"I just thought it was best to start from what Pepys actually said rather than what you'd have liked him to have said."
No you didn't Bryan - you thought you might score a few points
"What? You mean people like McColl ?)"
I assume that was addressed to me Raggy
MacColl and Seeger gave a night a week to younger singers for around eight years while the rest of the superstars got on with their careers
They lived modestly and worked at their interests, taking on bookings only to pay their bills - whenever I stayed with them, they gave me their son Calum's bedroom (when I moved to London, for nearly a month)
Most of the hundreds of songs they wrote between them were passed on free of charge to other singers (Peggy once showed me a list of the people who recorded First Time Ever and had never paid royalties)
That song lay dormant for fifteen years before it was taken up and made money for them
MacColl died being owed many thousands in Royalties for his plays - never collected
They never adapted their music to follow the trends and I know that they refused to write a song for an oil company advert.
Of all the performers I ever knew, they were the least career driven and the most dedicated to the music they loved.
Ewan fell out with Luke Kelly once because of the Dubliner's attempts to copyright some of the "arrangements" of traditional songs he and Peggy had collected.
I never came across two people more generous with their time, material and hospitality - and I never came across an individual who got more flak for his dedication - and his tendency to speak his mind.
Jim Carroll