Ewan MacColl
Encyclopedia
Ewan MacColl was an English
folk singer
, songwriter
, socialist, actor
, poet
, playwright
, and record producer
. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood
, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger
. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music. He was the father of singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl
.
, Salford
, Lancashire
to Scottish
parents, William Miller and Betsy Miller née Hendry. Both of his parents were socialists and William Miller was an iron-moulder and militant trade union
ist who had moved to Salford with his wife to look for work after being blacklisted in almost every foundry in Scotland. They lived amongst a group of émigré Scots and Jimmy, their only surviving child of four, was brought up in an atmosphere of fierce political debate interspersed with the large repertoire of songs and stories his parents had brought from Scotland. He left school in 1930 during the Great Depression
and, joining the ranks of the unemployed, began a life-long programme of self education whilst keeping warm in the Manchester Public Library
.
During this period he found intermittent work in a number of jobs and also made money as a street singer. He joined the Young Communist League
and the socialist amateur theatre troupe, the Clarion Players. He began his career as a writer helping produce, and contributing humorous verse and skits to some of the Communist Party's
factory papers. He was an activist in the unemployed workers campaigns and the mass trespasses of the early 1930s. One of his best-known songs, "The Manchester Rambler", was written after the pivotal mass trespass of Kinder Scout
. He was responsible for publicity in the planning of the trespass.
In 1932 the British counterintelligence service, MI5
, began a file on MacColl, after the local police told them that the singer was "a communist with very extreme views" who needed "special attention". For a time the Special Branch
kept a watch on the Manchester home that he shared with his wife Joan Littlewood
. MI5 caused some of MacColl's songs to be rejected by the BBC
, and prevented the employment of Littlewood as a BBC children's programme presenter.
who became Miller's wife and work partner.
In 1936, after a failed attempt to relocate to London, the couple returned to Manchester
, and formed Theatre Union. In 1940 a performance of The Last Edition - a 'living newspaper' - was halted by the police and Miller and Littlewood were bound over for two years for 'breach of the peace'. The necessities of wartime brought an end to Theatre Union.
MacColl enlisted in the British Army
during July 1940, but deserted in December. Why he did so, and why he was not prosecuted after the war, remain a mystery.
In 1946 members of Theatre Union and others formed Theatre Workshop
and spent the next few years touring, mostly in the north of England. Jimmie Miller had by then changed his name to Ewan MacColl (influenced by the Lallans
movement in Scotland). In Theatre Union roles had been shared, but now, in Theatre Workshop, they were more formalised. Littlewood was the sole producer and MacColl the dramaturge
, art director, and resident dramatist.
The techniques that had been developed in Theatre Union now were refined, producing the distinctive form of theatre that was the hallmark of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, as the troupe was later known. They were an impoverished travelling troupe, but were making a name for themselves.
grew. Inspired by the example of Alan Lomax
, who had arrived in Britain and Ireland in 1950, and had done extensive fieldwork there, MacColl also began to collect and perform traditional ballads. His long involvement with Topic Records
started in 1950 with his release of a single, "The Asphalter's Song", on that label. When, in 1953 Theatre Workshop decided relocate to Stratford, London
, MacColl, who had opposed that move, left the company and changed the focus of his career from acting and playwriting to singing and composing folk and topical songs.
Over the years MacColl recorded and produced upwards of a hundred albums, many with English folk song collector and singer A.L. Lloyd. The pair released an ambitious series of eight LP albums of more or less the complete Child Ballads
. MacColl also produced a number of LPs with Irish singer songwriter Dominic Behan
, brother of the playwright, Brendan Behan
.
In 1956, MacColl caused a scandal when he fell in love with twenty-one-year-old Peggy Seeger
, who had come to England to transcribe the music for Alan Lomax's anthology, Folk Songs of North America (published in 1961). At the time MacColl, who was twenty years older than Peggy, was still married to his second wife, the dancer Jean Newlove (b. 1923), the mother of two of his children, Hamish (b. 1950) and Kirsty
(1959–2000).
Many of MacColl's best-known songs were written for the theatre. For example, he wrote "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
" very quickly at the request of Peggy Seeger, who needed it for use in a play she was appearing in. He taught it to her by long-distance telephone, while she was on tour in the United States (from which MacColl had been barred because of his Communist past). This song became a #1 hit in 1972 when covered by Roberta Flack
and won MacColl a Grammy Award for Song of the Year
, while Flack received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year
.
In 1959, MacColl began releasing LP albums on Folkways Records
, including several collaborative albums with Peggy Seeger
.
MacColl's song, "Dirty Old Town
", inspired by his home town of Salford, in Lancashire
was written to bridge an awkward scene change in his play, "Landscape with Chimneys" (1949). It went on to become a folk-revival staple and was covered by The Spinners
(1964), Donovan
(1964), Roger Whittaker
(1968), The Dubliners
(1968), Rod Stewart
(1969), the Pogues (1985), The Mountain Goats
(2002), Simple Minds
(2003), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
(2003), and Frank Black
(2006).
MacColl was one of the main composers of English protest song
s during the folk revival of the 50s and 60s. In the early fifties he penned "The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh
" (well-known even today in Vietnam
) and (less presentably) "The Ballad of Stalin
" for the British Communist Party.
MacColl soon became ashamed of this and it was never reissued. It was not copyrighted until 1992, after his death, when Peggy Seeger included it, rather apologetically, in her Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook.
MacColl sang and composed numerous protest and topical songs for the nuclear disarmament movement, for example "Against the Atom Bomb". He also wrote "The Ballad of Tim Evans" (also known as "Go Down You Murderer") a song protesting against capital punishment, based on famous murder case in which an innocent man, Timothy Evans
, was condemned and executed, before the real culprit
was discovered.
. Normal procedure would have been to use the recorded field interviews only as source for writing the script. MacColl produced a script that incorporated the actual voices and so created a new form that they called the radio ballad.
Between 1957 and 1964, eight of these were broadcast by the BBC
, all created by the team of MacColl and Parker together with Peggy Seeger who handled musical direction. MacColl wrote the scripts and the songs, as well as, with the others, collecting the field recordings which were the heart of the productions.
, The Dubliners
, Dick Gaughan
, The Clancy Brothers
, Elvis Presley
, Weddings Parties Anything
, and Johnny Cash
. In 2001, The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook was published, which includes the words and music to 200 of his songs. Dick Gaughan
, Dave Burland and Tony Capstick
collaborated in The Songs of Ewan MacColl (1978; 1985).
There is a plaque dedicated to MacColl in Russell Square
in London
. The inscription includes: "Presented by his communist friends 25.1.1990 ... Folk Laureate - Singer - Dramatist - Marxist ... in recognition of strength and singleness of purpose of this fighter for Peace and Socialism". In 1991 he was awarded a posthumous honorary degree by the University of Salford
.
His daughter from his second marriage, Kirsty MacColl
, followed him into a musical career, albeit in a different genre. Kirsty MacColl died in a boating accident in Mexico in 2000. His grandson, Jamie MacColl, has also developed a musical career of his own with the band Bombay Bicycle Club
.
Collaboration - A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, accompanied by Steve Benbow
Collaborations - Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd
Collaboration - A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Louis Killen, Ian Campbell, Cyril Tawney
, Sam Larner and Harry H. Corbett
Collaboration - A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl
Collaboration - Bob and Ron Copper, Ewan MacColl, Isla Cameron
, Seamus Ennis
and Peter Kennedy
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
(* Not actually sung by MacColl and Seeger: this is an anthology of songs and tunes recorded by them)
Ewan MacColl/The Radio Ballads (1958–1964)(*)
(* Mixture of documentary, drama and song: broadcast on BBC radio)
Singles
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
folk singer
Folk Singer
Folk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, socialist, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music. He was the father of singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
.
Early life and early career
MacColl was born as James Henry Miller in BroughtonBroughton, Greater Manchester
Broughton is an inner city area of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the east bank of the River Irwell and A56 road, in the northeastern part of the City of Salford, north-northwest of Manchester city centre and south of Prestwich. Broughton consists of Broughton Park, Higher...
, Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
to Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
parents, William Miller and Betsy Miller née Hendry. Both of his parents were socialists and William Miller was an iron-moulder and militant trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ist who had moved to Salford with his wife to look for work after being blacklisted in almost every foundry in Scotland. They lived amongst a group of émigré Scots and Jimmy, their only surviving child of four, was brought up in an atmosphere of fierce political debate interspersed with the large repertoire of songs and stories his parents had brought from Scotland. He left school in 1930 during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and, joining the ranks of the unemployed, began a life-long programme of self education whilst keeping warm in the Manchester Public Library
Manchester Central Library
Manchester Central Library is a circular library south of the extended Town Hall in Manchester, England. It acts as the headquarters of the Manchester Library & Information Service, which also consists of 22 other community libraries.Designed by E...
.
During this period he found intermittent work in a number of jobs and also made money as a street singer. He joined the Young Communist League
Young Communist League (Britain)
The Young Communist League is the name of both the youth wing of the former Communist Party of Great Britain and the current youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain ; an organisation that sees itself as the successor to the Communist Party of Great Britain.-Original Young Communist League...
and the socialist amateur theatre troupe, the Clarion Players. He began his career as a writer helping produce, and contributing humorous verse and skits to some of the Communist Party's
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
factory papers. He was an activist in the unemployed workers campaigns and the mass trespasses of the early 1930s. One of his best-known songs, "The Manchester Rambler", was written after the pivotal mass trespass of Kinder Scout
Mass trespass of Kinder Scout
thumb|left|North flank of Kinder ScoutThe mass trespass of Kinder Scout was a notable act of willful trespass by ramblers. It was undertaken at Kinder Scout, Derbyshire, in the Peak District of England, on 24 April 1932, to highlight that walkers in England and Wales were denied access to areas of...
. He was responsible for publicity in the planning of the trespass.
In 1932 the British counterintelligence service, MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, began a file on MacColl, after the local police told them that the singer was "a communist with very extreme views" who needed "special attention". For a time the Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
kept a watch on the Manchester home that he shared with his wife Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
. MI5 caused some of MacColl's songs to be rejected by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and prevented the employment of Littlewood as a BBC children's programme presenter.
Acting career
In 1931, with other unemployed members of the Clarion Players he formed an agit-prop theatre group, the "Red Megaphones." During 1934 they changed the name to Theatre of Action and not long after were introduced to a young actress recently moved up from London. This was Joan LittlewoodJoan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
who became Miller's wife and work partner.
In 1936, after a failed attempt to relocate to London, the couple returned to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, and formed Theatre Union. In 1940 a performance of The Last Edition - a 'living newspaper' - was halted by the police and Miller and Littlewood were bound over for two years for 'breach of the peace'. The necessities of wartime brought an end to Theatre Union.
MacColl enlisted in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
during July 1940, but deserted in December. Why he did so, and why he was not prosecuted after the war, remain a mystery.
In 1946 members of Theatre Union and others formed Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
and spent the next few years touring, mostly in the north of England. Jimmie Miller had by then changed his name to Ewan MacColl (influenced by the Lallans
Lallans
Lallans , a variant of the Modern Scots word lawlands meaning the lowlands of Scotland, was also traditionally used to refer to the Scots language as a whole...
movement in Scotland). In Theatre Union roles had been shared, but now, in Theatre Workshop, they were more formalised. Littlewood was the sole producer and MacColl the dramaturge
Dramaturge
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas...
, art director, and resident dramatist.
The techniques that had been developed in Theatre Union now were refined, producing the distinctive form of theatre that was the hallmark of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, as the troupe was later known. They were an impoverished travelling troupe, but were making a name for themselves.
Music
During this period MacColl's enthusiasm for folk musicFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
grew. Inspired by the example of Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
, who had arrived in Britain and Ireland in 1950, and had done extensive fieldwork there, MacColl also began to collect and perform traditional ballads. His long involvement with Topic Records
Topic Records
Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.-History:...
started in 1950 with his release of a single, "The Asphalter's Song", on that label. When, in 1953 Theatre Workshop decided relocate to Stratford, London
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
, MacColl, who had opposed that move, left the company and changed the focus of his career from acting and playwriting to singing and composing folk and topical songs.
Over the years MacColl recorded and produced upwards of a hundred albums, many with English folk song collector and singer A.L. Lloyd. The pair released an ambitious series of eight LP albums of more or less the complete Child Ballads
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
. MacColl also produced a number of LPs with Irish singer songwriter Dominic Behan
Dominic Behan
Dominic Behan was an Irish songwriter, short story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also a committed socialist and Irish Republican...
, brother of the playwright, Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...
.
In 1956, MacColl caused a scandal when he fell in love with twenty-one-year-old Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
, who had come to England to transcribe the music for Alan Lomax's anthology, Folk Songs of North America (published in 1961). At the time MacColl, who was twenty years older than Peggy, was still married to his second wife, the dancer Jean Newlove (b. 1923), the mother of two of his children, Hamish (b. 1950) and Kirsty
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
(1959–2000).
Many of MacColl's best-known songs were written for the theatre. For example, he wrote "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer/songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who was later to become his wife. At the time the couple were lovers, although MacColl was married to someone else. MacColl and Seeger included the song in their...
" very quickly at the request of Peggy Seeger, who needed it for use in a play she was appearing in. He taught it to her by long-distance telephone, while she was on tour in the United States (from which MacColl had been barred because of his Communist past). This song became a #1 hit in 1972 when covered by Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
and won MacColl a Grammy Award for Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...
, while Flack received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
.
In 1959, MacColl began releasing LP albums on Folkways Records
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
, including several collaborative albums with Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
.
MacColl's song, "Dirty Old Town
Dirty Old Town
"Dirty Old Town" is a song written by Ewan MacColl in 1949 that was made popular by The Dubliners and has been recorded by many others since.-History:...
", inspired by his home town of Salford, in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
was written to bridge an awkward scene change in his play, "Landscape with Chimneys" (1949). It went on to become a folk-revival staple and was covered by The Spinners
The Spinners (UK band)
The Spinners were a 1960s folk group from Liverpool, England formed in September 1958. They consisted of:* Hughie Jones...
(1964), Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
(1964), Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...
(1968), The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
(1968), Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
(1969), the Pogues (1985), The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....
(2002), Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
(2003), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are an American rock band formed in 1999 in Washington, D.C. and currently recording for Matador Records. They have released six full-length studio albums and have toured internationally...
(2003), and Frank Black
Frank Black
Black Francis is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black...
(2006).
MacColl was one of the main composers of English protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
s during the folk revival of the 50s and 60s. In the early fifties he penned "The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
" (well-known even today in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
) and (less presentably) "The Ballad of Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
" for the British Communist Party.
Joe Stalin was a mighty man and a mighty man was he
He led the Soviet people on the road to victory.
MacColl soon became ashamed of this and it was never reissued. It was not copyrighted until 1992, after his death, when Peggy Seeger included it, rather apologetically, in her Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook.
MacColl sang and composed numerous protest and topical songs for the nuclear disarmament movement, for example "Against the Atom Bomb". He also wrote "The Ballad of Tim Evans" (also known as "Go Down You Murderer") a song protesting against capital punishment, based on famous murder case in which an innocent man, Timothy Evans
Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
, was condemned and executed, before the real culprit
John Christie (murderer)
John Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
was discovered.
Radio
MacColl had been a radio actor since 1933. By the late thirties he was scripting as well. In 1957 producer Charles Parker asked MacColl to collaborate in the creation of a feature programme about the heroic death of train driver John AxonJohn Axon
John Axon GC was an English train driver from Stockport who died while trying to stop a runaway freight train on a 1 in 58 gradient near Buxton in Derbyshire after a brake failure. The train consisted of an ex-LMS Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0 No...
. Normal procedure would have been to use the recorded field interviews only as source for writing the script. MacColl produced a script that incorporated the actual voices and so created a new form that they called the radio ballad.
Between 1957 and 1964, eight of these were broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, all created by the team of MacColl and Parker together with Peggy Seeger who handled musical direction. MacColl wrote the scripts and the songs, as well as, with the others, collecting the field recordings which were the heart of the productions.
Songwriting
Seeger and MacColl recorded several albums of searing political commentary songs. MacColl himself wrote over 300 songs, some of which have been recorded by artists (in addition to those mentioned above) such as PlanxtyPlanxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...
, The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
, Dick Gaughan
Dick Gaughan
Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.-Early years:...
, The Clancy Brothers
The Clancy Brothers
The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music singing group, most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their woolly Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularizing Irish traditional music in the United States. The brothers were Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, Tom Clancy, Bobby Clancy...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Weddings Parties Anything
Weddings Parties Anything
Weddings Parties Anything were an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1998. Their name came from The Clash song and musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Australian rock debut since Skyhooks' Living in the '70s.-Formation and...
, and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. In 2001, The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook was published, which includes the words and music to 200 of his songs. Dick Gaughan
Dick Gaughan
Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.-Early years:...
, Dave Burland and Tony Capstick
Tony Capstick
Joseph Anthony 'Tony' Capstick was an English comedian, actor, musician and broadcaster.-Life and career:...
collaborated in The Songs of Ewan MacColl (1978; 1985).
There is a plaque dedicated to MacColl in Russell Square
Russell Square
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. To the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The inscription includes: "Presented by his communist friends 25.1.1990 ... Folk Laureate - Singer - Dramatist - Marxist ... in recognition of strength and singleness of purpose of this fighter for Peace and Socialism". In 1991 he was awarded a posthumous honorary degree by the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...
.
His daughter from his second marriage, Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
, followed him into a musical career, albeit in a different genre. Kirsty MacColl died in a boating accident in Mexico in 2000. His grandson, Jamie MacColl, has also developed a musical career of his own with the band Bombay Bicycle Club
Bombay Bicycle Club
Bombay Bicycle Club are a British indie rock and folk band from Crouch End, London. The band comprises: Jack Steadman , Jamie MacColl , Ed Nash and Suren de Saram ....
.
Later years
After many years of poor health (years in which MacColl nonetheless wrote, recorded and performed frequently) he died in October, 1989: the lifetime archive of his work with Peggy Seeger and others was passed on to Ruskin College at Oxford.Discography
Solo albums- Scots Street Songs (1956)
- Shuttle and Cage (1957)
- Barrack Room Ballads (1958)
- Still I Love Him (1958)
- Bad Lads and Hard Cases (1959)
- Songs of Robert BurnsRobert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
(1959) - Haul on the Bowlin(1961)
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Child Ballads) (1961)
- Broadside Ballads, vols 1 and 2 (1962)
- Off to Sea Once More (1963)
- Four Pence a Day (1963)
- British Industrial Folk songs (1963)
- Steam Whistle Ballads (1964)
- Bundook Ballads (1967)
- The Wanton Muse (1968)
- Paper Stage 1 (1969)
- Paper Stage 2 (1969)
- Solo Flight (1972)
- Hot Blast (1978)
- Daddy, What did You Do in The Strike? (1985)
Collaboration - A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, accompanied by Steve Benbow
- Gamblers and Sporting Blades (E.P.) (1962)
Collaborations - Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd
- Bold Sportsmen All: Gamblers & Sporting Blades (1962)
- A Sailor's Garland (1966)
- Blow Boys Blow (1967)
Collaboration - A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Louis Killen, Ian Campbell, Cyril Tawney
Cyril Tawney
Cyril Tawney was an English singer-songwriter, proponent of the traditional songs of the West of England and traditional and modern maritime songs.- Biography :...
, Sam Larner and Harry H. Corbett
Harry H. Corbett
Harry H. Corbett OBE was an English actor.Corbett was best known for his starring role in the popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son in the 1960s and 70s...
- Blow the Man Down (EP) (1956)
Collaboration - A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl
- A Hundred Years Ago (EP) (1956)
- The Coast of Peru (EP) (1956)
- The Singing Sailor (1956)
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol 1 (1956)
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol 2 (1956)
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol 3 (1956)
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol 4 (1956)
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol 5 (1956)
- English and Scottish Folk Ballads (1964)
Collaboration - Bob and Ron Copper, Ewan MacColl, Isla Cameron
Isla Cameron
Isla Cameron was a Scottish actress and singer.Isla was born in Scotland but was brought up in Dorset and Somerset. While trying to become an actress she joined Joan Littlewood who had co-founded the Theatre Workshop in 1945. Joan’s husband at the time, Ewan MacColl was to become Isla’s singing...
, Seamus Ennis
Séamus Ennis
Séamus Ennis was an Irish piper, singer and folk-song collector.- Early years :In 1908 James Ennis, Séamus's father, was in a pawn-shop in London. Ennis bought a bag of small pieces of Uilleann pipes. They were made in the early nineteenth century by Coyne of Thomas Street in Dublin. James worked...
and Peter Kennedy
Peter Douglas Kennedy
Peter Douglas Kennedy was an English collector of folk songs in the 1950s. Peter's father, Douglas, was EFDSS director after Cecil Sharp....
- As I Roved Out (1953-4)
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
- Popular Scottish Songs (1960)
- Classic Scots Ballads (1961)
- Chorus From The Gallows (1961)
- Jacobite Songs - The Two Rebellions 1715 and 1745 (1962)
- The Amorous Muse (1966)
- The Manchester Angel (1966)
- The Angry Muse (1968)
- Saturday Night at The Bull and Mouth (1977)
- Cold Snap (1977)
- Kilroy Was Here
- Freeborn Man
- Items of News (1986)
- Scottish Drinking and Pipe Songs (*)
- Naming of Names (1990)
- The Jacobite Rebellions (1962)
- The Long Harvest 1 (1966)
- The Long Harvest 2 (1967)
- The Long Harvest 3 (1968)
- The Long Harvest 4 (1969)
- The Long Harvest 5 (1970)
- The Long Harvest 6 (1971)
- The Long Harvest 7 (1972)
- The Long Harvest 8 (1973)
- The Long Harvest 9 (1974)
- The Long Harvest 10 (1975)
- Blood and Roses (1979)
- Blood and Roses 2 (1981)
- Blood and Roses 3 (1982)
- Blood and Roses 4 (1982)
- Blood and Roses 5 (1983)
(* Not actually sung by MacColl and Seeger: this is an anthology of songs and tunes recorded by them)
Ewan MacColl/The Radio Ballads (1958–1964)(*)
- Ballad of John Axon (1958)
- Song of a Road (1959)
- Singing The Fishing (1960)
- The Big Hewer (1961)
- The Body Blow (1962)
- On The Edge (1963)
- The Fight Game (1964)
- The Travelling People (1964)
(* Mixture of documentary, drama and song: broadcast on BBC radio)
Singles
- "Van Dieman's Land" / "Lord Randall"
- "Sir Patrick Spens" / "Eppie Morrie"
- "Parliamentary Polka" / "Song of Choice"
- "Housewife's Alphabet" / "My Son"
- "The Shoals of Herring"
Quotation
External links
- Ewan MacColl 1915–1989 A Political Journey (From the Working Class Movement LibraryWorking Class Movement LibraryThe Working Class Movement Library is a collection of English language books, periodicals, pamphlets, archives and artefacts relating to the development of the political and cultural institutions of the working class which were created by the Industrial Revolution...
site) - 'Radical' Ewan MacColl was tracked by MI5 for decades, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, March 5, 2006 - Folk singer was spied on by MI5, The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (UK)The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
, March 5, 2006 - Why MI5 monitored singer Ewan MacColl, BBC News OnlineBBC News OnlineBBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
, March 5, 2006 - Ewan MacColl/Peggy Seeger discography
- Ewan MacColl - Journeyman an Autoiography Peggy Seeger's website page about Ewan MacColl's autobiography, Journeyman.