Dirty Old Town was written by MacColl in 1949 as a song within a musical he wrote for his first wife’s company Theatre Workshop. Littlewood and MacColl ran a company to deal with royalties. This song plus the two productions made into film (Oh what a lovely war! and Taste of Honey) still fill the estate coffers. Interestingly, as songwriters, MacColl and Seeger together did get exceedingly rich from The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face but the many songs from radio ballads they are associated with, copyright is shared with The BBC.
|