Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter who helped make Peter, Paul and Mary one of the defining American folk groups of the 1960s, died in Manhattan on January 7, 2025. He was 86. His publicist, Ken Sunshine, said the cause was bladder cancer, according to The Associated Press.
Who was Peter Yarrow?
Yarrow was a New York-born songwriter, performer and activist best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, alongside Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. The trio brought folk music to a broad audience with close harmonies and songs that became closely associated with the era’s civil-rights and antiwar movements.
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The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music | $17.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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American Folk Anthology / Various | $10.78 | Buy on Amazon |
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The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited (2 CD/2 DVD BOX SET) | $49.71 | Buy on Amazon |
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American Folk Anthology | $13.86 | Buy on Amazon |
Born in Manhattan on May 31, 1938, Yarrow studied psychology at Cornell University and graduated in 1959. A Cornell folklore course and his work as a student instructor helped shape his musical interests. He joined Travers and Stookey in 1961. The group’s first album is dated to 1961 by Cornell and 1962 by AP; it reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Cornell says it sold more than 2 million copies. Cornell’s obituary and AP’s account differ on the release year, so the formation date is clearer than a single definitive album date.
What made Peter, Paul and Mary influential?
The group’s songs connected folk traditions with contemporary songwriting and public causes. Its repertoire included “If I Had a Hammer,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “When the Ship Comes In,” as well as Yarrow’s “Day Is Done.” In 1963, the trio performed “Blowin’ in the Wind” at the March on Washington.
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Two accounts describe the group’s chart record using different measures. AP reports six Billboard Top 10 singles, two No. 1 albums and five Grammy wins. Cornell says six songs and five albums reached Billboard’s top 10, with two albums reaching No. 1. Those figures refer to the sources’ respective descriptions and should not be combined into a single tally.
The trio recorded John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” in 1969; it became the group’s only U.S. No. 1 single, according to ABC News. Peter, Paul and Mary split in 1970, reunited in 1978 and continued performing until Travers died in 2009.
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What did Yarrow write, including “Puff the Magic Dragon”?
Yarrow co-wrote “Puff the Magic Dragon” with his Cornell friend Leonard Lipton, drawing on a poem Lipton had written. Yarrow rejected the popular interpretation that the song referred to drugs, describing it instead as a story about childhood and growing up. AP quotes him explaining the contrast: “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys.”
His songwriting continued beyond the group’s best-known folk recordings. AP also notes his later songs “No Easy Walk to Freedom” and “Light One Candle,” and that he co-wrote Mary MacGregor’s 1976 hit “Torn Between Two Lovers.”
Rank #3
- The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited (2 CD/2 DVD BOX SET) by Various Artists (2006-10-24)
What was Peter Yarrow’s criminal case?
In 1970, Yarrow pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a 14-year-old girl. AP reports that the girl and her older sister had come to his hotel room seeking autographs; Yarrow served three months in jail. President Jimmy Carter pardoned him in 1981. The pardon did not undo the guilty plea or the conduct.
Yarrow later apologized. After a festival canceled his appearance in 2019, he told The New York Times, in a statement quoted by AP: “I fully support the current movements demanding equal rights for all and refusing to allow continued abuse and injury — most particularly of a sexual nature, of which I am, with great sorrow, guilty.” The Los Angeles Times also quoted his apology: “I do not seek to minimize or excuse what I have done and I cannot adequately express my apologies and sorrow for the pain and injury I have caused.”
Rank #4
- American
- Seeger, Pete
- Folk
What did Yarrow do after Peter, Paul and Mary?
Yarrow remained active as a songwriter, performer and advocate. In 2000, he founded Operation Respect, a nonprofit focused on helping create safe and tolerant school environments, according to Cornell. His public work and the music’s association with social movements were part of his legacy, alongside the criminal case and his later acknowledgment of it.
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