CHAPTER 17 | THE URBAN FOLK REVIVAL 433
timing section text comments0:00 stanza 1 If I had a hammer... Seeger accompanies his clear, forthright voice
with a relaxed but energetic shuffl e rhythm on
the banjo.
0:26 stanza 2 If I had a bell... Seeger intensifi es the melody with a short
melisma on “morning” and a higher apex on “I’d
ring out danger.”
0:52 stanza 3 If I had a song... Seeger precedes this stanza by shouting out the
fi rst words, as if for a sing-a-long.
1:19 stanza 4 Well, I got a hammer... The fourth stanza explains the metaphors of
the earlier stanzas as a plea for freedom, justice,
and love.
note Lyrics are mostly as originally published in Sing Out! but with slight alterations introduced by
others in the process of oral transmission.songwriter: Lee Hays, Pete Seeger
date: 1949; recorded in 1956
performer: Pete Seeger, vocal and banjo
genre: urban folk song
meter: duple
form: strophicWHAT TO LISTEN FOR- pentatonic melody with an added blue
note - melismatic phrase extension at end of
each stanza - cumulative imagery in lyrics, with
explanatory fi nal stanza
CD 3.16 Listening Guide 17.5 “If I Had a Hammer” PETE SEEGERListen & Refl ect
- How do the lyrics of “If I Had a Hammer” resemble those of camp-meeting hymns from
the Second Awakening, as described in chapter 3? How do those shared features encour-
age participation in group singing? - In the space of two words near the end of each stanza—“sisters / All”—the melody
quickly moves from its lowest note to its highest. What is the interval between the
two? Does that wide interval, unusual in a song designed for group singing by amateur
musicians, make the song hard to sing? Why or why not?
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