Ewan MacColl
Song of a Road:
1999 - Topic TSCD802 CD
A radio-ballad about the building of the M1 motorway by Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger
Track List:
Introduction
We usually finish the shift in the pub
I think it's the soil
We are the consulting engineers
We were in a great rush when we did this
My name is
During that time, a survey has been made
It would take quite a lot of men to do the job of one of those machines
Come all you gallant drivers
I'm a roving rambler
Deep and straight and low
Sixty tons of steel
What made you come into this game?
Just a road
Oh well that's just the way it is
When the muck has all been shifted
Bring up your black squad
Been on the road so long
You can talk about your concrete
The motorway is on the final lap
We needed a way cut through the land
Credits
BBC Home Service, first broadcast November 5, 1959
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
Singers: Isla Cameron, John Clarence, Seamus Ennis, Louis Killen, A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Jimmy [sic] 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
Jimmie Macgregor: Guitar
Francis McPeake: Uileann Pipes
Bobby Mickleburgh: Trombone
Peggy Seeger: Autoharp, 5-string Banjo
Bruce Turner: Clarinet
Notes
Sources: Mainly Norfolk & Set Into Song …