I am a very occasional visitor to Mudcat - like all online forums, it's a bit hard to stick with many of the discussions because, after a while, they start getting tediously bickering and point scoring. Always amazes me but it's like the way that drivers abuse each other in a way that they wouldn't dream of out of a car.
Anyway, to the point. I feel privileged to think that I was (to a much lesser degree than my friend Jim Carroll) a friend of Ewan McColl. I'm not sure that he knew it but he shaped my life in so many ways. He was always kind and helpful. As for his sense of humour, I just can't understand why anyone should think he was humourless. Yes, he could be very serious at times but he was usually great company and, as Jim said, had an amazing store of funny stories. If you grew up with left politics in the decades after the 2nd WW, you were invariably likely to be a Stalinist - most of my family and friends were. So what? His 'Stalinist tendencies' did not lessen the impact of his songs or his amazing performances.
Funny that Jim should mention 'TH' OWD CHAP' - I had the privilege of a criticism from Ewan at the Singers Workshop (another activity to help singers inspired by EM) and he sang this song to illustrate how broad humour should be tackled - it was eye opening.
Most important is that the huge body of work left behind should not be neglected and I am pleased to read that moves are afoot to make the Critics Group recordings more widely available.