Peter Paul & Mary - If I Had My Way

PP&M with a rare performance of a song
from their first album

• Category

  Music

[runway1494]

It doesn't get any better than this. They're having one hell of a great time!

[TFABMN]

That is the epitome of folk harmony and dynamism! The definition of the art, heart and soul of a live performance. Their energy was contagious and synergy was unequalled. My eternal gratitude for this posting and You tube. Amen.

[John Jarou]

i remember this song being on one of their albums back in the 60s. i gotta say i liked that version much better.can anybody post it?

[johannmarlowe]

Absolutely astonishing! It makes me smile, and shiver, every time I play it--and I play it often. They may be folkies, but there are no rockers who rock like they do here.

[Wagonmaster74]

Great video! Thanks for posting. Peter was certainly animated with his guitar playing. Had he not been so brilliant a musician, he could have made a living dancing soft shoe.

Play on, guys - RIP, Mary. 

[Wagonmaster74]

Nobody is playing the "base." Not a baseball game! Richard Kniss is, however, doing a fine job with his "double bass."

[AntiquatedPoet]

Very cool

[Butch Cassidy]

They never failed to entertain as well as teach and extend your musical experience. I wonder how many hundreds of hours I spent transformed listening to their records.

[RoninScholar]

More like Peter, with Paul and Mary...

[thesongislove]

I'm pretty positive that it is Dick Kniss. I know the video is poor but it certainly looks like him. Also, by this time they had done that song several hundred times and all the parts had evolved, including the bass part. Dick was the 4th member of the group and had an amazing synchronicity with Peter and Noel Paul's guitars. But now that I think of it, both Kniss and Dick Smothers had dark hair and mustache at that time and they were both the same in stature...hmm.

[janbohme]

Is it 100% certain that Kniss is playing the base here? The video quality is very poor, so it's essentially impossible for me to tell the face of the bass player. The reason that I wonder is that the bass part is very different from other PP&M versions of this song that I have heard, plus that this clip is from an appearance on the Smothers Brothers show, which had a very accomplished bass player in house. Could it be that it actually is Richard Smothers playing the bass here?

[TFABMN]

I couldn't agree with you more!