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The Weavers released the song under the title "The Hammer Song" as a 78 rpm single in March 1950 on Hootenanny Records, 101-A, backed with "Banks of Marble".
Early versions
The song was first publicly performed by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays on June 3, 1949, at St. Nicholas Arena in New York City at a dinner in support of prominent members of the Communist Party of the United States, including New York City Councilman Benjamin J. Davis, who were then on trial in federal court, charged with violating the Smith Act by advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. Four months later, it was one of three songs Seeger played as the warm-up act for Paul Robeson's September 4 concert near Peekskill, New York, attended by Davis, which subsequently erupted into the notorious, anti-Communist Peekskill Riot. In 1950 Seeger and Irwin Silber featured a copy of the sheet music of "The Hammer Song" for the cover of Sing Out!, their new magazine (the successor to People's Songs and the People's Songs Bulletin), whose title was taken from the song's chorus. Due to the Red Scare and subsequent blacklists, the song when first released did not receive wide exposure outside of activist circles.
Leonard Nimoy covered the song in 1968. It was republished in 1993 as part of the Highly Illogical compilation, and in 1997 as part of the Spaced Out compilation. Critics derided Nimoy's version, calling it "a real lowlight." Sado-masochistic performance artist Bob Flanagan pounded nails into his scrotum while playing Nimoy's version.
Chilean singer Victor Jara included a Spanish-language version of the song titled "El martillo" (Spanish: The Hammer) on his 1969 album Pongo en tus manos abiertas. Promoting left-wing political ideas, Jara was making a connection between U.S. civil rights concerns and the same in Chile. Later, in 1971, he covered another U.S. song: the political satire of "Little Boxes".
Johnny Cash released the song in 1972 with his wife June Carter Cash singing harmony. The song hit number 29 on the US country chart in August 1972, and it was included on his album Any Old Wind That Blows (1973). Cash's version was more in the rock music vein, powered by two electric guitarists: Carl Perkins on lead and solo, and Bob Wootton handling rhythm.
Wanda Jackson released the song as a single in 1969. It was included on her album The Many Moods of Wanda Jackson. It reached number 41 on the US country chart in April 1969.
French singer Claude François released a version in a single in 1963. It was translated and adaptated by Vline Buggy. This version does not contain the protest dimension of the original song. On the contrary, it values the idea of family and work. In this context, the bell evokes the church and places the song in a conservative French tradition. It reached number 1 on the French country chart in 1963, and number 2 in Belgium (WA).
Bruce Springsteen recorded an unrehearsed version of the song with a star-studded group in 2004, but the track was left out of the resulting album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006) because Springsteen was concerned that the song's fame would upstage the lesser-known songs on the album. The album was successful, attracting more fans to Seeger's music. In 2018, Springsteen's Seeger Sessions version of "Hammer" was released in a compilation album titled Appleseed's 21st Anniversary – Roots And Branches.
Legacy
The song "If I Had a Hammer" was a freedom song of the civil rights movement. It had a tremendous impact on the American youth in the 1960s who protested against the American culture. It helped to spark the hippie movement.
Irwin Silber, in "Notes from an Editor’s Diary", recalls he borrowed the name Sing Out! from the third verse of "The Hammer Song" written by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger, which incidentally was printed on the cover of issue number one. It seemed to the publishers an appropriate aim to "sing out danger ... sing out a warning ... sing out love between all my brothers (and my sisters) all over this land." "Sing Out, History"
Salaverri, Fernando. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. ISBN84-8048-639-2.
Hallberg, Eric (1993). Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P 3: Sveriges radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor 10. 7. 1962 - 19. 8. 1975. Drift Musik. p. 243. ISBN9163021404.
Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998). Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961 - 74. Premium Publishing. p. 313. ISBN919727125X.
Original 1950 release by The Weavers on Hootenanny Records, 101-A.
Single by Peter, Paul and Mary
Single by Trini Lopez
