Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - The World of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger (1970)

Ewan MacColl was a folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and argubly one of the most important figures the British Folk Revial on the 1950's & 1960's. MacColl wrote hundreds songs that been recorded by hundreds artists.

Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she has lived for more than 60 years, and was married to the singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989.

Seeger's father was Charles Seeger (1886–1979), an important folklorist and musicologist; her mother was Seeger's second wife, Ruth Porter Crawford (1901–1953), a modernist composer who was the first woman to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. One of her brothers was Mike Seeger, and the well-known Pete Seeger was her half-brother. One of her first recordings was "American Folk Songs for Children" (1955).

In the 1950s, left-leaning singers such as Paul Robeson and The Weavers began to find that life became difficult because of the influence of McCarthyism. Seeger visited Communist China and as a result had her US passport withdrawn. The US State Department, which had been opposed to Seeger's 1957 trip to Moscow (where the CIA had monitored the US delegation), was vigorously critical about her having gone to China against official "advice".

The authorities had already warned her that her passport would be impounded, effectively barring her from further travel were she to return to the US. She therefore decided to tour Europe – and later found out that she was on a blacklist sent to European governments. Staying in London in 1956, she performed accompanying herself on banjo. There she and Ewan MacColl fell in love. Previously married to director and actress Joan Littlewood, MacColl left his second wife, Jean Newlove, to become Seeger's lover.

In 1958, her UK work permit expired and she was about to be deported. This was narrowly averted by a plan, concocted by MacColl and Seeger, in which she married the folk singer Alex Campbell, in Paris, on January 24, 1959, in what Seeger described as a "hilarious ceremony". This marriage of convenience allowed Seeger to gain British citizenship and continue her relationship with MacColl. MacColl and Seeger were later married (in 1977), following his divorce from Newlove. They remained together until his death in 1989. They had three children: Neill, Calum, and Kitty. They recorded and released several albums together on Folkways Records, along with Seeger's solo albums and other collaborations with the Seeger Family and the Seeger Sisters.

Seeger was a leader in the introduction of the concertina to the English folk music revival. While not the only concertina player, her "musical skill and proselytizing zeal ... was a major force in spreading the gospel of concertina playing in the revival."

The documentary film A Kind of Exile was a profile of Seeger and also featured Ewan MacColl. The film was directed and produced by John Goldschmidt for ATV and shown on ITV in the UK.

From the sleeve notes:

DIRTY OLD TOWN written by Ewan MacColl in 1946 for a Theatre workshop production, 'LANDSCAPE WITH CHIMNEYS', a documentary play about Salford, Lancs.

THE MANCHESTER RAMBLER written by Ewan MacColl in 1933, and became the official song of the Ramblers Federation. Since then it has travelled as far as the logging camps of British Columbia, where the words have been adapted to suit the logging industry.

THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE written by Ewan MacColl in 1958, this song has been sung by at least a dozen popular groups and singers.

FREEBORN MAN written by Ewan MacColl in 1966 for a radio-ballad entitled 'THE TRAVELLING PEOPLE', this song has since passed into the folk tradition and is sung by gypsies and travellers in Scotland, England and Ireland.

SPACE GIRL written by Ewan MacColl in 1952 for a short ballad-opera, to be performed by Theatre Workshop, entitled 'YOU'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE'.

BLACK VELVET BAND a traditional song, from the singing of Harry Cox, agricultural labourer from Catfield, Norfolk.

THE BIG HEWER written in 1 961 for a BBC documentary radio-ballad on coalminers, THE BIG HEWER'.

THE SHOALS OF HERRING written in 1961 by Ewan MacColl for a radio-ballad on the herring fishing, entitled 'SINGING THE FISHING'.

MAIDS, WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG a traditional song, collected from Sam Lamer of Winternon, Norfolk, in 1961.

THIRTY-FOOT TRAILER written by Ewan MacColl in 1966 for the radio-ballad, 'THE TRAVELLING PEOPLE'.

PEGGY GORDON learned by Peggy Seeger from Elizabeth Cotton, a North Carolina negro woman, this song became very popular in 1959 and 1960.

POOR PADDY WORKS ON THE RAILWAY a traditional song, collated by Ewan MacColl in 1952 from two separate versions.

BALLAD OF SPRINGHILL The Springhill mining disaster of 1958 was the first to receive world-wide television coverage. Ewan and Peggy saw it during a visit to Paris and this song — a joint composition — was the result.

SWEET THAMES FLOW SOFTLY written for an experimental production by the Critics Group, based on ROMEO AND JULIET, which was broadcast to schools in May 1966.

Tracklist:

Dirty Old Town
The Manchester Rambler
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Freeborn Man
Space Girl
Black Velvet Band
The Big Hewer

The Shoals Of Herring
Maids, When You're Young
Thirty Foot Trailer
Peggy Gordon
Poor Paddy Works On The Railway
Ballad Of Springhill
Sweet Thames Flow Softly

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - The World of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger (1970)

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