Bonneville calls himself a North American. Born in Canada, he moved to the Boston area in his early teens where he started playing guitar and harmonica. His career have seen him playing music throughout the world. Being a dual citizen allows him the freedom to live between Montreal, Canada and Austin, Texas.
Bonneville is a distinctive artist, a man who cooks up a deep groove, blending a unique percussive electric guitar style, a weathered voice, and soulful rack harmonica into image provoking songs that can be believed. His thumb pulses and thumps, his index finger hooks and brushes out a melody, and his hand slaps the guitar for a snare-like effect. He sometimes uses a slide, always plays through a Fender tube amp, and brings his foot down on an amplified piece of plywood on the floor for added percussion. It is a powerful and visceral sound with a lot of forward momentum.
"When I first heard good blues and country music I was very young, but I felt a deep stirring excitement within, which told me right then what to do with my life," says Bonneville, remembering his introduction to roots music in the Boston area during the early to mid 1960s. Over the next decade, Bonneville honed his sound up in the Northeast, Colorado and Alaska, and then moved around between Seattle, New Orleans, and Paris, France in the 1980s. He recorded his first album, On The Main, in 1993, and now has five albums out; his sixth is on the way.
In the streets and clubs of New Orleans during the eighties, is where Bonneville soaked up the prevalent back-side of the beat attitude that ran through a lot of the music being played down there. "There were so many great drummers to learn groove and time from, great piano and guitar players to be influenced by, and man, the singers and horn players just made your heart go wild with excitement! This was the place that influenced me the most," he says. "It was infectious. I learned that solid, but laid back rhythm is like a tightrope on which the notes and words can do their dance."
Bonneville won a prestigious Juno Award, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy, in 1999, for his third album, Gust of Wind. His next release, Rough Luck, and his fifth album, Roll It Down, were also nominated for the coveted award. His sixth album was released in the spring 2007.
Says Bonneville: "I'm deeply in love with playing live music. It's the time and place where I really live, where I feel the most alive. When a show is over, I can’t wait to get down the road to the next one, always looking to get back onto another stage and seek out another groove.
He received the 2009 Folk Alliance International Song of the Year for I Am the Big Easy, featuring post-Katrina New Orleans.
Darlin'
Ray Bonneville Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Darlin' put your suitcase down
I didn't mean what I said
I was out of my head
Darlin' put your suitcase down
Send the taxi driver away
Say it was a mistake
Down that road
Send the taxi driver away
If you leave me hear alone
Blues are going to kill me slow
The lights will go dark in my soul and my heart
My blood will cease to flow
I've gone and made you blue
I know it's nothing new
I'm folding inside not knowing why
I've gone and made you blue
I know I should have known
Seen this comin' on
But I was blind
And out of my mind
I'm scared to lose you now
Darlin' put your suitcase down
Darlin' put your suitcase down
I been a fool, but I'm asking you
Darlin' put your suitcase down
I been a fool, but I'm asking you
Darlin' put your suitcase down
Put it down
Put it down
The lyrics of Ray Bonneville's song "Darlin' " convey a message of regret and desperation as the singer tries to prevent his lover from leaving him. The song begins with the repeated plea for his lover to put down her suitcase, the symbol of her departure. He explains that he didn't mean what he said, that he was out of his head, and he urges her to stop the taxi driver from taking her away. The singer understands the gravity of his situation and knows that if she leaves, loneliness and depression will consume him, and he will be slowly killed by the blues. He describes the darkness that will envelope his soul and heart, and that the lights will go out in his life.
Bonneville expresses his remorse for making his lover blue, implying that he has done this before. He is scared of losing her now that he realizes the depth of his feelings for her. The last verse reveals his internal struggle, as he regrets not seeing that this was coming and admitting to being blind and out of his mind. The song ends with the plea repeated, once again asking her to put the suitcase down.
Line by Line Meaning
Darlin' put your suitcase down
Please stay with me, unpack your suitcase and stay
I didn't mean what I said
I said things in the heat of the moment that I didn't mean
I was out of my head
I wasn't thinking clearly or rationally
Send the taxi driver away
Cancel the taxi and don't leave me
Say it was a mistake
Pretend like it never happened, and it was a mistake
Please don't go
I'm begging you not to leave
Down that road
Don't go down the road of leaving me
If you leave me hear alone
If you leave me, I'll be alone and heartbroken
Blues are going to kill me slow
I'll be depressed and miserable if you go
The lights will go dark in my soul and my heart
I'll feel empty and sad without you, like there's no light left in my soul or heart
My blood will cease to flow
I'll feel like I'm dead inside without you
I've gone and made you blue
I know I've hurt you and made you sad
I know it's nothing new
I've made mistakes before, and I'm sorry
I'm folding inside not knowing why
I'm feeling overwhelmed with guilt and sadness
I know I should have known
I realize now that I should have seen this coming
Seen this comin' on
I should have seen the signs that I was hurting you
But I was blind
I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing to you
And out of my mind
I wasn't thinking clearly or rationally
I'm scared to lose you now
I'm afraid that if you leave, I'll lose you forever
Put it down
Please put your suitcase down and stay with me
Writer(s): Oscar Van Blandamer
Contributed by Adrian I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@brianf9615
Wow that sounds great!! Nice work buddy!
@1022rebelreddog
I have a collings 290 and it is a keeper!!
@scottiver
Wow! That was really good! Loved it! The tone of the guitar too was marvelous!
@byebyebeano8616
Sublime! Thanx a lot for this.
@JamieJobb
"I know I shoulda known."
Nobody writes lines like Ray ...
@paulwellington2333
great song
@tweedguitar9103
Very Nice. Could you please tell me the make and model of the foot beat devices ? Or, are they home made ? Very nice mix. thank you
@Hannahcode1
WOW!