Edward Potts McCurdy (January 11, 1919 – March 23, 2000) was an American folk

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

. His most well-known song was the anti-war " Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", written in 1950.

Career

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 Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. 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 Jack E. Leonard (born Leonard Lebitsky; April 24, 1910 – May 10, 1973) was an Americans, American comedian and actor who made frequent appearances on television variety show, variety and game shows. Biography Leonard was born Leonard Leb ...

, before moving in 1948, with his Canadian dancer wife and family, to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

where he hosted his own radio show for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. With the success of this show, the CBC transferred him to the flagship national station in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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 Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

, Josh White,

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

, and Oscar Brand. He developed a love for folk music and released his first folk album in 1949. After achieving success with his folk show at New York's

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jaz ...

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''. He recorded many albums in the 1950s and 1960s for

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

and

Tradition Records Tradition Records was an American record label from 1955 to 1966 that specialized in folk music. The label was founded and financed by Guggenheim heiress Diane Hamilton (the pseudonym of Diane Guggenheim) in 1956. Its president and director was ...

, performed several times at the

Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...

, and was a well-known folk music artist throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, developing friendships with the younger folk set of

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and s ...

Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (November 9, 1935October 2, 2020), nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. Known for his fiercely competi ...

, Erik Darling,

Ramblin' Jack Elliott Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer, songwriter and story teller. Life and career Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adno ...

, and Josh White Jr. 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 The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

in 1960, the Chad Mitchell Trio in 1962,

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

in 1964,

Cornelis Vreeswijk Cornelis Vreeswijk (8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a Dutch singer-songwriter and poet who lived and worked primarily in Sweden. Born to Dutch parents in IJmuiden, Netherlands, he emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age ...

in 1964 (in Swedish), Hannes Wader in 1979 (in German),

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

in 2003,

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in 2005, Serena Ryder in 2006, and Charles Lloyd in 2016). The melody is included in Francesco de Gregori's "Via della poverta". In November 1989, as

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...

stood on top of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, 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. His collection of risqué

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

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. 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. 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 The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

and VISTA, respectively. In the mid 1980s, he and his wife Beryl moved to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, where he enjoyed a second career as a character actor on

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

television. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award September 26, 1992 for "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream".The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List

Discography

*1949: ''Sings Canadian Folksongs'' (Manhattan) *1955: ''Sings Folk Songs of The Canadian Maritimes'' (Whitehall Records) *1955: ''Badmen, Heroes, and Pirate Songs'' (

) *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'' (

, 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)

References

External links

Lyrics for "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"Discography on FolkwaysEd McCurdy / Ed's Place
- Canadian Communication Foundation

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCurdy, Ed 1919 births 2000 deaths American folk singers American male singer-songwriters Fast Folk artists Elektra Records artists Tradition Records artists Transatlantic Records artists 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American male singers

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links