Piano Sheets > Lee Hays Sheet Music > If I Had A Hammer (ver. 1) Piano Sheet

If I Had A Hammer (ver. 1) by Lee Hays - Piano Sheets and Free Sheet Music

  
About the Song
"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary. The song was not particularly successful when it was first released, likely due in part to the political climate of the time. It fared notably better when it was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary more than a decade later. Their cover of the song, released in August of 1962, became a Top 10 hit. The song has since been recorded by dozens of major artists, including a version by Trini Lopez on his 1963 album Trini Lopez at PJ's, which reached No. 3 in the U.S., as well as one by Leonard Nimoy, which appeared on his 1968 release The Way I Feel. A more recent example is the reggae-style cover released.    Download this sheet!
About the Artist
Lee Hays (March 14, 1914 - August 26, 1981), was an American folk-singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass with The Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in society. Hays was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to William Benjamin Hays and Ellen Reinhardt Hays. William was a Methodist preacher who moved from parish to parish, so Lee lived in several towns in Arkansas and Georgia during his childhood and learned to sing sacred harp music in his father's church. When he was five, he witnessed public lynchings of African-Americans. He studied at Commonwealth College, in Arkansas, during the Great Depression. At the same time, he preached in local churches and wrote stories, plays, and songs. Eli Jaffe, a playwright and fellow student, said that Hays "was deeply religious and extremely creative and imaginative and firmly believed in the Brotherhood of Man." "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie.
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