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Peter Yarrow of Folk Trio Peter, Paul and Mary Dies at 86

Peter Yarrow, one of the members of 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary has died at 86 following a battle with bladder cancer.

With his high tenor melding seamlessly with baritone Paul Stookey and contralto Mary Travers, Yarrow and this singing partners produced some of the most beloved songs of the 1960s, taking the lead on classics “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “The Great Mandala” and “Day Is Done,” all of which he wrote or co-wrote. Fans of the song released in 1963 were convinced that it was larded with secret drug references, tagging it as a trojan horse ditty about smoking weed, a claim both Lipton and Yarrow repeatedly denied. They participated Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963, performing Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (and “If I Had a Hammer”) on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, helping to cement that song’s place as a civil rights anthem.

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