Donegan was born as Anthony James Donegan in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of a professional violinist. His ethnic mix was Scottish/Irish. He moved with his mother to London at an early age, after his parents divorced. Inspired by blues music and New Orleans jazz bands he heard on the radio, he resolved to learn the guitar, and bought his first at the age of fourteen.
The first band he ever played in was the trad jazz band led by Chris Barber, who approached him on a train asking him if he wanted to audition for his group. Barber had heard that Donegan was a good banjo player; in fact, Donegan had never played the banjo at this point, but he bought one and managed to bluff his way through the audition. His stint in this group was interrupted, however, when he was called up for National Service in 1949. He also played in Ken Colyer's group
In 1952, he formed his first own group, the Tony Donegan Jazzband, which found some work around London. On one occasion they opened for the blues musician Lonnie Johnson at the Royal Festival Hall. Donegan was a big fan of Johnson, and took his first name as a tribute to him. The story goes that the host at the concert got the musicians' names confused, calling them "Tony Johnson" and "Lonnie Donegan", and Donegan was happy to keep the name.
With a washboard, a tea-chest bass and a cheap Spanish guitar, Donegan entertained audiences with folk and blues songs by artists such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. This proved so popular that in July 1954 he recorded a fast-tempoed version of Leadbelly's "Rock Island Line", featuring a washboard but not a tea-chest bass, with "John Henry" on the B-side. It was an enormous hit in 1956 (which also later inspired the creation of a full album, An Englishman Sings American Folk Songs, released in America on the Mercury label in the early 1960s) but ironically, because it was a band recording, Donegan made no money from this recording beyond his original session fee. (Nevertheless, Donegan received considerable music publishing royalties from "Rock Island" simply by claiming the British copyright on an unregistered song which was considered to be in the Public Domain. This led to the peculiar situation that any "cover" version of "Rock Island Line" which was released on record in Britain from 1956 showed the song composition credited to Lonnie Donegan.) It was the first debut record to go gold in the UK, and reached the Top Ten in the United States. His next single for Decca, "Diggin' My Potatoes", was recorded at a concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 30 October 1954.[4] Decca dropped Donegan thereafter, but within a month he was at the Abbey Road Studios in London recording for EMI's Columbia label. He had left the Barber band by then, and by the spring of 1955, Donegan signed a recording contract with Pye. His next single "Lost John" reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart.
His success at the time saw Donegan sent to the United States, where he appeared on television on both Perry Como Show and Paul Winchell Show. Returning to the UK, Donegan recorded his debut album, Lonnie Donegan Showcase, in the summer of 1956, which featured songs by Lead Belly and Leroy Carr, plus "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and "Wabash Cannonball". The LP was a hit, securing sales in the hundreds of thousands.[4] The popular skiffle style encouraged amateurs to get started, and one of the many skiffle groups that followed was The Quarrymen formed in March 1957 by John Lennon. Donegan's "Gamblin' Man" / "Puttin' On the Style" single was number one on the UK chart in July 1957, when Lennon first met Paul McCartney.
Donegan went on to make a series of popular records with successes including "Cumberland Gap" and, particularly "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour (On The Bedpost Over Night)", his only hit song in the U.S., released on Dot. He turned to a music hall style with "My Old Man's a Dustman" which was not well received by skiffle fans, or in an attempted but ultimately unsuccessful American release by Atlantic in 1960, but it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. Donegan's group had a flexible line-up, but was generally formed by Denny Wright or Les Bennetts (of Les Hobeaux and Chas McDevitt's skiffle groups) playing lead guitar and singing harmony vocals, Micky Ashman or Pete Huggett - later Steve Jones - on upright bass, Nick Nichols - later Pete Appleby and Mark Goodwin - on drums or percussion and Donegan playing acoustic guitar or banjo and singing the lead.
He continued to appear regularly in the UK charts until 1962, before succumbing to the arrival of The Beatles and beat music.
Add 1: In the early fifties after Donegan was demobbed from National Service he joined Chris Barber and Ken Colyer and others called Ken Colyer's Jazzmen which consisted of Ken Colyer (trumpet), Chris Barber (trombone), Monty Sunshine (clarinet), Lonnie Donegan (banjo), Jim Bray (bass) Dickie Bishop (Guitar) and Ron Bowden (drums). This group recorded two excellent blues numbers with Lonnie Donegan as vocal called "In the evening when de sun go down" and "The Midnight Special" After a year, Ken colyer stormed out of the group and Chris Barber took over.
http://www.p.griggsy.btinternet.co.uk/Untitled/Lonnie.html (Memories of Lonnie Donegan by Paul Griggs)
I Wanna Go Home
Lonnie Donegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
("Here's a very good old good one, see if you remember this one, see if we do!)
("This is gonna be nice, this is gonna be very nice")
Sailed on the Sloop John be
My granddaddy and me
'Round Nassau town we did roam
We'd been drinkin' all night
Yeah and I feel so broke up
I want to go home
Hoist up the John be sail's
See how the mainsail sets
Send for the Captain ashore
And let me go home
I want to go home, I want to go home, yeah
'Cause I feel so broke up, I want to go home
Yes I do
(He's so broke up, Lord, I want to go home)
Well Captain's a wicked man
He gets drunk any time he can
And he don't give a damn for grandpappy
No, nor me
He kicks us around
And he knocks us about
Well I feel so broke up, I
I want to go home
Well pull up the John be 's sails
See how the mainsail sets
Send for the Captain ashore
And let me go home
I want to go home
Well, I want to go home
'Cause I feel so broke up (he's so broke up)
I want to go home
(Yes I do)
I feel so broke up
(He so broke up)
Lord, that I want to go home
Home
The lyrics of Lonnie Donegan's "I Wanna Go Home" are about a sailor who sailed on the Sloop John be with his granddaddy, who roamed around Nassau town drinking all night. The sailor got into a fight, and now he feels so broken up that he wants to go home. The chorus repeats his desire to go home because of how broken he feels. However, the captain is a wicked man who gets drunk all the time and doesn't care for the grandpappy nor the sailor. He kicks them around and knocks them about, adding to the sailor's desire to go home.
The song reflects the homesickness that seafarers often experienced during long voyages away from their families. It is a desire to be in a comfortable and familiar environment after being constantly on the move. The constant repetition of the lyrics "I want to go home" conveys a sense of urgency and desperation that resonates with many listeners, highlighting the universal feeling of homesickness.
Overall, the song's message is universal - the desire to be at home, the place where we feel comfortable and safe, and the importance of family and a stable environment. The song captures the human experience of missing loved ones and the powerful emotion of longing to return to them.
Line by Line Meaning
Sailed on the Sloop John be
I went on a boat trip with my granddad
My granddaddy and me
I went with my granddad on this trip
'Round Nassau town we did roam
We wandered around Nassau town while we were there
We'd been drinkin' all night
We had been drinking alcohol throughout the night
Well I got into a fight
I got into a physical altercation with someone
Yeah and I feel so broke up
I feel upset and miserable about what happened
I want to go home
I want to leave and return home
Hoist up the John be' sail's
Raise the sails of the ship
See how the mainsail sets
Observe how the largest sail is positioned
Send for the Captain ashore
Ask the captain to come to shore
And let me go home
Allow me to leave and go home
I want to go home, I want to go home, yeah
I really want to go home
'Cause I feel so broke up, I want to go home
I feel devastated and want to leave
Yes I do
I truly want to go home
Well Captain's a wicked man
The captain is evil
He gets drunk any time he can
He drinks alcohol frequently
And he don't give a damn for grandpappy
The captain doesn't care about my granddad
No, nor me
Or me for that matter
He kicks us around
The captain physically abuses us
And he knocks us about
The captain physically abuses us
Well I feel so broke up, I
I feel upset and devastated about this treatment
I want to go home
I want to leave this terrible situation
Well pull up the John be's sails
Raise the sails of the ship
See how the mainsail sets
Observe how the largest sail is positioned
Send for the Captain ashore
Ask the captain to come to shore
And let me go home
Allow me to leave and go home
I want to go home
I really want to go home
Well, I want to go home
I really want to leave this terrible situation
'Cause I feel so broke up (he's so broke up)
I feel devastated
I want to go home
I want to leave and go home
(Yes I do)
I truly want to go home
I feel so broke up
I feel really upset and devastated
(He so broke up)
I am really upset
Lord, that I want to go home
I want to go home so badly
Home
I want to return to my own house
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: LONNIE DONEGAN, VAN MORRISON, TRAD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@doxholiday1372
It's about a 17th century Welshman's boat in what soon came to be known as the Pirate's Republic of Nassau.
A 1647 colony in the Bahamas included a Welshman named John Bethel. The folk ballad of his crew is believed to have descended through the centuries into the folk song "(Wreck of the) Sloop John B."
In 1926 the original wreck of this ship was discovered in Nassau, a Bahama island near Florida. (Sloops were precarious 16-foot vessels, sailing hundreds of miles without a chart with a 5-person crew.) Poet Carl Sandburg adapted the folk lyrics into a poem, which thirty years later was recorded by The Kingston Trio.
Apparently there's also a forgotten third verse
The stewardess she got stewed,
Ran 'round the poop deck nude
Constable had to come and take her away.
Sheriff Johnstone please let me alone
I feel so breakup, I want to go home.
@johnnywiseman9625
My favourite version
@nicosteyn2068
Great old song!!!
@sunryse111
One of my early favourites, Nico!
@1emmajones
I will always love this man for giving me my old man’s a dustman. I wore that single out.❤❤❤❤❤❤
@sunryse111
Me too, Emma. We're obviously a similar age!
@1emmajones
@@sunryse111 I say I say I say, how do you make a fruit cordial?
@sunryse111
@@1emmajones I dunno, Emma. How do you make a fruit cordial?
@johncowan2223
That's a 'reverse photo' of Lonnie. He was RIGHT-HANDED!
@leonsumambot1961
Thi is my favorite song
@leonsumambot1961
I would like to know about the lyric of this song