Ewan MacColl (1915-1989) and Peggy Seeger (b. 1935)
Ewan MacColl, born Jimmie Miller, was a Scottish folk singer, actor, playwright, musicologist, and songwriter. MacColl grew up in Lancashire, England, where he learned many traditional songs from the family. He started working as a laborer and mechanic when he was just 14, hence the strong union support that manifested itself in his songs over the years. After moving to London in the 1950s, MacColl became one of the most important figures in the emerging British folk song revival. He founded the Ballads and Blues Club (later renamed the Singers Club) and promoted folk music in Britain. In 1962, MacColl was refused a visa to enter the United States because of his political leanings, an event that caused a great uproar in the folk music community. Editorials were written in Broadside, condemning the government's act, and eventually he was allowed to come.
MacColl frequently collaborated with his wife, Peggy Seeger. She was born in New York City to a musical family. Her father Charles and mother Ruth Crawford were eminent musicologists, and Pete Seeger is her half-brother. During her childhood, her parents worked on compiling anthologies of folk songs, and she was exposed to countless traditional tunes. Starting with piano, she gradually learned to play a host of folk instruments. In 1956, she traveled to England to perform in a television production of Dark of the Moon. While there, she joined the folk group, the Ramblers, which also included Ewan MacColl. The two started performing as a duo and were married two years later. Peggy Seeger has had a long recording career and written numerous songs dealing with issues she believes strongly in, especially women's rights. She is still recording and touring and lives in Western North Carolina.
Peggy Seeger. Photo by Diana Davies.
The Best of Broadside: 68. "Legal-Illegal"
This song comes from Hot Blast, an album of political songs originally released in England on the Blackthorne Label, a label owned by MacColl and Seeger. It highlights the way the people in power determine that certain things cannot be done, while even worse things are legal. The song shows that what is legal is not necessarily just, and what is just may not be legal. It was published in Broadside issue 154 in 1984.
The Best of Broadside: 86. "Gonna Be an Engineer"
This song, written and performed by Peggy Seeger, is perhaps her best-known song, and has been an anthem of the women's movement since it was written in 1970. It was composed as part of a production by the Critics Group in London called Festival of Fools. The British meaning of the word "engineer" differs from the American meaning; in Britain it refers to someone who works in metal trades, a machinist.
Text extracted from the notes by Jeff Place accompanying The Best of Broadside.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings featuring Ewan MacColl on his own and with Peggy Seeger:
Broadside Ballads, Volume 1 (FW03043)
Broadside Ballads, Volume 2 (FW03044)
Cold Snap (FW08765)
From Where I Stand: Topical Songs of America and England (FW08563)
Folkways Record of Contemporary Song (FW8736)
Hot Blast: Contemporary Songs (FW08710)
Kilroy Was Here (FW08562)
New Briton Gazette, Volume 1 (FW08732)
New Briton Gazette Volume 2 (FW08734)
Saturday Night at the Bull and Mouth (FW08731)
Ewan MacColl: Two-Way Trip (FW08755)
Songs of Robert Burns (FW08758)
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol.1 (FW03509)
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol.3 (FW03511)
The Singing Streets: Childhood Memories of Ireland and Scotland (FW08501)
Whaler out of New Bedford, and Other Songs of the Whaling Era (FW03850)
Bothy Ballads of Scotland (FW08759)
Songs of Two Rebellions: The Jacobite Wars of 1715 and 1745 in Scotland (FW08756)
Field Trip-England (FW08871)
Music of the World's Peoples: Vol.3 (FW04506)
The Unfortunate Rake (FW03805)
Traditional Songs and Ballads (FW08760)
Hot Blast: Songs Written and Sung by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl (FW08710)
MacColl, Ewan and Peggy Seeger: Popular Scottish Songs (FW08757)
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings featuring Peggy Seeger alone:
Different Therefore Equal (FW08561)
From Where I Stand: Topical Songs of America and England (FW08563)
Songs of Love and Politics (SFW40048)