Sunday, 7/11/10 - If I Had A Hammer

"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, I'd..."

"Do you have to sing?"

"I'm sorry. Does it bother you?"

"Not so much your singing as that song."

"You don't like Peter, Paul and Mary?"

"They're OK. I just don't like that song."

"Why? What's wrong with it?"




"It's so violent."

"Violent? How can you say that? The song is about healing all of the injustices in the world."

"No, the song is really about power. Think about it. Some guy gets this really great tool - a hammer - and what does he do? He gets all mighty and powerful and he runs around bonking on things like he knows what's best for everybody. Why couldn't he just use it to build something beautiful or something useful?"

"Huh?"

"And, tell me, exactly how does one 'hammer out love'? Isn't that a little bit like trying to bring peace by starting a war? If you ask me, this guy has some serious relationship issues that no amount of hammering is going to fix."

"Ummmm..."

"And if that wasn't bad enough, when he's done knocking things around with his trusty hammer he grabs a bell and goes around making a whole lot of noise. Ringing here and ringing there. Geez, what a jerk."

"Wow, you really have a twisted way of looking at things."

"Sorry, but I would keep hammers and bells far away from that guy."

"You really know how to ruin a good song, don't you?"