Some of the more thoughtful contributors to these various Ewan MacColl threads (and, before anyone pulls me up, the 'unthoughtful' ones are the 'trolls' - not those who don't necessarily share my enthusiasm for Ewan's contributions to the Revival - you're entitled to your opinion) seem to be coming to a concensus that he was a great songwriter. Well, I contend that he was much more than just a great songwriter - he was a great singer and interpreter of traditional song as well.

As someone pointed out, somewhere above, he could certainly be an "austere" singer. Some, like 'Captain Birdseye' may interpret this as "lacking emotion" but I think that he was, through the application of his art, trying to let the songs speak for themselves, rather than trying to impose his own personality on them; I believe that this is what the best traditional singers (like Harry Cox or Joe Heaney) did.

If you want to hear examples of what I'm trying to express just try listening to 'Sheep Crook and Black Dog' and 'The Bramble Briar' on the Topic compilation 'The Real MacColl' (TSCD463). The first song is about a shepherd deserted by his sweetheart and the second is about a bloody murder and the effect that it has on the murdered man's lover. I submit that both of these performances are masterpieces of understatement. They are both, certainly, austere performances but, I submit, they both convey perfectly the subject matter of the songs. When I first heard these two performances, nearly 40 years ago now (they were on an earlier Topic LP called 'The Manchester Angel') my first reaction was "what amazing songs!" - not "what a wonderful 'sound' this 'celebrity' singer makes!" - which, it seems to me, is the reaction most contemporary singers are after. I have always felt that what MacColl wanted, above all, was to share his excitement about the songs with his audience - not to impress with his cleverness (the fact that he was a very, very clever man is incidental). He certainly succeeded in conveying that excitement to me.