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)
My Old Man
Lonnie Donegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To tell it is a must
About an unsung hero
That moves away your dust
Some people make a fortune
Others earn a mint
My old man don't earn much
In fact he's flippin' skint
Oh, my old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wears cor blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat
He looks a proper narner
In his great big hobnail boots
He's got such a job to pull 'em up
That he calls them daisy roots
Some folk give tips at Christmas
And some of them forget
So when he picks their bins up
He spills some on the steps
Now one old man got nasty
And to the council wrote
Next time my old man went 'round there
He punched him up the throat
Oh, my old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wears cor blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat
I say, I say Les' (yeah?)
I 'er, I found a police dog in my dust bin
(How do you know he's a police dog?)
He had a policeman with him
Though my old man's a dustman
He's got an 'eart of gold
He got married recently
Though he's eighty-six years old
We said "'ere, 'ang on dad
you're getting past your prime"
He said "well when you get to my age"
"It helps to pass the time" (oi!)
My old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wears cor blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat
I say, I say, I say (huh?)
My dustbin's full of lillies
(Well, throw them away then!)
I can't, Lilly's wearing them
Now, one day while in a hurry
He missed a lady's bin
He hadn't gone but a few yards
When she chased after him
"What game do you think you're playing"
She cried right from the heart
"You missed me, am I too late?"
"No, jump up on the cart!"
My old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wears cor blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat, I say I say, I say (not you again!)
My dustbin's absolutely full with toadstools
How do you know it's full?
'Cause there's not mushroom inside!
He found a tiger's head one day
Nailed to a piece of wood
The tiger looked quite miserable
But I suppose he should
Just them from out the window
A voice began to wail
He said "oi, where's me tiger's head?"
"Four foot from 'is tail!"
Oh, my old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman's hat
He wear cor blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat
Next time you see a dustman
Looking all pale and sad
Don't kick him in the dustbin
It might be my ole dad!
"My Old Man's a Dustman" by Lonnie Donegan is a humorous song that tells the story of a dustman, the unsung hero who collects waste from people's homes, and the challenges he faces on the job. The song emphasizes the working-class life of the singer and describes the way he dresses, including his dustman's hat, cor blimey trousers, and hobnail boots. The central theme of the song is the singer's pride in his father, who may not earn much, but works hard to provide for his family.
The song also highlights the life of a dustman, a tough profession where workers must cope with improper waste disposal from individuals, making the collection process chaotic. Donegan mentions that while people give tips at Christmas, some forget, and even assault dustmen who fail to collect their trash. Despite the challenging nature of the job, the singer's father is shown to have a kind heart and cheerful attitude towards life, as demonstrated by his recent wedding at the age of eighty-six.
In conclusion, "My Old Man's a Dustman" is a fun, light-hearted song that celebrates the hard-working nature of unsung heroes who help keep our communities clean. It highlights the importance of respect and appreciation for people who perform essential and often overlooked duties.
Line by Line Meaning
Now here's a little story
This is a story that I need to tell
To tell it is a must
It's important that people know this story
About an unsung hero
This is the story of someone who doesn't get enough credit
That moves away your dust
He's a garbage collector who takes waste off of your hands
Some people make a fortune
Some people are rich
Others earn a mint
Others make a lot of money
My old man don't earn much
My dad doesn't make a lot of money
In fact he's flippin' skint
Actually, he's very poor
Oh, my old man's a dustman
My dad is a garbage collector
He wears a dustman's hat
He has to wear a hat as part of his job
He wears cor blimey trousers
He has a specific type of pants for his job
And he lives in a council flat
He lives in a government housing unit
He looks a proper narner
He looks like a stereotypical garbage collector
In his great big hobnail boots
He has to wear big boots for work
He's got such a job to pull 'em up
Pulling his boots on is difficult for him
That he calls them daisy roots
He has a nickname for his boots
Some folk give tips at Christmas
Some people give him money as a Christmas gift
And some of them forget
But not everyone remembers to tip him
So when he picks their bins up
When he does his job
He spills some on the steps
He accidentally spills some garbage on the ground
Now one old man got nasty
One man got angry
And to the council wrote
So he reported my dad to his employer
Next time my old man went 'round there
The next time my dad was at his house for work
He punched him up the throat
The man attacked my dad
Though my old man's a dustman
Even though my dad is a garbage collector
He's got an 'eart of gold
He's a kind-hearted person
He got married recently
He recently got married
Though he's eighty-six years old
Even though he's very old
We said "'ere, 'ang on dad
We said, hold on there, dad
you're getting past your prime"
You're getting too old
He said "well when you get to my age"
My dad responded by saying that
"It helps to pass the time" (oi!)
It helps to keep busy and distract from the feeling of being old
I say, I say Les' (yeah?)
The artist is addressing someone named Les
I 'er, I found a police dog in my dust bin
The artist found a dog trained to help police officers in the garbage
(How do you know he's a police dog?)
Someone asked how you could tell that the dog was a police dog
He had a policeman with him
The dog was working with a police officer
Now, one day while in a hurry
One day when my dad was rushing
He missed a lady's bin
He forgot to empty a particular trash can
He hadn't gone but a few yards
He had not gone very far away yet
When she chased after him
The lady ran after him
"What game do you think you're playing"
She accused him of playing a trick
She cried right from the heart
She was really upset about it
"You missed me, am I too late?"
She asked if it was too late to empty her bin
"No, jump up on the cart!"
He responded by telling her to jump onto the garbage truck
I say, I say, I say (huh?)
The artist is trying to get someone's attention
My dustbin's full of lillies
His garbage can is full of flowers
(Well, throw them away then!)
Someone suggested he should throw them away
I can't, Lilly's wearing them
He can't, because Lilly (a person) is wearing the flowers
He found a tiger's head one day
One day, my dad found a tiger head
Nailed to a piece of wood
It was attached to a wooden board
The tiger looked quite miserable
The tiger head looked really sad
But I suppose he should
But that's how he should look since he's dead
Just them from out the window
Suddenly, someone yelled from outside the window
A voice began to wail
Someone started crying or howling
He said "oi, where's me tiger's head?"
They were looking for the tiger head my dad found
"Four foot from 'is tail!"
He replied by saying it was located four feet away from where the end of the tiger's body lies
Next time you see a dustman
If you see a garbage collector in the future
Looking all pale and sad
And they look sad or tired
Don't kick him in the dustbin
Don't be mean to him
It might be my ole dad!
It could be my dad
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: BEVERLEY THORN, LONNIE DONEGAN, PETER BUCHANAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@revelationakagoldeneagle8045
Brilliant ✌️😎🌹
I recently saw his son, Peter Donegan, on a video singing with Sir Tom Jones...
They sang one of Lonnie's songs that he'd written for Tom...
(It looks like) "I'll Never Fall Love Again"
It was touching to hear and see them singing together... ✌️ 😎 🌹
Lonnie was just brilliant and an amazing artist...
@UnruleLeeGaming
My grandad died yesterday, 6th January 2024, aged 84. He introduced me this song when I was 14. I'm 28 and listening to this bring back so many memories. Love you grandad ❤️
@lindasaggers
THESE DAYS WERE THE DAYS..WHEN IT WAS THE BEST..OF MUSIC...BRING BACK..PLEASE..❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@adamrice617
My Dad was in a skiffle band, and loved this song. It’s still superb and makes me smile when I hear it! ❤️
@deep_in_guitar
My Grandfather used to sing this song. He had died on 14th June 2014, and it's 14th June 2021 today. Missing my grandfather a lot! He was a Engineer , and was working for the British Railways!
@zabadazidit
Brit Rail is the best! We in the USA are envious!
@sanoslo
Late to reply, but my grandfather used to sing this song too. He also worked on the railway and passed a few years ago. So thankful for this song and the memories it gave me!
@natashajudithfribergdrummo111
Mine too 🙈
@rocketsmoke6518
God bless him.
@mikehunt7932
God bless my grandmother and I would listen to this while she was alive😪
@lawrencelewis2592
I used to work in a Citroen garage on Old Kent Road when I came to London from Canada every summer. I got a free place to stay and pub money. My boss John, one day told me to bring the rubbish down for the dustman who had just arrived. So I did and ended up singing this song with him. A happy day!