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Radio 4 has commissioned a brand new version of Dirty Old Town, the timeless classic that Ewan MacColl wrote about Salford. Mike Sweeney grew up on it’s streets, he's been singing the song his whole life, but when he brings Ewan’s widow, the folk legend Peggy Seeger back to the city to record a new version, he uncovers revelation after revelation. Peggy's new orchestral version with the Â鶹Éç Philharmonic recalls all the longing and loneliness, felt by a young Ewan MacColl as he roamed Salford as a young man.

Mike unlocks the secrets of the song, peeling back layers of history, meaning and emotion. He hears about the love and hate that Ewan had for Salford -and what Ewan thought of famous covers of Dirty Old Town by The Dubliners and The Pogues. He learns about the song's 'missing verse' , and hears Peggy perform it live and exclusively, in an emotional finale overlooking the docks that MacColl sang about.

Presenter Mike Sweeney
Producer: Catherine Murray
Exec Producer: Richard McIlroy
Studio Manager: Michael Smith
Prod Co-ord: Lydia Depledge-Miller, Mica Nepomuceno and Pete Liggins
Dirty Old Town: Arrangement by Kate St John
The Â鶹Éç Philharmonic was conducted by Mark Heron
Vocals: Peggy Seeger
Guitar: Neill MacColl
Orchestral Recording and Mix Engineer: John Cole
Guitar: Calum MacColl at WITW

Thanks to the Lomax Digital Archive for use of ‘When I was Single’ by the Manchester Ramblers; Pam Bishop of Charles Parker Archive for the clip of Ewan MacColl in the Critics Group, Mary Orr for use of clips from Parsley, Sage and Politics.
Thanks to Hamish and his mum for permission to use lyrics from Landscape with Chimneys.
Special thanks to Josie Cahill, Partnerships Manager at Â鶹Éç North and Kate Doyle, Director of We Invented the Weekend Festival.