Matt McGinn

Matthew McGinn (17 January 1928 – 5 January 1977) was a Scottish folk singer-songwriter, actor, author and poet. Born in Glasgow in 1928, McGinn was a prolific songwriter and is recognised as an influential figure in the British folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Biography

McGinn was born in Ross Street at the corner of the Gallowgate in Calton, in the East End of Glasgow on 17 January 1928. Born the eighth child of a family of nine, his formal education ended when he entered an approved school at the age of 12. Despite this, McGinn was, by his early 20s, recognised as a highly political charismatic debater of left-wing politics. On his release from approved school he worked in the Hillington factory of GKN, spending his spare time at evening classes and reading. He gained a Trade Union scholarship to study economics and political science at Ruskin College in Oxford when he was 31. After graduating, he trained to become a teacher at Huddersfield Teachers' Training College and went on to work as a teacher in Lanarkshire for three years before becoming the organiser of the Gorbals Adventure Playground.

McGinn joined the folk scene after winning a song contest with a song entitled "The Foreman O'Rourke". He met Pete Seeger in 1961 when Seeger was touring the British Isles. Seeger championed McGinn's music in the United States and arranged for him to be part of a concert performance at Carnegie Hall, where McGinn met a young Bob Dylan. His career in music began during the folk revival of the 1960s but, while others leaned towards what they perceived traditional music, McGinn carved his own niche as a humourist and playwright as well as a singer/songwriter. He was a prolific songwriter, drawing on his experiences of Glasgow life for much of his material. He was a communist, republican and trade unionist, and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. His performances in clubs and concert halls were hugely popular. McGinn's earliest recording was in 1962 when he was featured on the Folkways Records ''Revival in Britain, Vol. 1''a collection compiled by Ewan MacColl. He was also featured, alongside Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, on the ''Broadside Ballads Vol''. 1 released in 1963. McGinn was also included in the 2000 compilation ''The Best of Broadside 1962–1988'', which was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Historical Album category in 2001.

Matt McGinn embraced the "Folk Song Revival" of the 60s and brought to this his talent as a poet, his humour and his wealth of knowledge and experience of the ordinary folk of Glasgow and West of Scotland. It was never his ambition to be a singer/songwriter but considered tunes and melodies as a vehicle to express and propagate his beliefs and politics.

Perhaps a recent description of him as a people's historian is fitting. McGinn brought together his musical abilities, perception, humour, knowledge, politics and personal experience, to leave a history in words and music of the life and times of Scottish people, in particular Glasgow and the West.

McGinn also wrote songs for children, one of which, "Little Ticks of Time," was frequently used in the BBC
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