BS: Who the hell is MacColl?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 07:02 AM

I think Chamberlain was just trying to buy time and prepare. He probably knew that war was virtually inevitable but didn't want to risk it as soon as 1938. He also probably didn't realize how ill-prepared the Germans were for a major war in '38. I could be wrong though. I remember one time when I was...umm....was it in February 1962? No...wait...

Okay, give me some time to think about that. ;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: David C. Carter
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 06:23 AM

What a wonderfull,charmingly poetic vocabulary catspaw possesses.

He would have made a brilliant diplomat.

He could have replaced Chamberlain in Munich 1938,could have saved us all from a lot of trouble!


D

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: TheSnail
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:55 AM

Percy as in "I'm going to point Percy at the porcelane."
Wife's best friend as in "I'm going to shake hands with the wife's best friend."

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 02:57 AM

not definitive - but I can see some thought has gone into the list - unfortunately....

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 12:03 AM

yoo-hoo to you-hoo too-hoo...

ding-dong merrily...

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 10:25 PM

(sigh) The definitive list.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 10:16 PM

•100% all-beef thermometer – ABD – Alabama black snake – anaconda – anal impaler – baby arm – baby maker – bald-headed yogurt slinger – baloney pony – big Dick and the twins – big Italian salami – bobby dangler – bologna pony – bone – boner – bratwurst – broner – bud – cack – choad – chode – chub – chup – chut – cock – cornholer – cut – dick – dick smalls – ding-a-ling – ding dong – dingis – dinky – dipstick – disco stick – doder – doinker – domepiece – dong – dork – D, the – D train – general, two colonels – get it up – giggle stick – gut wrench – hard-on – helmet – hockey cocky – hog – hooded – hotdog – jimber – jimmy – johnson – joystick – kielbasa – knob – lady boner – Long Dong Silver – love muscle – love shaft – love stick – main vein – man muscle – master of ceremonies – meat popsicle – meat thermometer – member – middle leg – monster – Mr. Happy – Mr. Winky – ol' one-eye – one-eyed monster – one-eyed snake – one-eyed trouser snake – P – packer – patz – pecker – peen – peeper – peeter – Peter – Ph.D – piece – pink tractor beam – plonker – pocket rocket – polaroid – pole – pop a chub – prick – pud – purple-headed soldier – purple headed solider man – purple-headed warrior – putz – rod – Russell the love muscle – salami – sausage – schlong – schlort – schmeckel – schwartz – sconge – shaft – shlittle – shlong – shrinkage – skin flute – steamin' semen roadway – stiffie – stiffy – tallywacker – tally whacker – tent pole – thing – third leg – throbber – tonsil tickler – tool – tripod – trouser meat – trouser snake – tube steak – wang – wanker – wankie – wee – weenie – wee wee – weiner – whang – who who dilly – widger – wiener – willy – winky – yogurt slinger – yoo-hoo

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 01:49 PM

Yeah, he calls them "dicks" because he is an American. "Willies" is the UK expression for "dicks". Having been exposed to American expressions all my life, I've grown a bit tired of them, and I enjoy using the English ones instead..."willy", "wanker", "bugger off", "randy", "sodding", etc. They have an amusingly exotic sound to my North American ears.

In my opinion Spaw is a silly, sodding old wanker who simply won't bugger off. His obsession with talking about other people's willies suggests that he is a randy bloke who can't find satisfaction, because no one will ring him up in the morning...or knock him up...as the case may be. Now that the Weimaraner is gone, he is bereft of, shall we say, "intimate" company, therefore is becoming somewhat frustrated. His posts are like a form of Tourette's Syndrome via the keyboard, best tolerated in a genial fashion.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 10:49 AM

I think you are right LH. Nobody does give one.

In interests of accuracy, tho [remember that I am MtheGM, OLP {Official Legendary Pedant, as named by a correspondent on another forum}] ~ Spaw doesn't call the 'willies'; he calls them 'dicks' ~~ presumably because he is not a williehead.

〠☺〠☺〠

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 10:42 AM

MthGM - Good! I'm glad you're enjoying the banter. Regarding Spaw and his willies....take a look at what I just posted on the ongoing famous MacColl/Dylan thread in the music section above... ;-) That's the thread that inspired all the others, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 09:41 AM

During the first few years of going to folk clubs (late 60s) I came across McColl's name on gig listings had no idea of where he ranked in the folk pantheon in comparison with the likes of The Yetties, Nic Jones or The Young Tradition.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Bert
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 07:06 AM

Not really. The folk world is somewhat larger that Ewan MacColl.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 07:05 AM

Bert, what a sheltered life you must have led!

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Bert
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 06:58 AM

I was very active in the folk world in London throughout the sixties. We got to Cecil Sharp House at least once a month and during the whole decade I never heard of MacColl. So I'm on Raptor's side in this.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Raptor
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 03:14 AM

Atta boy. MtheGM Cheers.

Elmore: D- for spelling? That hurtz.

The great thing about the "cat" is that I might go now and listen to MacColl and find him to be amazing and become his biggest fan. This website has turned me on to many great things and opinions.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 01:02 AM

Oh ~~ & BTW, LH: have long since given up on Spaw & his willies.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:48 AM

BTW, ranger ~~ Ive got a life, thanks; & propose to retain it... It's the only one I've got...

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:44 AM

Relax, Raptor LH ranger1. My cage is not all that rattled. Just passing the time; one needs a hobby at my time of life & coming on as a bit cage-rattled to upset the next generation {+ the one or two after that!} will do as well as any. So carry on in your poor deprived state, you young Rap, & glory in it. Youth's a stuff that won't endure, as they say in Beggar's Op! Glory in your innocent brattish ingenuousness & rattle some more boring old farts' cages, why dontcha!

Thanks for kind words, Al. No, no elk in the garden: though usually lots of foxes' footprints when it's been snowing. & a neighbour once set us one of those catch-rats-alive traps on the patio; and when I came down next morning all that was in it was a poor hedgehog which I made haste to release!

Why, how we BOFs do go on, to be sure...

Let me out! Rattle rattle rattle !...

〠☺〠☺〠

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 09:50 PM

MGM is unique. I doubt if he has an ilk. I've seen his garden - much too small for an elk.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: ranger1
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 08:42 PM

MtheGM (and others of his ilk) - why are you all taking this thread so personally for, anyway? Raptor was curious and figured Mudcat was where he heard of the guy, so why not start by asking at the source. I'd say grow up and get a life, but I have a feeling it would fall on deaf ears.

And now let the personal attacks on the little ranger begin.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 08:32 PM

I've been wondering Bruce why your grandad was a Musicians Union supporter. I'm not an a Musician's Union supporter and I'm a member. Never been to a meeting. Chuck the diary they send me every year away. Never read the magazines.

Then it clicked - your Grandad was a Manchester United follower.

Initials confuse me.

TTFN

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Elmore
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 08:07 PM

Raptor: D- for spelling. F for content.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 06:45 PM

Oh yes, Raptor, I nearly forgot, please say Hi to LH and a certain chimp of his acquaintance as well!

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:54 PM

Ralph MacColl - he wrote Streets of London. I remember now.....he was very big in the 1970's.

Who can forget that opening line... Have you seen the Old man on Fisherman's Green, Its a dirty old town....


Everytime I sing that it moves audiences to tears.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:50 PM

Thanks for that vital bit of info, Spaw...

MtheGM - You think I'm defending Raptor's "ill-mannered juvenile loutishness"? I am not. I see no reason to defend him. I am merely explaining to you exactly what is going on here so you won't waste a lot of your valuable time sparring with someone who is only getting some idle amusement from rattling your cage.

I know the man. He likes rattling people's cages, not for any particular purpose, but merely because he is a shit disturber (I don't know if you use that term in the UK...we do here in North America.)

To take anything he says about Ewan MacColl seriously would be the height of folly. Just letting you know.

No, we're not related. He chose the name "Raptor" because he is a bird watcher and loves birds. I chose the name "Little Hawk" because of North American Indian connections that mean a lot to me.

****

By the way, why are you not upset at Spaw? He keeps saying gross and ridiculous things about MacColl's willy, for Christ's sake! Get mad at him too, why don't you?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Raptor
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:45 PM

MtheMG Keep the names coming. LH is right. You are providing me with great amusement. I'm picturing you all angry with your panties in a twist with your pompus attitude about how you are far superior because you've knowlege of some dead twit that most people don't know about unless they where around 80 years ago.

I've been laughing about you all day. Thank you.


Show us some more of that class.


For what it's worth to any reasonable catters reading this I'll honestly conceed that the fact that I don't know of or heard MacColl before doesn't mean squat. He might be a great songwriter all I'm saying is that I haven't heard of him.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 04:41 PM

Speaking of names, I hope you are all aware from other threads that MacColl and William Shatner both called their dicks "Timmy Toad." I found this out when it recently came to light that Tim Tebow had been named after Shatner's dick.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 03:18 PM

Yes, OK, LH ~~ as I said, he's a fool. An ignorant fool. A transatlantic chip-on-shoulder ignorant fool. And a young fool, which is really intolerable.

He should be ashamed to admit to such ignorance. Why "Who the hell...?" How rude! If he really wanted to know, he has a computer. Can't it google wikipedia?

Ignorant little booby. & shame on you for defending his ill-mannered juvenile loutishness.

Of course he won't feel contrite. I don't expect he knows what the word means. because he is ignorant.

And a fool.

His nickname v like yours, for that matter. Any relation?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:03 PM

Hi Raptor.

Thanks, Spleen. I'll check that link.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:01 PM

LOL!!!! Marvelous, Megan!

MtheGM - You probably have no idea how much amusement you are unintentionally providing to my friend, Raptor. ;-) Seriously! You ask who he is? Well, he's a man from the Barrie, Ontario area, a musician...but not one with a whole lot of grounding in what could be termed "the folk tradition", although he does like acoustic music along the general lines of what most "folkies" tend to play. Like me, he plays acoustic guitar and sings, and now and then he plays other instruments. I met him about 20 years ago, going to a local open stage, and we've been friends ever since. He's 20 years younger than me. I grew up during the folk revival of the 50s and 60s. He wasn't even born until the late 60s. It's no surprise to me that he wouldn't know anything about Ewan MacColl...I'd not have expected him to know anything about MacColl. I would expect him to know about people like the Beatles, the Stones, Jim Hendrix, Bob Dylan, the Doors, Springsteen, etc...and he does.

I'll tell you how I figure he got into this conversation in the first place. I bet it happened just like this:

1. He was idly cruising around on the Mudcat page, looking for whatever might catch his curiosity.

2. He noticed a large proliferation of threads about someone named "MacColl" or McColl", and thought, "Who the f*ck is this guy? And why are people fighting about him?"

3. He decided it was a good chance to stir up a little rumpus over nothing and started the thread which is titled "Who the hell is MacColl?" for no other reason than that it provided him with some momentary amusement.

4. And it went from there.

Yes, MtheGM, I realize it may be hard for you to imagine that Raptor, a member of this folk & blues forum, could be utterly ignorant of Ewan MacColl...but I assure you, it is not only possible, it's extremely probable...and what is he doing here in posting about MacColl? He's, as you Brits say, "taking the piss". And that is really all there is to it. He's having you on. There is nothing you can possibly say to him which will make him feel contrite about doing so, so save your energy.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Megan L
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:37 PM

The attitudes in this and other recent threads remind me of this I guess the world doesn't change.
I look down on him

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:16 PM

Ollaimh ~ Fakesong was written by Dave Harker.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Elmore
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:10 PM

I just don't get it. Granted the folk music community is relatively small, but why would somebody go to Mudcat, a site devoted to folk music, get on here just to denigrate one of the most important folk artists ever? Oh yeah, we're in the b.s. section. Sorry, I forgot. Never mind. Good night and good luck. See ya. Cheers. Adios. Bye.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 11:32 AM

Shimmy, it seems that the Long Harvest is available on CD from Peggy Seeger's website. Lookee here: http://www.peggyseeger.com/listen-buy/the-long-harvest/the-long-harvest

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: ollaimh
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 11:20 AM

the british folk revival was anything but traditional. again read douglass harkness' book "fake song". they werre revivalists but they were twisting the songs to match their adgenda. the left did it to create a "volkish kulture" to spur their tevolution and the right did it to fan popular nationalism in the lower classes. in the english speaking world there were no traditional linege singers. it was all "fluff" and mostly music free.

on the other hand aside from the fake song tradition and his stealing scottish galeic culture, maccoll wrote a lot of very good songs. ni would much rather listen tom his songs than the fake music you usually hear from traditional uk folk club singers. there are exceptions but most of it is "fluff" with fake pedigtee and poor musicallity.

my objections to maccolls cultural appropriation of scotts gealis tradition is separate from my take on his songs. a lot of folkies in the sixtiers to the present fake a celtic connection. they are back handledly acknowledging that celts have an un broken tradition. however if you want to be part of it you have learn from the reall celtic musicians not come to civilize them--as maccolls tribe did. back then they easily exculded anyone who protsted their hypocracy, but now the internet makes it almost impossible to silence the truth.

maccoll was a great song writer who was part of the british imperial tradition of marginalizing and destroying gaelic people and culture and tyaking ehaty ever he liked for his own with no regard for ethics or honesty

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 10:51 AM

Does the thread title refer to Ewan or Kirsty?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Raptor
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 10:30 AM

Now there's logic, if enough threads are written about someone that makes him important. And he calls me a fool. Great.

Greatings Shimrod Good to make your aqaintence.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 09:59 AM

Fair enough, 'Backwoodsman', I can't argue with that.

"Just because some people idolize some guy doesn't make him popular."

No, 'Raptor', it doesn't - perfectly true ... and your point is?

Greetings, by the way, from a small islander who knows something!

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 09:04 AM

"It's interesting, isn't it, that some people, who have been conditioned by commercial pop music, can't see beyond the 'singer-songwriter' label."

For me, it's not a case of 'conditioning', Shimrod - I just didn't, and still don't, like his voice and singing-style. Nothing to do with American pop, all to do with something in the timbre of his voice, and in his delivery, that jarrs with me, but that doesn't mean I can't recognise him as a giant in the world of British Folk Song. In exactly the same way, I don't like Dylan's and Neil Young's voices and singing-styles, they also jarr with me. But I'm very happy to allow that there are a great many who do like MacColl, or Dylan, or Neil Young, and that they are entitled, and very welcome to, their preferences, just as those of us who aren't enamoured of those artists are entitled to ours.

However, I do like his songs, and if MacColl's only contribution to our Folk Music heritage had been to write those songs, he would still be a giant IMHO.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 08:52 AM

"And the number of threads about you doesn't mean you mean anything."
.,,.,.

Yes it does ~ except to a fool.

What I want to know is ~~

WHO THE HELL IS RAPTOR?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Raptor
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 07:36 AM

Just because some people idolize some guy doesn't make him popular. And the number of threads about you doesn't mean you mean anything. I want to know why these people care so much about some nobody. He was somebody's brother-in-law? I have heard the first time ever I saw your face but it was not that great a song. "I've also heard "My Sharona" Does that mean the the Knack are the greatest band ever? I don't think so.

Lets face it you like the guy good for you but he wasn't that big a deal to anybody who didn't live on a small island full of people who think that they are the only ones on the planet that know anything?

Have a great day.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: David C. Carter
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 06:28 AM

I liked,and still do,his album of Jacobite Songs.

"Will Ye No Come Back Again".That song is often floating around in my head.

I met him once briefly,he was ok.He didn't punch me out!




Boxcar Wally

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:59 AM

Even some massive commercial popular acts on the worldwide stage are not very well known, or virtually unknown, in the States. So it will be no surprise that people from the British folk world aren't automatically names in the States. Likewise I am sure there are some big American names who are pretty obscure figures here in the UK. Thinking that something is only worth discussing if it is really relevant to whatever country one happens to live in surely says more about the poster than anything else?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:14 AM

It's interesting, isn't it, that some people, who have been conditioned by commercial pop music, can't see beyond the 'singer-songwriter' label. There's no doubt that MacColl was a great songwriter ('First time ever ...' was probably the closest he got to writing a pop song and, well, look what happened to that!). To me, though, his greatest achievement was his interpretations of traditional songs and ballads. I doubt that any of that output would have been of interest to American commercial radio stations or their audiences. But popularity isn't the only criterion for judging quality. Having said that Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger concert and club appearances in the UK, at least, were usually packed.

Some of MacColl's vast output of performances of traditional material are available as commercial recordings (see, for example, 'Ballads', Topic TSCD576D, 2009) but others are no longer available. I would particularly welcome a re-issue of MacColl and Peggy Seeger's brilliant ballad projects, 'The Long Harvest' and 'Blood and Roses' - but I doubt whether this will happen in my life-time.

I am very aware that in our celebrity saturated culture the act of writing stuff like this takes me very close to hagiography. Nevertheless, so much facile, mean-spirited rubbish has been written about MacColl that I feel moved to set the record straight. I believe that the proper perspective on his life and achievements is that he was a self-made man, from humble circumstances, who had an artistic vision which he pursued all of his life, and that he succeeded brilliantly. He also had a positive effect on my life - an effect that some remote 'pop celebrity' could never have had.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:00 AM

"probably wouldn't reverberate with US-ers? "
Certainly not in Texas
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:53 AM

"Anyway, while I will not sanctify MacColl, neither will I put him down. He wrote good songs that we remember today, and if that ain't good enough for ya, write one that's better."

Well put, 999. Sums up my feelings about him exactly (and many others', I'd venture to suggest).

And 'Go Down Ye Murderers' is indeed a fine song, Neil D but, in view of the UK-specific subject of the song, probably wouldn't reverberate with US-ers?

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:33 AM

He also was a friend of William Shatner because they both called their dicks "Timmy Toad."   Later Tim Tebow got his name from Shatner's dick so you can see the poetry in the whole thing.......


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:10 AM

Ewan MacColl is important to me because he sang songs I liked in ways that I liked. I do not care in the least whether he, or anybody, gets played on North American radio stations, altho I have in fact heard that happen a couple of times over the years.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:56 AM

... and, just for the record, there are four [4] threads on the immediately accessible list at this precise moment.

Subject: RE: BS: Who the hell is MacColl?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:29 AM

MtheGM - I know Raptor. I think it's very likely that he never knew who Ewan MacColl was, never heard of him, and is just now becoming aware of MacColl for the first time----------------
.,,.,..,

Oh, really, LH? Just turn to one of earlier above-line MacColl threads and count the Related Threads list at the top. What stretch of sand has Raptor been burying his head in, then? In Mudcat terms it's a bit like saying he's never heard of Shakespeare or Lincoln or Pete Seeger, I should say.

~M~