Ed McCurdy: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|American singer-songwriter}}
{{short description|American singer-songwriter}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox musical artist
{{Infobox musical artist
| name               = Ed McCurdy
| background        = solo_singer <!-- person -->
| image               =  
| honorific_prefix  =
| image_upright       =  
| name             = Ed McCurdy
| image_size         =  
| honorific_suffix  =
| landscape           = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| image             =  
| alt                 =  
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| caption             =  
| image_size       =  
| background          = solo_singer
| landscape         = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| birth_name         = Edward Potts McCurdy
| alt               =  
| alias               =  
| caption           =
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1919|01|11}}  
| native_name      =  
| birth_place         = [[Willow Hill, Pennsylvania|Willow Hill]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States
| native_name_lang  =  
| origin             =  
| birth_name       = Edward Potts McCurdy
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2000|03|23|1919|01|11}}
| alias             =  
| death_place         = [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], Canada
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1919|01|11}}
| genre               = [[Folk music|Folk]]
| birth_place       = [[Willow Hill, Pennsylvania]], US
| occupation         = Singer, songwriter
| origin           =  
| instrument         =  
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2000|03|23|1919|01|11}}
| years_active        = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) -->
| death_place       = [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], Canada
| label              =  
| death_cause      = <!-- should be included only when the cause of death has significance for the subject's notability-->
| associated_acts    = [[Sally Rand]], [[Jack E. Leonard]], [[Pete Seeger]]
| <!-- citizenship      = Canada -->
| website             = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} -->
| genre             = [[Folk music|Folk]]
| occupation       = Singer, songwriter, character actor
| instrument       = Guitar
| works            =  
| years_active     = 1938–1994
| label            =
| publishers       =
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| past_member_of    =
| spouse            = <!-- Use article title or common name -->
| partner          = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) -->
| awards            =  
| website           = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} or {{Official URL}} -->
| module            =
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}}


'''Edward Potts McCurdy''' (January 11, 1919 &ndash; March 23, 2000) was an American [[folk music|folk]] [[singing|singer]] and [[songwriter]]. His most well-known song was the anti-war "[[Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream]]", written in 1950.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/strangest-dream.shtml|title=The Lyrics Connection|website=Arlo.net|date=29 January 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403082253/http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/strangest-dream.shtml|archivedate=3 April 2010}}</ref>
'''Ed McCurdy''' (born '''Edward Potts McCurdy'''; January 11, 1919 &ndash; March 23, 2000) was an American and Canadian singer of both  [[Contemporary folk music|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.<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news |last=Strauss |first=Neil |date=April 1, 2000 |title=Ed McCurdy, 81, Folk Music Figure of the 50's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/01/arts/ed-mccurdy-81-folk-music-figure-of-the-50-s.html |url-access=subscription |work=The New York Times |location= |publisher= |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225054522/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/01/arts/ed-mccurdy-81-folk-music-figure-of-the-50-s.html |archive-date=February 25, 2025 |access-date=October 24, 2025}}</ref><ref name=Weissman>{{cite book |last=Weissman |first=Dick |year=2019 |title=A New History of American and Canadian Folk Music |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_New_History_of_American_and_Canadian_F/cMyrDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Ed+McCurdy%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA93&printsec=frontcover |location= |publisher=Bloomsbury |page=93-94 |isbn=9781501344176 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251026234612/https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_New_History_of_American_and_Canadian_F/cMyrDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Ed+McCurdy%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA93&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=October 26, 2025 |access-date=October 26, 2025}}</ref> Born in the United States, McCurdy became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1986.<ref name=Hoover-King>{{cite web |last1=Hoover |first1=Lynne |last2=King |first2=Betty Nygaard |date=December 11, 2013 |orig-date=June 20, 2007 |title=McCurdy, Ed |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ed-mccurdy-emc |website= |location= |publisher=Historica Canada |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127111352/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ed-mccurdy-emc |archive-date=November 27, 2024 |access-date=August 19, 2025}}</ref>
 
==Music career==
McCurdy first found success in 1937 in [[Oklahoma City]], Oklahoma, as a [[gospel singer]] on [[WKY]] radio.<ref name=Yeager>{{cite web |last=Yeager |first=Doug |author-link=Doug Yeager |date=March 24, 2000 |title=Obit: Ed McCurdy has passed away (1919-2000) |url=https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19622 |website=mudcat.org |location= |publisher=Mudcat Café Music Foundation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122043721/https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19622 |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |access-date=October 26, 2025}} As relayed by Canadian music journalist and radio DJ Mike Regenstreif.</ref> The following year he became one of the station's [[Radio personality|disc jockeys]]. Restless, the [[baritone]] next traveled between [[Nightclub|clubs]] and radio programs [[Cover version|covering]] tunes from [[The Great American Songbook]].<ref name=Cain>{{cite book |last=Cain |first=Michael Scott |title=Folk Music and the New Left in the Sixties |publisher=McFarland |date=May 28, 2019 |pages=172-173 |isbn=978-1-4766-3595-8 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Folk_Music_and_the_New_Left_in_the_Sixti/eQiaDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%2522Folk+Music+and+the+New+Left+in+the+Sixties%2522+Ed+McCurdy&pg=PA172&printsec=frontcover |access-date=October 28, 2025}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=Yeager/><ref name=Cain/>
 
In 1945, McCurdy moved to [[Vancouver]], Canada, where he hosted his own show for [[CBC Radio]].<ref name=Hoover-King/> "Ed McCurdy Sings" (1947-1948) was the first of the broadcaster's English language programs dedicated to the folk genre.<ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=Weissman/> 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.<ref name=Cain/> From then until 1954 McCurdy starred in two other CBC Radio shows—one in [[Toronto]] and another in Vancouver.<ref name=Hoover-King/>


==Career==
While still living in Canada, McCurdy traveled to club and [[Coffeehouse#United_States|coffeehouse]] gigs in New York City, where the [[American folk music revival|folk music revival]] was booming.<ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=CSHF/> He headlined several shows at the [[Village Vanguard]] in 1950.<ref name=APobit>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=April 2, 2000 |title=Renowned folk singer dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/york-sunday-news-ed-mccurdy-obituary/183952527/ |newspaper=York (Pennsylvania) Sunday News |agency=Associated Press |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=October 24, 2025}}</ref> In 1954, McCurdy moved his family to [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name=NYTobit/><ref name=Downey>{{cite news |last=Downey |first=Donn |date=March 30, 2000 |title=Folk singer a fixture at Mariposa festival |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-ed-mccurdy-obituary/183625764/ |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |via=Newspapers.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251027230009/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-ed-mccurdy-obituary/183625764/ |archive-date=October 27, 2025 |access-date=October 24, 2025}}</ref> The labels under which he recorded include [[Riverside Records|Riverside]], [[Tradition Records|Tradition]], and [[Elektra Records]].<ref name=Yeager/><ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=NYTobit/> He played the [[Newport Folk Festival]] in 1959, 1960, and 1963.<ref name=LATobit>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=April 2, 2000 |title=Ed McCurdy; Composer, Folk Singer |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-02-me-15269-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251028230337/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-02-me-15269-story.html |archive-date=October 28, 2025 |access-date=October 28, 2025}}</ref> He performed at the [[Mariposa Folk Festival]] in 1962 and, after moving to [[Nova Scotia]] in 1982, he played Mariposa, [[Home County Folk Festival|Home County]] and [[Winnipeg Folk Festival|Winnipeg Folk Festivals]] until 1994.<ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=Weissman/>
{{more citations needed|section|date=May 2017}}
Born to a farming family in [[Willow Hill, Pennsylvania]], McCurdy left home at 18 to pursue a singing career. He first found success in 1938 as a singer and disc jockey at a gospel radio station in [[Oklahoma]]. By the early 1940s, McCurdy had become a popular singer of romantic songs in nightclubs across North America, until vaudeville dancer [[Sally Rand]] caught his act, hired him to join her show, put him in a tuxedo, and had him sing his romantic songs to her on stage while pushing her on her swing.


He stayed in vaudeville for several years as a singer and straight man to comedian (Fat) [[Jack E. Leonard]], before moving in 1948, with his Canadian dancer wife and family, to [[Vancouver]] where he hosted his own radio show for [[CBC Radio]]. With the success of this show, the CBC transferred him to the flagship national station in [[Toronto]] where he starred in a morning children's show and an adult evening show. During his Canadian radio period, he developed friendships with the guests on his show, such as [[Pete Seeger]], [[Lena Horne]], [[Josh White]], [[Oscar Peterson]], and [[Oscar Brand]]. He developed a love for folk music and released his first folk album in 1949.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
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 [[1960s#Social_and_political_movements|of the era]].<ref name=NYTobit/>


After achieving success with his folk show at New York's [[Village Vanguard]] in 1950, McCurdy and his family moved to New York City, from where he went on to become one of the world's best-known folk singers. He also became the "L&M Cigarette Man" on television, was an emcee for the ''[[George Gobel]] Show'' (national TV), and by 1956, was star of the children's TV show ''Freddie The Fireman''.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
===Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream===
{{main|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.<ref name=Weissman/> Early covers were by American folk artists  Pete Seeger, [[The Weavers]], [[Chad Mitchell Trio|Chad Mitchell]], [[The Kingston Trio]], [[Simon & Garfunkel]], and Canadian folk group [[The Travellers (Canadian band)|The Travellers]].<ref name=CSHF>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |year=2005 |title=Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream |url=https://www.cshf.ca/song/last-night-i-had-the-strangest-dream/ |website=cshf.ca |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |publisher=Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251026203515/https://www.cshf.ca/song/last-night-i-had-the-strangest-dream/ |archive-date=October 26, 2025 |access-date=October 26, 2025}}</ref> Other covers have been performed by rock star [[Bruce Springsteen]], country singer [[Garth Brooks]], jazz musician [[Charles Lloyd (jazz musician)|Charles Lloyd]], and pianist and showman [[Liberace]].<ref name=Weissman/><ref name=CSHF/>


He recorded many albums in the 1950s and 1960s for [[Elektra Records]] and [[Tradition Records]], performed several times at the [[Newport Folk Festival]], and was a well-known folk music artist throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, developing friendships with the younger folk set of [[Odetta]], [[Bob Gibson (musician)|Bob Gibson]], [[Erik Darling]], [[Ramblin' Jack Elliott]], and [[Josh White Jr.]]{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
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 [[AmeriCorps VISTA|VISTA]], respectively.<ref>''Billboard'', April 15, 2000, v112 i16, p. 96</ref><ref>[http://www.kennedy-center.org/artist/B11329 Kennedy Center: Josh White Jr.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118071256/http://www.kennedy-center.org/artist/B11329 |date=November 18, 2015}}, Kennedy-center.org; accessed October 27, 2025.</ref> In 1989, during the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], NBC-TV recorded children singing the song while the wall came down.<ref name=CSHF/> In 1992, the song earned McCurdy The Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience award.<ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=PeaceAbbey>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |year= |title=List of Award Recipients |url=https://www.peaceabbey.org/list-of-award-recipients/ |website=PeaceAbbey.org |location= |publisher= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250820211018/https://www.peaceabbey.org/list-of-award-recipients/ |archive-date=August 20, 2025 |access-date=October 26, 2025}}</ref>


His widely covered anti-war song, "[[Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream]]", has been recorded in seventy-six languages (including covers by [[The Weavers]] in 1960, the [[Chad Mitchell Trio]] in 1962, [[Simon & Garfunkel]] in 1964, [[Cornelis Vreeswijk]] in 1964 (in Swedish), [[Hannes Wader]] in 1979 (in German), [[Johnny Cash]] in 2003, [[Garth Brooks]] in 2005, [[Serena Ryder]] in 2006, and [[Charles Lloyd (jazz musician)|Charles Lloyd]] in 2016). The melody is included in [[Francesco de Gregori]]'s "Via della poverta".{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
In 2005, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.<ref name=CSHF/>


In November 1989, as [[Tom Brokaw]] stood on top of the [[Berlin Wall]], he directed his NBC-TV cameras towards the school children on the [[East German]] side of the Berlin Wall, to show the children singing "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" en masse as the wall was being dismantled.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://exclaim.ca/motionreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=62&csid2=774&fid1=3179|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713190214/http://exclaim.ca/motionreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=62&csid2=774&fid1=3179|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 13, 2012|title=Good Bye, Lenin! - Directed by Wolfgang Becker • DVD Reviews |website=Exclaim.ca|accessdate=January 18, 2020}}</ref>
==TV work==
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 Television|CBC TV]] production of [[Mavor Moore]]'s ''The Hero of Mariposa'', he sang the part Mal Tompkins.<ref name=Hoover-King/> In the US he emceed the ''[[George Gobel]] Show'' and starred in the New York children's TV show ''Freddie The Fireman''.<ref name=Yeager/>


His collection of risqué [[Elizabethan]] folk songs in a three-part series of albums titled ''When Dalliance was in Flower (and Maidens Lost Their Heads)'', became a favorite record series on college campuses.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=Ed McCurdy, 81, Folk Music Figure of the 50s |author=Neil Strauss |date=April 1, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/01/arts/ed-mccurdy-81-folk-music-figure-of-the-50-s.html |newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref> The actor [[Alan Arkin]] played with him on these recordings. His single "Miracle of the Wheat" released on Kapp Records in 1956 became a Christmas Tradition on Cincinnati Radio, played annually on WKRC-AM by broadcaster Stan Matlock.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
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.<ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=LATobit/>


By the late 1960s, McCurdy was forced to retire with health problems. In 1980, two of his compositions, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" and "King's Highway", as recorded by his old friend [[Josh White Jr.]], became the official theme songs for the [[Peace Corps]] and [[AmeriCorps VISTA|VISTA]], respectively.<ref>''Billboard'', April 15, 2000, v112 i16, p. 96</ref><ref>[http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=WHITEJOSHJ Kennedy Center: Millennium Stage Artist Details for Josh White Jr.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125062201/http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=WHITEJOSHJ |date=2005-11-25 }}, Kennedy-center.org; accessed May 27, 2017.</ref>
==Personal life==
Born January 11, 1919, to a farming family in [[Willow Hill, Pennsylvania]], Edward Potts McCurdy was the youngest of 12 children.<ref name=POobit>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=March 28, 2000 |title=Edward P. McCurdy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/public-opinion-obituary-for-ed-mccurdy/183627153/ |newspaper=Public Opinion |location=Chambersburg, Pennsylvania |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=October 24, 2025}}</ref><ref name=Downey/> He left home at 18 to pursue a singing career.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref name=Weissman/> He met his future wife, dancer Beryl English, in 1942 in Vancouver, Canada; they married in 1946.<ref name=Downey/>


In the mid 1980s, he and his wife Beryl moved to [[Nova Scotia]], where he enjoyed a second career as a character actor on [[Television in Canada|Canadian]] television.
By the late 1960s, McCurdy's health was in decline and he spent the better part of the 1970s bedridden.<ref name=Yeager/> In 1986, four years after moving from New York to Nova Scotia, he became a naturalized Canadian citizen.<ref name=Hoover-King/>
<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoover |first1=Lynne |last2=King |first2=Betty Nygaard |title=Ed McCurdy |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ed-mccurdy-emc |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=18 September 2021}}</ref>


He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award September 26, 1992 for "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream".<ref>[http://www.peaceabbey.org/awards/cocrecipientlist.html The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214172308/http://www.peaceabbey.org/awards/cocrecipientlist.html |date=February 14, 2009 }}</ref>
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.<ref name=Downey/><ref name=POobit/>


==Discography==
==Discography==
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*1955: ''Sin Songs Pro & Con'' (Elektra EKL 124)
*1955: ''Sin Songs Pro & Con'' (Elektra EKL 124)
*1955: ''The Ballad Record'' ([[Riverside Records]])
*1955: ''The Ballad Record'' ([[Riverside Records]])
*1956: ''The Miracle of the Wheat (single - Kapp Records)
*1956: ''The Miracle of the Wheat'' (single – Kapp Records)
*1956: ''Blood Booze 'n Bones'' (Elektra)
*1956: ''Blood Booze 'n Bones'' (Elektra)
*1956: ''Bar Room Ballads'' (Riverside)
*1956: ''Bar Room Ballads'' (Riverside)
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*1968: ''Songs of the West'' (Tradition/Everest TR 2061)'
*1968: ''Songs of the West'' (Tradition/Everest TR 2061)'
*1976: ''"Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream"'' (Bear Family Records) Germany
*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]])
*1977: ''On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand: Sacred Songs of America'' with Dana McCurdy (Folkways Records)
*1980: ''Songs and Stories'' ([[Folkways Records]])
*1980: ''Songs and Stories'' (Folkways Records)
*1996: ''Cowboy Songs'' (Tradition Records)
*1996: ''Cowboy Songs'' (Tradition Records)
*1996: ''Naughty & Bawdy Songs of Olde England'' ([[Warner Bros. Records]])
*1996: ''Naughty & Bawdy Songs of Olde England'' ([[Warner Bros. Records]])
Line 85: Line 104:
*''American Folk Songs'' (Spoken Arts)
*''American Folk Songs'' (Spoken Arts)
*''A Child's Introduction to 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)
*''Sings Folksongs Of The Sea'' (Tiara Spotlight Series – TST 537)
*2019: ''Cowboy & Western Songs'' (BACM)
*2019: ''Cowboy & Western Songs'' (BACM)


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy]]
* ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'' - popular and sometimes bawdy tales from 14th century England
* [[Ramblin' Jack Elliott]] - collaborated with McCurdy at Elektra Records
* ''[[Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy]]'' - a collection of songs published between 1698 and 1720


==References==
==References==
Line 96: Line 117:
==External links==
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150509071613/http://www.peteseeger.net/lastnightstrangestdream.htm Lyrics for "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150509071613/http://www.peteseeger.net/lastnightstrangestdream.htm Lyrics for "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"]
*[http://www.folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx?sPhrase=Ed%20McCurdy&sType='phrase'/ Discography on Folkways]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[https://broadcasting-history.ca/ed-mccurdy-eds-place/ Ed McCurdy / Ed's Place] – Canadian Communication Foundation
*[http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/programming/television/ed-mccurdy-eds-place Ed McCurdy / Ed's Place] - Canadian Communication Foundation
* {{Discogs artist|Ed McCurdy}} - can be searched by format, label, and year
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070216052438/http://www.followthemusic.com/disco.html Elektra Records discography]
* {{Discogs artist|Ed McCurdy}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American folk singers]]
[[Category:American folk singers]]
[[Category:American male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Canadian people of American descent]]
[[Category:Fast Folk artists]]
[[Category:Fast Folk artists]]
[[Category:Elektra Records artists]]
[[Category:Elektra Records artists]]
[[Category:Tradition Records artists]]
[[Category:Tradition Records artists]]
[[Category:Transatlantic Records artists]]
[[Category:Transatlantic Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]

Latest revision as of 16:10, 1 November 2025

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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

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

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". 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

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

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

  • 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

References

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  4. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". As relayed by Canadian music journalist and radio DJ Mike Regenstreif.
  5. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Billboard, April 15, 2000, v112 i16, p. 96
  11. ↑ Kennedy Center: Josh White Jr. Template:Webarchive, Kennedy-center.org; accessed October 27, 2025.
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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