AP news: Mary Travers dies at 72
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So much has already been said about singer Mary Travers and her great talent, but I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank her, posthumously, for one of the most subtle, heart-breaking vocal performances ever – her devastating, plain-spoken delivery of “Leaving On A Jet Plane,” the world’s most bittersweet musical goodbye.
I discovered this song in high school, at the same time I discovered Carly Simon, Carole King’s “Tapestry” and Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen,” and when I embraced singers from my childhood, like Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin, as my own. Yes, I was in my self-indulgent sad song teen girl phase, and of all the songs that spoke to my inner drama queen, “Jet Plane” was perhaps the most startling, because it came from a place of strength and power on the part of the woman. It was written by John Denver, but it’s Mary Travers’ lilting, haunting delivery that stays with me.
Unlike the sad ladies in “At Seventeen” or “You’re So Vain,” Mary wasn’t singing being left or discarded, but leaving on that plane because she had a job to do. She couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t going to hurt both herself and the man she is leaving, or that she hadn’t done her share of letting down and playing around. But she was promising to come back, to wear that wedding ring, and to commit – as soon as she gets back.
This probably isn’t a perfect relationship model, but I will always be struck by the ownership of a sad decision and acknowledgment that sometimes, you don’t have to be the victim to be hurt. Sometimes, it is what it is.
I have played various clips of Peter, Paul and Mary singing this song all morning, and I don’t see the playback ending anytime soon.
Thank you, Mary!
I saw Peter, Paul and Mary in 1964 in Kansas. She was stunning. Her voice, how sweet and that blond hair. I wanted my blond hair to look like that but never made it. They were wonderful. The 60’s, what a great time to be young and involved in all the changes. Thank you Mary for helping to make it a very special time.
I dunno, I have to love and respect mary, and PPPM as a group, for all they did even if they were a bit onto the “pop” side of the folk world. but “Leaving on a Jet Plane” was hardly their finest hour, IMO. maybe it as that tastes were maturing by the early 1970s anyway, but that whole period for PPM seems really saccharine in comparison to their sound in the 60s; :Great Mandala” seems pretentious in its trying to make a point, and “Jet PLane” is, well, awfully “John Denver”…how come the narrator has let down and played aroudn so much? and why, indeed, does she (or he when Denver sang it) need to leave so often without knowing when he/she’ll be back? doesn’t sound much like work to me…
ah well, hard not to mis ol; “500 Miles” and “If I Had Aa Hammer” and “Blowin’ in the Wind”
godspeed to you mary