"Ewen would have loved to be considered traditional."
Actually, he wouldn't - he was always specific about what was traditional and what wasn't. Neither Shoals of Herring nor The Fish Gutters' Song would have fitted.
Nor was he "doing his best to be Scottish at the time it was written" - listen to it and you'll find it was based on Sam Larner's East Anglian. The genius of all the Radio Ballad songs was that they drew directly from the vernacular of the subject matter - Travellers, road workers, teenagers, miners.....
Shoals of Herring in particular was based directly on actuality recorded from Sam and Ronnie Balls, another East Anglian fisherman.
Anyway, as far as 'trying to be Scottish', MacColl was brought up in a Scottish family surrounded by Scots, - so he didn't have to try too hard.
Why oh why....?
Enjoyed the prgramme but would have appreciated somebody leading it who knew a little more about the subject.
Jim Carroll