Ed McCurdy

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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.<ref name=NYTobit>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Weissman>Template:Cite book</ref> Born in the United States, McCurdy became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1986.<ref name=Hoover-King>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Music career

McCurdy first found success in 1937 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as a gospel singer on WKY radio.<ref name=Yeager>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} As relayed by Canadian music journalist and radio DJ Mike Regenstreif.</ref> 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.<ref name=Cain>Template:Cite book</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/>

While still living in Canada, McCurdy traveled to club and coffeehouse gigs in New York City, where the 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>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1954, McCurdy moved his family to Greenwich Village.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref name=Downey>Template:Cite news</ref> The labels under which he recorded include Riverside, 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>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=Hoover-King/><ref name=Weissman/>

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.<ref name=NYTobit/>

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} 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, The Kingston Trio, Simon & Garfunkel, and Canadian folk group The Travellers.<ref name=CSHF>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Other covers have been performed by rock star Bruce Springsteen, country singer Garth Brooks, jazz musician Charles Lloyd, and pianist and showman Liberace.<ref name=Weissman/><ref name=CSHF/>

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.<ref>Billboard, April 15, 2000, v112 i16, p. 96</ref><ref>Kennedy Center: Josh White Jr. Template:Webarchive, 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2005, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.<ref name=CSHF/>

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.<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/>

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/>

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>Template:Cite news</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/>

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/>

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

  • 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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