I used to sit cross-legged, with my guitar, and sing this song for hours. Oh, for the romance and innocence of youth.

I once saw Peter Paul and Mary at Wolftrap near Washington, DC. A lovely picnic on the grass with wine and a beautiful girl I was in love with when I was 21. Alas, the girl wasn't in love with me, but I didn't know that until later.

I could never listen to this song without thinking of her, even today.

A superlative version of the Lightfoot tune by PPM..

This is why my first son will be named Gordon.

I hit your link to "Early Morning Rain" - I always loved that song. The line, "You can't jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train" just knocked me out as a kid.
I looked it up and what followed was another minor shock along the order of finding out, "The First Cut Is the Deepest" was an old Cat Stevens song.
Apparently from the comment above isbp knew, but I didn't realize Gordon Lightfoot wrote "Early Morning Rain." I think of him as from a completely different era.
As far as Peter, Paul and Mary, my people in Arabia LOVED "Leaving on a Jet Plane." We were living it. Incidentally, that's a song by a then undiscovered Bob Denver.

In the last years of my Mom's life she lived very near Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary. His wife was the school chaplain at Northfield Mount Hermon, a prep school that was founded by Dwight L. Moody. Not to go family tree here, but I'm a descendent of Dwight and my Mom's middle name was Moody. Wait, that didn't sound right. Darn, why didn't I think of that joke all those years? "Moody? My Mom's middle name is Moody." I can't believe I missed that.

Anyway Paul would see my Mom at events and was an absolute sweetheart to her. He'd put his arm around her and chat with her like she was the coolest elderly woman around, which she was. So my family loves Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary. Rest in peace, Mary Travers. Thanks for the music.

One last thing:

Was their ever a better tribute/spoof than "I Dig Rock and Roll Music"?

I had to explain to a friend once that "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" was by Peter, Paul & Mary. The takeoff on the Mamas & the Papas in that song is so good, that's who he thought recorded it.

Responding to Bill. Honestly, not that much of a student of Mary Travers but early Gordon Lightfoot is great. Canadian Railroad Trilogy is a masterpiece and Sunday Concert (a hard to find live recording from London) is fantastic.

My only Gordon Lightfoot "trivia": Cathy Smith, the woman that "Sundown" is about, is the same woman who was with John Belushi when he died and served time for manslaughter for injecting the drugs.

Oops! Sweet performance, but the song was by some Jewish kid from Duluth.

...and the writer of Jet Plane was JOHN, not Bob (Work! Gilligan!) Denver.

Looking back that was when everyone agreed that Bill had really begun to lose it.

Oops! Sweet performance, but the song was by some Jewish kid from Duluth.

Bob (Dylan, not Denver) was originally from Hibbing.

The reference to Lightfoot is for the linked video to Peter Paul and Mary's version of his Early Morning Rain in my comment above. ;)

I forgot to link the video to Lightfoot's version. (Not the best version, I am sure, but the intro tells the important part.)

Redemption! Bob Dylan was born in Duluth and moved to Hibbing.
I went to Hibbing and filmed a scene for my movie outside his old high school. The town itself moved a couple of miles as the iron ore was mined. Quite a history even without Bob.

And I didn't say John Dylan to go along with Bob Denver.

John Dillinger was born in Indianapolis.