Ewan MacColl - Journeyman
I'm reading 'Journeyman' at the moment, the autobiography of .
It's a remarkable book on several levels; as the story of a working class boy who became one of the best songwriters and folk singers the world has known it is superb, and as a record of his life and work  from childhood in Salford to his work with and later on the - it tells a fascinating story.
This is the third time I have read the book and I am particularly fascinated by the first part of the book which deals with Ewan's childhood and adolescence in Salford between the wars.
His writing opens a great window on working-class life during those bleak years and stands with Robert Roberts' 'A Ragged Schooling' and William Woodruff's 'The Road To Nab End' as an absorbing story of how education, whether through school or through reading alone, can transform a slum child's life.
The edition I'm reading is a new one edited by Ewan's widow and life partner (who surely should write her own story soon) and IÌý went along to Salford yesterday to talk to Peggy about the book for my show before a concert to launch the second edition at Peel Hall.
During the chat we had she said something that I found very interesting.
That Ewan fled Salford all his life, that he wanted to put it all way behind him but that it never left him. Salford went through Ewan like Blackpool goes through rock. If you read this book (and I really do think you should) then you'll understand why the man who wrote 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and 'Shoals of Herring' also wrote 'My Old Man' and 'Dirty Old Town'.
Comment number 1.
At 4th Nov 2009, Terry wrote:Can't agree more. Truly an amazing, inspirational and very funny book. Like you Mike I read it a number of times myself. It inspired me so much that I used it several years ago as the basis for my English degree dissertation; I became fascinated by his work with Charles Parker: the way he had blended actual sound recordings with song and lyric - hence the inovation of 'The Radio Ballads'.
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