Jump to content

Ed McCurdy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ed McCurdy
Born
Edward Potts McCurdy

(1919-01-11)January 11, 1919
Willow Hill, Pennsylvania, US
DiedMarch 23, 2000(2000-03-23) (aged 81)
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
GenresFolk
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, character actor
InstrumentGuitar
Years active1938–1994

Ed McCurdy (born Edward Potts McCurdy; January 11, 1919 – March 23, 2000) was an American and Canadian singer of both contemporary and English folk music, a songwriter, and character actor. He was perhaps best known for his anti-war song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", written in 1950 and since performed by dozens of artists across multiple genres.[1][2] Born in the United States, McCurdy became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1986.[3]

Music career

[edit]

McCurdy first found success in 1937 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as a gospel singer on WKY radio.[4] The following year he became one of the station's disc jockeys. Restless, the baritone next traveled between clubs and radio programs covering tunes from The Great American Songbook.[5] Soon after, burlesque dancer Sally Rand hired him to don a tuxedo and croon while pushing her on a swing. Rand and McCurdy, performed together globally for several years, along with comedian Jack E. Leonard, for whom McCurdy played the straight man.[4][5]

In 1945, McCurdy moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he hosted his own show for CBC Radio.[3] "Ed McCurdy Sings" (1947-1948) was the first of the broadcaster's English language programs dedicated to the folk genre.[3][2] During this period he developed friendships with show guests such as Pete Seeger, Josh White, and Oscar Brand. McCurdy recorded his first folk album in 1949.[5] From then until 1954 McCurdy starred in two other CBC Radio shows—one in Toronto and another in Vancouver.[3]

While still living in Canada, McCurdy traveled to club and coffeehouse gigs in New York City, where the folk music revival was booming.[3][6] He headlined several shows at the Village Vanguard in 1950.[7] In 1954, McCurdy moved his family to Greenwich Village.[1][8] The labels under which he recorded include Riverside, Tradition, and Elektra Records.[4][3][1] He played the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, 1960, and 1963.[9] He performed at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1962 and, after moving to Nova Scotia in 1982, he played Mariposa, Home County and Winnipeg Folk Festivals until 1994.[3][2]

In addition to folk songs, Elektra recorded McCurdy's collection of lewd Elizabethan songs in a series of albums titled When Dalliance was in Flower (and Maidens Lost Their Heads). These became favorites among college students of the era.[1]

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

[edit]
Main article: Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

McCurdy's anti-war song, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", has been recorded by dozens of artists in seventy-seven languages.[2] Early covers were by American folk artists Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Chad Mitchell, The Kingston Trio, Simon & Garfunkel, and Canadian folk group The Travellers.[6] Other covers have been performed by rock star Bruce Springsteen, country singer Garth Brooks, jazz musician Charles Lloyd, and pianist and showman Liberace.[2][6]

In 1980, recordings by Josh White Jr. of "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" and another McCurdy composition,"King's Highway", became the official theme songs for the Peace Corps and VISTA, respectively.[10][11] In 1989, during the fall of the Berlin Wall, NBC-TV recorded children singing the song while the wall came down.[6] In 1992, the song earned McCurdy The Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience award.[3][12]

In 2005, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.[6]

TV work

[edit]

McCurdy also performed on television in Canada and the United States. From 1953 to 1954 in Toronto he did the children's show "Ed's Place" and, in a 1954 CBC TV production of Mavor Moore's The Hero of Mariposa, he sang the part Mal Tompkins.[3] In the US he emceed the George Gobel Show and starred in the New York children's TV show Freddie The Fireman.[4]

In the mid 1980s, he and his wife moved to Nova Scotia, where he enjoyed a second career as a character actor on Canadian television.[3][9]

Personal life

[edit]

Born January 11, 1919, to a farming family in Willow Hill, Pennsylvania, Edward Potts McCurdy was the youngest of 12 children.[13][8] He left home at 18 to pursue a singing career.[1][2] He met his future wife, dancer Beryl English, in 1942 in Vancouver, Canada; they married in 1946.[8]

By the late 1960s, McCurdy's health was in decline and he spent the better part of the 1970s bedridden.[4] In 1986, four years after moving from New York to Nova Scotia, he became a naturalized Canadian citizen.[3]

McCurdy died from heart failure on March 23, 2000, in Halifax, Canada. In addition to his wife, he was survived by three children: daughters Mary and Dana, son, James; and three grandchildren, all of New York.[8][13]

Discography

[edit]
  • 1949: Sings Canadian Folksongs (Manhattan)
  • 1955: Sings Folk Songs of The Canadian Maritimes (Whitehall Records)
  • 1955: Badmen, Heroes, and Pirate Songs (Elektra Records)
  • 1955: Sin Songs Pro & Con (Elektra EKL 124)
  • 1955: The Ballad Record (Riverside Records)
  • 1956: The Miracle of the Wheat (single – Kapp Records)
  • 1956: Blood Booze 'n Bones (Elektra)
  • 1956: Bar Room Ballads (Riverside)
  • 195(?): Let's Sing Out (Capri 507) Canada
  • 1956: The Folk Singer (Dawn Records)
  • 1956: A Ballad Singer's Choice (Tradition Records, Empire Musicwerks)
  • 1956: When Dalliance Was In Flower (and Maidens Lost Their Heads) vol. 1 (Elektra)
  • 1957: Sin Songs — Pro and Con (Elektra)
  • 1957: Songs of the Old West (Elektra)
  • 195(?): "Songs I Learned Coming Thru The Great Smokies" (FolkArt FLP 5001)
  • 1958: When Dalliance Was In Flower (and Maidens Lost Their Heads) vol. 2 (Elektra)
  • 1958: When Dalliance Was In Flower (and Maidens Lost Their Heads) vol. 3 (Elektra)
  • 1958: Children's Songs (Tradition Records)
  • 1959: Son of Dalliance (Elektra)
  • 1959: Children's Songs and Stories (Folkways Records)
  • 1961: A Treasure Chest Of American Folk Song Double LP (Elektra)
  • 1962: Folk Songs (Coronet)
  • 1963: The Best of Dalliance (Elektra)
  • 1968: Songs of the West (Tradition/Everest TR 2061)'
  • 1976: "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream" (Bear Family Records) Germany
  • 1977: On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand: Sacred Songs of America with Dana McCurdy (Folkways Records)
  • 1980: Songs and Stories (Folkways Records)
  • 1996: Cowboy Songs (Tradition Records)
  • 1996: Naughty & Bawdy Songs of Olde England (Warner Bros. Records)
  • The Legend of Robin Hood (Riverside)
  • American Folk Songs (Spoken Arts)
  • A Child's Introduction to American Folk Songs (Spoken Arts)
  • Sings Folksongs Of The Sea (Tiara Spotlight Series – TST 537)
  • 2019: Cowboy & Western Songs (BACM)

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Strauss, Neil (April 1, 2000). "Ed McCurdy, 81, Folk Music Figure of the 50's". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 25, 2025. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Weissman, Dick (2019). A New History of American and Canadian Folk Music. Bloomsbury. p. 93-94. ISBN 9781501344176. Archived from the original on October 26, 2025. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hoover, Lynne; King, Betty Nygaard (December 11, 2013) [June 20, 2007]. "McCurdy, Ed". Historica Canada. Archived from the original on November 27, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Yeager, Doug (March 24, 2000). "Obit: Ed McCurdy has passed away (1919-2000)". mudcat.org. Mudcat Café Music Foundation. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2025. As relayed by Canadian music journalist and radio DJ Mike Regenstreif.
  5. ^ a b c Cain, Michael Scott (May 28, 2019). Folk Music and the New Left in the Sixties. McFarland. pp. 172–173. ISBN 978-1-4766-3595-8. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream". cshf.ca. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. 2005. Archived from the original on October 26, 2025. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  7. ^ "Renowned folk singer dies". York (Pennsylvania) Sunday News. Associated Press. April 2, 2000. Retrieved October 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b c d Downey, Donn (March 30, 2000). "Folk singer a fixture at Mariposa festival". The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Archived from the original on October 27, 2025. Retrieved October 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "Ed McCurdy; Composer, Folk Singer". Los Angeles Times. April 2, 2000. Archived from the original on October 28, 2025. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  10. ^ Billboard, April 15, 2000, v112 i16, p. 96
  11. ^ Kennedy Center: Josh White Jr. Archived November 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Kennedy-center.org; accessed October 27, 2025.
  12. ^ "List of Award Recipients". PeaceAbbey.org. Archived from the original on August 20, 2025. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Edward P. McCurdy". Public Opinion. Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. March 28, 2000. Retrieved October 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ed_McCurdy&oldid=1319900294"