If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)

15 years ago Lee Hays and I wrote a song and we never expected it will be widely sung
Perhaps me and a few more
But lo and behold, two years ago a young rocker and roller made a record of it
The song is all around the world now

Now the interesting thing is that there is not only two ways of singing this song
There's about five or six different ways
But I found that they nearly all harmonize with each other
Now there is a moral here somewhere
It means that you can sing it the way I wrote it or sing it the way somebody else changed it
Or the way somebody else changed it
And the all harmonize together

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer out the morning (hammer in the evening)
I'd hammer out the evening, all over this land
I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out a woman
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land

If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening, all over this land
I'd ring out danger, I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land

If I had a song, I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening, all over this land
I'd sing out danger, I'd sing out a warning
Sing out war, sing out love
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land

Well, I got a hammer and I got a bell
And I got a song to sing all over this land
It's the "hammer" of justice, it's the "bell" of freedom
It's a song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land