"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" composed by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays was written as a political statement in 1949. It was recorded first by The Weavers (Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger) but achieved little success.

Then Peter, Paul and Mary (Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers) had a top ten hit in 1962.

The Trini Lopez (Trinidad López III) version hit the top five of Billboard's chart one year later.