About the artist
Ed McCurdy was an American folk singer and songwriter, active from the late 1940s through the folk revival era, known for a booming voice and a repertoire spanning traditional ballads, bawdy songs and topical material. He recorded prolifically for labels associated with the folk scene and became a familiar presence on radio and in coffeehouses during the 1950s and 60s.
He is best remembered as the writer of «Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream», a 1950 anti-war song imagining a dream of universal peace that was later covered by dozens of artists across folk, country and pop, becoming one of the enduring anthems of the peace movement. His interpretations of older ballads such as «Lamkins» also placed him among the important transmitters of traditional English-language folk material to mid-century American audiences.
Beyond songwriting, McCurdy worked as a radio and television host and voice actor, and his warm, storytelling delivery made him a bridge figure between the older ballad tradition and the singer-songwriter generation that followed.