Matt McGinn was born on 17th January 1928 and was one of nine [CENSORED]ren, having five sisters and three brothers. The McGinns lived in a two roomed house at Ross Street in Glasgow’s Gallowgate (within the Calton district). Matt McGinn died on the 6th of January 1977 at the age of forty nine from smoke inhalation caused by falling asleep with a lighted cigarette in his hand.
McGinn’s career in music started in earnest in the early sixties whilst the folk revival was in full bloom and Matt was clearly one of Glasgow’s leading lights, but whereas most folk music leaned towards the traditional style of song Matt was already carving his own niche as a prolific songwriter, singer, humorist and playright. McGinn was always more than just a Glasgow folk singer and was highly respected by such notables of the contemporary folk scene as Pete Seeger (his longtime friend) and Bob Dylan. McGinn compostions can also be found nestling quite comfortably within the pages of American Folk/Blues music books alongside Seeger,Dylan, Woody Guthrie and the like.
Matt McGinn’s body of recorded work covers ten albums along with several compilations, yet why is a man hailed as a genius by his one time banjo player Billy Connolly missed out on the recognition he so rightly deserves.
Since his death in 1977 no genuine attempts have been made to present the McGinn catalogue in any cohesive form and with the exception of the occasional album, virtually the entire McGinn catalogue has been left to gather dust for the better part of a quarter of a century!!!
The work required to re-invent McGinn and make his music accesable to a worldwide music audience is daunting. But then again listening to any one of those albums leaves you in no doubt that you are listening to something indeed touched by genius, with each of those many recordings still sounding as vibrant and fresh today as when first recorded all those decades ago.
This series of compact discs has been produced on a strictly limited format but does bring together for the very first time every track Matt McGinn recorded during his lifetime. All material has been digitally transferred from the original master tapes and will hopefully act as a catalyst towards getting this great mans music back where it rightly belongs.
01 MATT McGINN 1966
1: Red Yo-Yo 2: Willie MacNamara 3: Old Johnny Bull 4: Big Sammy 5: Footba’ Referee 6: Ban The Beatles 7: The Heelan Man 8: The First Man On The Moon 9: Manura Manar 10: Gallowgate Calypso 11: Lots Of Little Soldiers 12: Unner Alow The Ground
02 MATT McGINN AGAIN 1967
1: Rob Roy MacGregor 2: Mumbo 3: The Rollin Hills O’ The Border 4: Moaning 5: We’ll All Be Angels 6: On The Road To Aldomaster 7: I.O.U. 8: The Ballad of John McLean 9: Three Nights & A Sunday 10: The King And The Key 11: Rosy Anna 12: I’m Looking For A Job 13: Big Willies Blues
03 HONESTY IS OUT OF FASHION 1968
1: Honesty Is Out Of Fashion 2: The Pekinese Dog 3: The Sash/Kevin Barry 4: The Dundee Ghost 5: The Ballad Of The Q4 6: Biddie McGrath 7: The Leaving Of Liverpool 8: Ros In The Bow 9: Two Feet Tall 10: The Sequel To The Dundee Weaver 11: No, Nay, Never 12: The Big Orange Whale 13: The Pill 14: Coorie Doon
04 LITTLE TICKS OF TIME 1969
1: The Cleansing Man 2: The Witches Song 3: Polly Had A Poodle Little Ticks Of Time 4: Skinny Ma Linky Longlegs 6: The Man On The Moon 7: Bingo Bella 8: Jolly Red Nose 9: Morning Elanona 10:Tra La La Tweet 11: Oor Wee Wean 12: The Dundee Cat 13: Eternity Will Soon Be Over 14: Loch Lomond
05 SAMPLER (REVIVAL IN SCOTLAND VOL 1) 1969
1: O’Rourke 2: Under Alow The Ground 3: The Can O’ Tea 4: Mumbo 5: Rum’ll Hae To Do Today 6: Tam The Toff 7: I’ll Gie You Your Whiskey Back Again 8: The Haunted Single End 9: My Father Was Born A Hebrew 10: This Is Our Land 11: They’ll Neither Work Nor Want 12: My Uncle Dan
06 TAKE ME BACK TO THE JUNGLE 1971
1: Take Me Back To The Jungle 2: With Fire & With Sword 3: Tony Capaldi 4: Cead Mile Falite 5: The Little Carpenter 6: The Wurran & The Sparra 7: Hi Jack 8: Life Is A Fountain 9: Have A Banana 10: The Man They Could Not Hang 11: Tell Me What The Tea Leaves Tell Me 12: On The Beach At Portabello
07 THE TWO HEIDED MAN 1972
1: Introduction by David Scougall 2: Height Starvation Song 3: Poem The Two Heided Man (McGinn)/Poem Ra Dug Frae Ra Port Joke The Prime Minister/Poem Timbuktu 4: Song The Depth Of My Ego 5: Story The Silver Screw 6: Song St.Columba & The Masons 7: The Big Glasgow Polis 8: The Big Effen Bee 9: Song The Foreman O’ Rouke 10: Poem The Philosophy of Grun Poem Farrer & Murrer Poem The Black Velvet Hand 11: Song Snowball 12: Poem Ra Murrer of Five Poem My Farrer Poem The Tay Poem There Are Two Tema In Glasgow Joke The One Legged Man 13: Song The Dogs Party
08 TINNY CAN ON MY TAIL 1972
1: Tinny Can on my Tail 2: The Gay Liberation 3: I’ve Packed My Bags 4: Skull and Crossbones 5: Lady Chat 6: Wi Jimmy Reid & Airlie 7: Troubled waters 8: Yes,Yes U.C.S. 9: In A Neat Litte Town 10: Rich Man’s Paradise 11: Get Up, Get Out 12: The Ibrox Disaster
09 THE TWO HEIDED MAN STRIKES AGAIN 1974
1: Benny Lynch 2: Billy Davidson’s Twins 3: The Big Shike 4 : The Sugary Cake & Candyman 5: The Buckin’ Bronco 6: A Tribute To McGonnegal 7: The Bonnie Broon-Haired Lassie 8: The Royal Infirmary 9: Janetta 10: 5 Million Scotsmen Will Call 11: Woke Up With The Dawning 12: Frankie Vaughan 13: The Magic Shadow Show 14: Samson 15: The Teuchter 16: Wally Brodie 17: We Ain’t Gonna Dig No More 18: I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago
10 SCREWTOPS ARE FALLING ON MY HEAD 1975
1: Introduction by Matt McGinn Jr 2: Granada 3 The Cradle of Civilisation 4: My We Auntie Sarah 5: Crofter story 6: Suzie 7: Screwtops Incl. Leaving In A Police Van 8: Gaelic Joke 9: Heiderum Handerum 10: Maggie Might 11: Glaswegians Would 12: Two Wee Germs Story 13: Somebody’s Wean 14: The Schmitt Family Story 15: Nelly May
each are downloadable seperatly and are in numbered sequence.
