Ewan MacColl

Dirty Old Town: enduring fascination with - and debate on - Ewan MacColl's song, now 75 years old

When Bill Taylor compared very different versions of Dirty Old Town - the song about Salford that Ewan MacColl wrote for a play in 1949 - in our Cover Story series, there was lively if modest interest. Bill's piece first... Read more →


Peggy Seeger: on tour at 86 and pondering the different functions of a Durham launderette

When is a launderette not only a launderette? As Peggy Seeger*, a mighty figure of folk music and activism, has come to know, it can in exceptional circumstances be a music venue, too. And a coffee bar. And as Peggy... Read more →


Cover Story (66): Brexit's empty shelves, missing lorry drivers and Ewan MacColl classic song of the road. Bob Fox, Dubliners or MacColl

CLICK ANYWHERE ON THIS PARAGRAPH TO EXPLORE THE FULL COVER STORY SERIES - COMPARING DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE SAME SONGS AND SOMETIMES TUNES Brexit is the poisoned chalice that just keeps on dispensing its noxious social and economic pollutants. Whichever... Read more →