Alumni Remembering Peter Yarrow ’59, Whose Love of Folk Grew on the Hill Stories You May Like For the Lynah Faithful, Ice Hockey Is a Matter of Tradition Maple Recipes Add Spice to the Season (and Beyond) Off to See the Wizard: Cornell’s Links to an Iconic Book and Film The music great was motivated by a legendary Cornell course—and a fellow alum's poem inspired one of his classic songs Editor’s Note: This story was adapted from a report in the Cornell Chronicle. By Caitlin Hayes Musician Peter Yarrow ’59, who drew early inspiration from his time on the Hill before joining the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, died January 7, 2025, in Manhattan. He was 86. In 1961, Yarrow teamed with Mary Travers and Noel Paul Stookey to form one of the most popular folk acts of the 1960s. They would go on to place six songs and five albums in the Billboard’s top 10, with two albums reaching number one. Yarrow wrote or co-wrote iconic songs including “Puff, the Magic Dragon”—whose lyrics were based on a poem by fellow alum Leonard Lipton ’62. A psychology major in Arts & Sciences, Yarrow cited as inspiration a course—officially called American Folk Literature, but affectionately known as Romp-n-Stomp—taught by professor and folklorist Harold Thompson. wikimedia commonsPeter, Paul, and Mary in 1963; Yarrow is on the right. Yarrow served as a student instructor for the class, where he was paid a stipend of $500—which at the time was 20% of his Cornell tuition, he said—to lead students in songs related to the course content. This included murder and Dust Bowl ballads, and spirituals sung by enslaved peoples. “If you take what I learned in Romp-n-Stomp and look at Peter, Paul, and Mary in the march on Washington in 1963, singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘If I Had a Hammer,’ it was just an extrapolation from Romp-n-Stomp,” Yarrow later said. Yarrow returned for his 50th Reunion in 2009 to take part in a Romp-n-Stomp revival, playing with other alumni musicians and leading more than 900 people in song in Bailey Hall. He returned to perform at his 60th Reunion in 2019. Cornell was “a place where I felt comfortable,” he said. Peter Yarrow was born May 31, 1938, in Manhattan to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He attended the High School of Music and Art (now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts) in Manhattan, where he studied painting, and took up playing and performing music while at Cornell. Yarrow returned for his 50th Reunion in 2009 to take part in a Romp-n-Stomp revival, playing with other alumni musicians and leading more than 900 people in song in Bailey Hall. After graduation, he moved back to NYC and began to make a name for himself in the Greenwich Village folk scene. He connected with Albert Grossman, a founder of the Newport Folk Festival, who set him up with Travers and Stookey. Stories You May Like For the Lynah Faithful, Ice Hockey Is a Matter of Tradition Maple Recipes Add Spice to the Season (and Beyond) In 1961, the newly formed trio of Peter, Paul, and Mary—which had originally been dubbed the Ivy League Three—released their first album under Warner Bros. Records. The self-titled album went on to reach number one on the Billboard charts and sell more than 2 million copies. In the next nine years, the group released eight more albums, with 12 songs reaching Billboard’s top 40. Performing during his 60th Reunion in 2019. The group was overtly progressive in its politics, and remade Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” into a civil rights anthem when they sang it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, at the site of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Later, they performed for presidential campaigns and at marches to protest the Vietnam War. After the band split in 1970, Yarrow released a solo album and continued to write songs, reuniting with the group for benefit concerts and, after 1978, to tour regularly, which they did until Travers’s death in 2009. The group was overtly progressive in its politics, and remade Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” into a civil rights anthem. In 2000, he founded Operation Respect, a nonprofit dedicated to creating safe and tolerant learning environments for schoolchildren. Yarrow is survived by his wife, Mary Beth McCarthy, as well as a son, daughter, and granddaughter. “These songs are around," he said of the music trio's legacy during an appearance on a WNYC podcast in 2014. "They’re in the summer camps. They’re in the schools. They’re in the churches, the synagogues, the mosques even. They’re not going away. They were there before the folk renaissance, and they will stand as part of our culture for a long time.” Top: Yarrow at his 50th Reunion in 2009. (All photos by Lindsay France / Cornell University, unless otherwise indicated.) Published January 7, 2025 Comments Larry Skrdla, Class of 1978 8 Jan, 2025 He was a most kind and generous man. God bless him. Reply Kathy Hodges, Class of 1959 10 Jan, 2025 Thank you for sharing this wonderful commentary on Peter Yarrow and their famous trio! He and Paul and Peyer, Paul, and Mary were such wonderful musicians and inspired so many people to enjoy and create music together! What a gift they were AND continue to be to many Americans like me who remember their music! Reply Allan Lines, Class of 1963 12 Jan, 2025 Simply an inspirational and impactful person. I recall attending a concert in Baily Hall that I will never forget. Reply JEAN IVANUSKA, Class of 1974 13 Jan, 2025 Rest In Peace…such a magical gift of spirit and soul to us all. May your gentle kindness and love remain always! Amen, and so it is. 💕🙏 Reply Bill Fitzsimmons, Class of 1967 12 Jan, 2025 As a freshman at Cornell, I attended a PP@M concert on campus. As a lead in to singing “Puff the Magic Dragon,” Yarrow complained that people were constantly asking him what the inspiration was for the song. Tongue in cheek, he then suggested that it was, of course, the green dragon that he saw the Cornell architecture students parade around in every St. Patrick’s Day. The student audience roared in approval! Reply Judith (Shulman) Weis, Class of 1962 12 Jan, 2025 I remember running into Lenny Lipton (classmate and former boyfriend) in the spring of 1962 when we were soon to graduate, and he told me he had written a song about a dragon that Peter was going to set to music. Reply Ruth, Class of 1961 12 Jan, 2025 I remember Peter singing for us at Dickson, not realizing at the time how well his budding talent would take him forward. Nor did I have an inkling of his broader creativity. Perhaps a lesson in what lurks within us when we keep working at it and make good connections. Reply Eleanor (Ellie) Rubin Charwat, Class of 1961 12 Jan, 2025 Peter was also active in the Cornell Folk Song Club that I joined when I was a freshman in 1957-58. And I sat in on his Saturday Romp n Stomp sessions in Goldwyn Smith B. About five years ago, when Peter played at the Town Crier in Beacon, I had him autograph my records and reminisced about Cornell with him. Reply Barbara Garson Stern, Class of 1962 12 Jan, 2025 My husband and I were at Cornell at the same time (class of ‘62) and I remember going to the Romp-n-Stomp classes in GSC on Saturday mornings. We also went to parties at his fraternity, Phi Alpha, where almost everyone played the guitar and would sit on the floor and sing along! We saw him many times at Wolf Trapmin VA too. We loved his music, along with the other folk singers of the 60’s and 70’s. Reply Scott Singer, Class of 1994 12 Jan, 2025 Peter’s son Chris was in my bunk at Brant Lake Camp in the 1980s and Peter was an easygoing and friendly presence at parent visiting days there. The trio was performing annually at SPAC in Saratoga those summers and our camp group would go and visit with them after the shows. I got to know his daughter Bethany briefly in the city after that and they were all terrific people. Reply Walter Milani, Class of 1978 13 Jan, 2025 I met him when he came to Rolling Stone Magazine where I was working in 80 or 81 to do a benefit (I believe it was for Ted Kennedy). I introduced myself as a fellow alum and psych major and he was so nice when I pressed him for details on where he wrote Puff The Magic Dragon. He replied he’d sit in that nice big room in Williard Straight and write most of it there. He seemed like such a nice and generous guy. Reply Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. 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