed at the same '63 rally in Washington, D.C. where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech) and the evolution of pop music's social conscience. These days, they've found a niche performing for kids and making programs for PBS (it's the perfect match). And while they may have lost their hair and their figures, Peter, Paul and Mary remain as committed as ever to making music that provokes, inspires, and entertains. Carry It On indeed. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

I thought music spoke louder than words...
...in the words of ppm themselves. But words get the nod on this video. I had been hoping that this would have been pure complete songs with a little discussion to hold everything together through time. A journey told in music. Unfortunately, it is mainly a presentation, via interviews, of what has held ppm together for 43 years, with bits and pieces of songs thrown in. So if you're looking for complete on-stage or in-studio video versions of the vast majority of songs listed you will be disappointed. For example, after building up (narration) to a rendition of "I Dig Rock & Roll Music," the video cuts away from the priceless Jonathan Winters Show performance to more "analysis." Never to return.

Now, the production is first-rate, and it IS wonderful to see the early videos, but unfortunately for me, they're just teasers, and sadly not the point of the video. I get to hear too many times in too many ways why social activism is such an important thing in their music and relationship. I heard that message the first time. Didn't need to hear it over and over again from Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Richie Havens, Phil Ramone and others and the Trio (multiple times from each). Until a true music video comes out, though, I'll gladly settle for this in the meantime.

A Treasure
PP&M have generously allowed some of their concerts to be filmed so that PBS could use them for fund raising. That is where I first saw this program and I had to have the DVD because it gets behind the concerts to show us how the trio got together, how they work together, why they are so unique, and what they have meant to the history of the United States (and a lot of other places, like El Salvador). Their music has consistently called Americans to live into the ideals stated in the founding documents of our country and to be compassionate to all who do not have the privileges white Middle Class Americans enjoy. I not only agree with them, I am energized by them to reach for those good things. This DVD is a treasured retrospective on their career and crusades, and I can't think of any follower of PP&M in all of the generations they have touched who would not love it.

The true meaning of popular music
Well...finally you lie down and take a sweet and deep breath. In these times of plain money music, of the abundance of marketing and the absolute lack of ideals, Peter Paul and Mary give you their honest, their lovely testimony of the true meaning of popular music. Ever since the start of human civilization, from India, China or Greece to the Plain Chant of the Middle Ages, popular music has stood up as a transparent reflection of our most sacred longings and aspirations as human beings. Our hopes, our despair, the way we love, our desire for true human understandig, the transcendent living within us...all that has been expressed through the poetical and the musical aspects of folk art. Well...this is it! The peace movement of the 60's, Luther King, the strong criticism to US atrocities in El Salvador during the Reagan administration, the voice of freedom, the call to respect, and not to hate, the "different", the honest carrer of three talented folk singers who still captivate millions for a clear and simple reason: they still have something to say; they're still willing to say it aloud and they choose beautiful vocal harmonies and a magnificent musical climate to say it! Anyone wondering why these times are not producing honesty ant talent like this? THE ANSWER, MY FRIEND....Please watch this DVD carefully. The message is clear: true music survives because it comes from the deepest and the most sacred sides of our human souls. And that's exactly what these contemporary money makers never even touch!