Script: Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker;
Song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker;
Production: Charles Parker;
Technical direction: John Bower

• Transcript of The Ballad of John Axon
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Isla Cameron, Fitzroy Coleman, Colin Dunn, Stan Kelly, Dick Loveless, A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Charles Mayo

Speakers

Gladys Axon, Alfred Ball, Jim Howarth, Kenneth Pearson, Jack Pickford, Ron Scanlon, Alec Watts

Instrumentalists

Jim Bray, double bass;
Terry Brown, trumpet;
John Cole, harmonica;
Fitzroy Coleman, Brian Daly, guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina;
Bob Lark, fiddle;
Billy Loch, drums;
Bobby Mickleburgh, trumpet;
Peggy Seeger, guitar, mandolin, 5-string banjo;
Bruce Turner, clarinet

Tracks

1. John Axon was a railway man (3.22)
2. It was 4 a.m. that Saturday (1.56)
3. The iron road is a hard road (9.52)
4. It doesn’t matter where you come from (5.56)
5. The rain was gently falling (2.15)
6. Come all you British loco men (3.38)
7. The repair was done (3.15)
8. I may be a wage slave on Monday (4.27)
9. Come all you young maidens (2.40)
10. Steam train, steam train (3.53)
11. Under the large injector steam-valve (3.18)
12. The engine had reached the distant signal (11.36)
13. On the 3^rd of May 1957 (2.04)

Script: Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker;
Song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker;
Production: Charles Parker

• Transcript of Song of a Road
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Isla Cameron, John Clarence, Séamus Ennis, Louis Killen, A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Jimmie Macgregor, Francis McPeake, Isabel Sutherland, Cyril Tawney, William V. Thomas

Instrumentalists

John Armitage, drums;
Jim Bray, double bass;
John Chilton, trumpet;
Fitzroy Coleman, guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina, ocarina;
Francis McPeake, uilleann pipes;
Bobby Mickleburgh, trombone;
Peggy Seeger, autoharp, 5-string banjo;
Bruce Turner, clarinet

Tracks

1. Introduction (2.18)
2. We usually finish the shift in the pub (1.05)
3. I think it’s the soil (2.49)
4. We are the consulting engineers (4.08)
5. We were in a great rush when we did this (1.51)
6. My name is (1.34)
7. During that time, a survey has been made (1.29)
8. It would take quite a lot of men to do the job of one of those machines (1.41)
9. Come all you gallant drivers (5.01)
10. I’m a roving rambler (1.09)
11. Deep and straight and low (4.01)
12. Sixty tons of steel (4.43)
13. What made you come into this game? (6.57)
14. Just a note (2.46)
15. Oh well that’s just the way it is (3.41)
16. When the muck has all been shifted (1.46)
17. Bring up your black squad (3.58)
18. Been on the road so long (1.43)
19. You can talk about your concrete (3.06)
20. The motorway is on the final lap (1.25)
21. We needed a way cut through the land (3.13)

Script, song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Chorus direction: Katharine Thompson;
Production: Charles Parker;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger;
Technical direction: John Clarke

• Transcript of Singing the Fishing
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Ronnie Balls, Ian Campbell, John Clarence, Sam Larner, A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Elizabeth Stewart, Jane Stewart

The Clarion Singer Chorus

Martin Marshall, Gordon McCulloch, John O’Reilly, David Phillips, Jack Thomas, J.R.S. Wright

Instrumentalists

Jim Bray, double bass;
Fitzroy Coleman, guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina;
Kay Graham, fiddle;
Peggy Seeger, autoharp, guitar, mandolin, 5-string banjo;
Bruce Turner, clarinet, alto saxophone

Tracks

1. Up jumped the herring, the king of the sea (Roud 472) (2.03)
2. Come all you gallant fishermen (North Sea Holes) (1.54)
3. It’s up with the dawn (4.45)
4. Years ago, you started very young (The Shoals of Herring) (Roud 13642) (4.24)
5. I started to go to sea in 1892 (1.49)
6. So it’s off with a boiler full of steam (3.55)
7. When the wind is freshening (5.00)
8. What shall it profit a fisherman (2.54)
9. It’s busk ye, my lads, get you up on the deck (2.30)
10. There’s no feeling like coming into harbour (3.15)
11. Came a’ ye fisher lassies (Roud 12504) (3.32)
12. Up jumped the herring (10.26)
13. Cwa, ye herring fishermen (4.36)
14. A’ the week your man’s away (3.55)
15. Wi’ our nets and gear (2.05)
16. Our ships are small (2.43)

Script, song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Production: Charles Parker;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger;
Technical direction: John Clarke

• Transcript of The Big Hewer
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Isla Cameron, Ian Campbell, Joe Higgins, Louis Killen, A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl

Instrumentalists

Jim Bray, double bass;
Brian Daly, guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina, harmonica, clarinet;
Alfie Kahn, tin whistle;
Peggy Seeger, autoharp, guitar, mandolin, 5-string banjo;
Dave Swarbrick, fiddle

Tracks

1. When you hew a lump of coal (1.21)
2. Out of dirt and darkness I was born (3.46)
3. Schooldays over, come on then, John (2.33)
4. Now don’t be late (2.17)
5. You’re at the pit bank (2.40)
6. Oh dear, the experience to go down the pit (5.55)
7. When I am down in the pit (1.54)
8. So now you know the coal how it is got (3.25)
9. Jimmy, come back, come back (2.25)
10. Yes… he was working next to me (4.05)
11. And yet it’s good to come from the pit (1.34)
12. Three hundred years I hewed at the coal by hand (2.48)
13. Down in the dark (2.44)
14. In Durham and Northumberland, I’m sorry for to say (2.41)
15. A miner has to possess that sense of humour (3.21)
16. Coal is a thing that’s cost life to get (5.40)
17. Today, safety is the prime factor (4.54)
18. Deep down in a man’s heart (4.18)

Script, song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Actuality recording: Charles Parker;
Production: Charles Parker;
Programme prepared with the help of The Polio Research Fund

• Transcript of The Body Blow
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger

Instrumentalists

Brian Daly, guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina, ocarina;
Alfie Kahn, flute, harmonica;
Peggy Seeger, guitar, 5-string banjo

Tracks

1. Introduction (2.47)
2. What day did the world stop moving? (7.26)
3. Did you recall how you climbed the mountains? (4.13)
4. Can’t breathe (6.12)
5. I often think back (2.53)
6. The world is a bed (3.53)
7. I wasn’t afraid while I was in the lung (5.51)
8. While there’s life, there’s hope (5.00)
9. It’s goodbye now (2.54)
10. How I can do all the small things? (5.16)
11. Stronger than pain is the human will to survive (5.16)
12. Closing announcement / The hidden foe (1.46)

Script, song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Production: Charles Parker;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger with Charles Parker

• Transcript of On the Edge
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Lorna Campbell, Ray Fisher, Louis Killen, Ewan MacColl, Gordon McCullough, Peggy Seeger

Instrumentalists

Jim Bray, double bass;
Brian Daly, acoustic and electric guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina;
Ronnie Hughes, trumpet;
Alfie Kahn, harmonica, clarinet, piccolo, flute;
Peggy Seeger, autoharp, guitar, 5-string banjo, mountain dulcimer

Tracks

1. I’ve always kept a diary (2.12)
2. The tale of the children of a troubled world (7.06)
3. What is it like, the world outside (3.34)
4. I find it very difficult to talk to my parents (1.02)
5. Where is the child who would climb on my knee (2.45)
6. Yes sir, no sir, goodbye (1.14)
7. What have you got to worry about? (6.45)
8. I got me tight black jeans (2.59)
9. The world that I know, it has vanished and gone (2.24)
10. I’ve had thoughts (4.53)
11. Why should you be lonely (1.55)
12. It actually gives me a thrill (4.31)
13. Frankly, the idea of intercourse and sex revolts me (2.39)
14. I think we should be getting married (2.45)
15. In a world like this, everything changes so rapidly (4.45)
16. The tale of the children of the troubled world (4.09)
17. Life has got everything to offer (3.08)

Script, song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Production: Charles Parker;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker

• Transcript of The Fight Game
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

Bob Davenport, Ewan MacColl, Gordon McCullough, John Reavey, Peggy Seeger

Instrumentalists

Jim Bray, double bass;
Brian Daly, acoustic and electric guitar;
Alf Edwards, English concertina, trombone;
Ronnie Hughes, trumpet;
Alfie Kahn, harmonica, clarinet, piccolo, flute;
Johnny Lambe, trumpet;
Peggy Seeger, guitar, 5-string banjo, Appalachian dulcimer;
Dave Swarbrick, fiddle

Tracks

1. ’Twas in Tierra del Fuego in South Amerikay (2.13)
2. There’s a game some call The Fight Game (3.15)
3. Boxing. to me, is the greatest character-builder in the world (4.40)
4. Come all you gallant fighting men (1.54)
5. Come on Johnny, and put ’em up Johnny (3.02)
6. When you’re a fighter, you’re different (3.25)
7. Then come on, strip off young Johnny Boy (3.50)
8. I like all my boxers to be perfect skippers (1.52)
9. When you’re training (4.11)
10. There’s such a helluva lot of work to be done (3.46)
11. The programme is set up (2.35)
12. Who would have a boxer for a husband (2.58)
13. You get to the hall (3.31)
14. On my right, the champion, Johnny Boy (8.46)
15. What’ll we do with the man in the ring? (1.34)
16. Johnny, Johnny, you failed us (3.31)
17. I don’t think you can call boxing a sport (4.16)

Script, song lyrics and music: Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger;
Orchestration and music direction: Peggy Seeger;
Production: Charles Parker;
Actuality recording: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger

• Transcript of Travelling People
• Musical Traditions CD review

Cast

Singers

John Faulkner, Joe Heaney, Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Belle Stewart, Jane Stewart

Instrumentalists

Jim Bray, double bass;
Brian Daly, guitar;
Dinah Demuth, oboe;
Alf Edwards, English concertina;
Alfie Kahn, harmonica, clarinet, piccolo, flute;
Peggy Seeger, guitar, 5-string banjo;
Dave Swarbrick, fiddle;
Bruce Turner, clarinet, alto saxophone

Tracks

1. My mother said I never should (1.35)
2. I am tired of always having to shift (1.25)
3. Born in the middle of the afternoon (Roud 6852) (7.29)
4. If you took a traveller (4.01)
5. Don’t I wish the old time would come back again (10.14)
6. I like to settle in the wintertime (5.02)
7. We never did travel much in the wintertime (2.24)
8. The auld ways are changing (3.17)
9. These days have gone (1.11)
10. I mean, we’re fed up with gypsies living in our area (3.18)
11. People get the impression, oh these gypsies, they’re rogues (3.18)
12. They can’t read or write (4.02)
13. Bloody isn’t it (7.39)
14. Can’t see no way out (3.31)