I have no stories to tell about Peter Yarrow, but your reference to Paul and Rachel Cowan makes me smile, thinking they might be the same Cowans who wrote a book about their time as Peace Corps volunteers in Ecuador. This was the same era (mid-1960's) that I too was waking up to my country's role in Latin American, SE Asia, etc. while living as a PC volunteer in Chile. They may also have been active in the Committee of Returned Volunteers, one of the many many organizations that joined together to Stop the War! Hoping we might be waking up and ready to build a broad anti-war movement again. ;)
A song he's sung forever and everywhere. In the video he's singing in a small Central California town about 15 miles from where I grew up. About ten years ago, he sang in a children's bookstore a couple blocks from my home in a small Bay Area town--and he'd seen Carl and Debrah the night before. Peter is everywhere and we're lucky.
It's Chanukah, and Peter Yarrow wrote "Light One Candle" as a Chanukah song and a cry for peace and justice around the world. I remember that at the Passover Peace rally in New York near the UN in April, 1989 he sang the song after the New Outlook-Al Fajr Israeli-Palestinian "Road to Peace" Conference at Columbia University. Each time he sings it he adds slightly different words. And I'm sure that if he is singing it today, he would dedicate part of the song to the Israelis in the kibbutzim in the south who were attacked on October 7th, and to the Palestinians who are suffering from the Israeli retaliatory bombardment in Gaza today.
Thank you, Esther! So good to be reminded of this classic.. "don't let the light go out," indeed!
I have no stories to tell about Peter Yarrow, but your reference to Paul and Rachel Cowan makes me smile, thinking they might be the same Cowans who wrote a book about their time as Peace Corps volunteers in Ecuador. This was the same era (mid-1960's) that I too was waking up to my country's role in Latin American, SE Asia, etc. while living as a PC volunteer in Chile. They may also have been active in the Committee of Returned Volunteers, one of the many many organizations that joined together to Stop the War! Hoping we might be waking up and ready to build a broad anti-war movement again. ;)
Hi Anita: Same COWANS. I had many friends in Committee of Returned Volunteers. Funny that we're all somehow connected.
One of my favorite parts of getting older...uncovering those connections! <3
me too
I knew Rachel and Paul too
Of blessed memories.
Talk about lives worth living
In full.
Perfect song for today. (I always love your music choices.) This post brought back so many memories from half a century ago!!
He has a great apartment!
A song he's sung forever and everywhere. In the video he's singing in a small Central California town about 15 miles from where I grew up. About ten years ago, he sang in a children's bookstore a couple blocks from my home in a small Bay Area town--and he'd seen Carl and Debrah the night before. Peter is everywhere and we're lucky.
We're also lucky about the crazy pathways our lives took, and how we met one another so many years ago. xxxx
This is how I put it on my Facebook page today:
It's Chanukah, and Peter Yarrow wrote "Light One Candle" as a Chanukah song and a cry for peace and justice around the world. I remember that at the Passover Peace rally in New York near the UN in April, 1989 he sang the song after the New Outlook-Al Fajr Israeli-Palestinian "Road to Peace" Conference at Columbia University. Each time he sings it he adds slightly different words. And I'm sure that if he is singing it today, he would dedicate part of the song to the Israelis in the kibbutzim in the south who were attacked on October 7th, and to the Palestinians who are suffering from the Israeli retaliatory bombardment in Gaza today.
We loved this. Thank you. Here’s another we were listening to from Judson Memorial Church https://youtu.be/GuYr4TU0k-Y?si=Peyuzb3UXq63a3VB
Probably our favorite song at this time of year. 💙