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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Joe Offer Lyr/Chords ADD: If I Had a Hammer (Seeger/Hays) (22) Lyr Add: IF I HAD A HAMMER (Pete Seeger & Lee Hays 18 Feb 06


As far as I can tell, this is the original version, as first recorded by the Weavers in 1949. I thought I heard an early version that had "all over this world" instead of "land," but I can't find anything to document that. The Peter, Paul and Mary version is, of course, different....

If I Had a Hammer
(Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, 1949)

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning,
I'd hammer in the evening, all over this land.
I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out a warning,
I'd hammer out love between all of my brothers,
All over this land.

2. If I had a bell, I'd ring it....

3. If I had a song, I'd sing it....

4. Well, I've got a hammer and I've got a bell,
And I've got a song all over this land.
It's the hammer of justice,
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love between all of my brothers,
All over this land.

from a reprint of the May, 1950, issue of Sing Out!, Volume I, No. 1.

Click to play


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