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)
Take This Hammer
Lonnie Donegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Take this hammer take it to the captain tell him I'm gone tell him I'm gone
If he asks you was I runnin' if he asks you was I runnin'
If he asks you was I runnin' tell him I's flyin' tell him I's flyin'
Tell the captain I was headed for the river tell the captain I was headed for the river
Tell the captain I was headed for the river tell him I swim tell him I swim
Take this hammer take it to the captain take this hammer take it to the captain
Take this hammer take it to the captain tell him I'm gone gone gone tell him I'm gone
When that steamboat comes down the river I'm a gonna swim when it comes by
Twenty-five miles in Mississippi twenty-five miles in Mississippi
Twenty-five miles in Mississippi tell him I'm gone gone gone tell him I'm gone
Take this hammer take it to the captain take this hammer take it to the captain
Take this hammer take it to the captain tell him I'm gone tell him I'm gone
In Lonnie Donegan's "Take This Hammer" song, the lyrics tell the story of a prisoner who plans to escape. The hammer is a symbol of hope, and the prisoner urges the person who receives it to take it to the captain and tell him he is gone. The captain represents the authority, and the act of taking the hammer to him is a sign of defiance and determination. The prisoner tells the person to tell the captain that he was not running but flying, emphasizing his determination to escape.
The prisoner then reveals his plan to head towards the river, where he will swim 25 miles down the river to escape. He tells the person to deliver the message to the captain that he is gone, gone, gone. The river symbolizes freedom, and the act of swimming signifies the prisoner's determination to reach it, no matter the distance.
The story depicted in this song is a common theme in African American folk songs, as it reflects on the struggles and the hopes of those who were enslaved. It is also a reflection of the human spirit that longs for freedom and a better life.
Line by Line Meaning
Take this hammer take it to the captain take this hammer take it to the captain
Pass this hammer to the captain, twice ask you to do this
Take this hammer take it to the captain tell him I'm gone tell him I'm gone
Give the hammer to the captain and tell him that I've left
If he asks you was I runnin' if he asks you was I runnin'
If he questions if I fled, repeat the statement
If he asks you was I runnin' tell him I's flyin' tell him I's flyin'
Instruct the captain that instead of running away, I was indeed flying
Tell the captain I was headed for the river tell the captain I was headed for the river
Convey to the captain that I was going towards the river
Tell the captain I was headed for the river tell him I swim tell him I swim
Let the captain know that I'm swimming in the river
Take this hammer take it to the captain take this hammer take it to the captain
Ask again to take this hammer to the captain, twice in succession
Take this hammer take it to the captain tell him I'm gone gone gone tell him I'm gone
Deliver the hammer to the captain and repeat that I'm already long gone
When that steamboat comes down the river when that steamboat comes down the river
At the time the steamboat approaches the river
When that steamboat comes down the river I'm a gonna swim when it comes by
I plan on swimming when the steamboat passes by
Twenty-five miles in Mississippi twenty-five miles in Mississippi
Referring to how far away Mississippi is from where they currently are
Twenty-five miles in Mississippi tell him I'm gone gone gone tell him I'm gone
Inform the captain that I've departed and won't be coming back from a considerable distance
Take this hammer take it to the captain take this hammer take it to the captain
Reiterate to give the hammer to the captain, twice consecutively
Take this hammer take it to the captain tell him I'm gone tell him I'm gone
Pass the hammer to the captain and make it clear once more that I'm no longer there
Contributed by Cooper A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mike Hannon
on Wabash Cannonball
If you want the donegan lyrics from the recording this link has provided instead of the johnny cash ones they are as fallows;
Wabash Cannonball
by Lonnie Donegan
She came down from Birmingham, one cold December day
As she rolled into the station, you could hear the people say
That train from Indiana, she's long and she's tall...
That’s a combination called the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar
As she comes down the mountains through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine, hear the lonesome hobos call
He’s racing through the jungle on the Wabash Cannon Ball
From the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore
From the green and flowing mountains to the old mill by the moor
She's long and handsome, and quite well known by all...
That’s a combination called the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar
As she comes down the mountains through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine, hear the lonesome hobos call
He’s racing through the jungle on the Wabash Cannon Ball
Well here's to that old engineer his name will ever stand
And always be remembered in the courts throughout the land
When his mighty race is over and the curtains 'round him fall...
It'll carry him back to dixie on the Wabash Cannon Ball
Listen to the jingle, the rumble and the roar
As she comes down the mountains through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine, hear the lonesome hobos call
Yeah he’s racing through the jungle on the Wabash Cannon Ball