International SkiffleTribute
It was in early November, 2002, when I heard about Lonnie's death and I phoned up his wife Sharon on Tuesday 5th November to give her my condolence. Just a few days later, 13th November, the friends of Dutch Mosam Skiffle Train suggested to me their tribute to Lonnie should be 'Song For Lonnie' or 'Waltz For Lonnie', with lyrics written by their banjo player Peter Houben, using a melody written by myself. I agreed and so they performed it in public in a concert in Beckum, Germany, on the 22nd November. They recorded it on the 5th December, and I passed on a copy to Sharon.
At the same time, Bastian Korn, a young, highly gifted pop songwriter, piano player, singer and twin brother of great drummer Benny Korn, and myself, developed the idea of producing some recordings at the BMB studio, Essen, Germany, as our tribute to him. The recordings began between February and April, 2003. First of all, The Twins recorded 'I Wanna Go Home' in a medium tempo, which was something different to what you may know as Lonnie's version from his act or his recordings of 1960, but his old mate Dickie Bishop told us that they used to play it a lot like this in the mid-fifties. Although 'I Wanna Go Home' became a great recording, Bastian decided later not to use it in the Donegan context, "because what we did sounds too much like the Beach Boys." The next number we recorded was a terrific version of 'I've Got Rocks In My Bed', with the Twins and musical support of the reeds and brass players of Dutch Dixieland Crackerjacks and my Lutzemann's Jatzkapelle. And the third number was our version of 'Waltz For Lonnie', featuring the violin of Birbel Ehlert, the electric guitar of Guido 'Rory' Braun, and the mandolin of Michael Minholz.
First special guest was our friend Dickie Bishop, who visited us on Easter weekend in April. We recorded numbers like 'New York Town', a Woody Guthrie classic
which was a regular in Lonnie's mid-fifties repertory; 'Can't You Line 'em', a worksong from the Ledbelly songbook, and 'Sally, Don't You Grieve', another Woody Guthrie song Lonnie recorded in 1958.
Paul Leegan, the leader and front-singer of his own Lonnie Donegan Tribute Band since 1997, was second guest and visited us in August, 2003, a week with extremely hot temperatures. We recorded 'Putting On The Style', 'Rock Island Line', and 'Battle Of New Orleans', all similarly arranged as in Lonnie's act, and Paul jammed with us through a Rock'n' Roll version of 'Frankie & Johnny'. Paul's young guitar player, Warren James, was with us, too, and I encouraged him to record his own song for Lonnie called 'Express Line 56'. Paul joined my New Orleans Jazz Band one night at a Cologne jazz spot to jam with us ('Down By The Riverside', 'I Shall Not Be Moved', and Over In The Glorylond) and I saw his great charisma and ability on stage to 'win'the audience. Three days later we visited some other friends of mine in a small town called Frondenberg (near Dortmund) and jammed some numbers with them, like 'South', 'I've Got Rocks In My Bed', 'Over In The Gloryland', and a few others.
In August, 2003, I asked Tony Donegan, Lonnie's eldest son, if he would like to join the project. After some telephone chats and sending some of our CDs such as'Dickie Bishop Meets Lutz Eikelmann: No Other Baby, 'The Twins: Mind The Gap, 'C.G. and Friends' (featuring the Twins and myself), 'Lutz Eikelmann: Schwarze Augen' and 'Sonny Morris and Friends in Germany with Lutz Eikelmann, Tony sent me a text message: "Your band is first class." Two weeks later he decided to visit us in the last week of October. He arrived on the 26 October, together with his young guitar player, Dean Smith.
We worked well, and we were musically successful together and recorded a great version of 'Rock Island Line' - is there anybody else who wants to record it? - 'Lost John', Lonnie's second big hit in 1956, and 'Dead Or Alive', from the Woody Guthrie Songbook, recorded by Lonnie in the late 50s.
My sousaphone was in the back of my car because I had to play a Dixieland gig during that week Tony was here in Germany. He saw the instrument and said, "Play it for me!" So I picked it up and played the melody of When I'm 64. The Twins and Dean suggested immediately to record a complete Beatles-played-by-sousaphone-album (what an idea!) but then Bastian took his ukulele-banjo, and together we played 'Sally Don't You Grieve'. Tony insisted: "I want to record with that! I agreed, and so we recorded 'Railroad Bill' the next day. Although it was in the key of A, an unusual key for brass instruments, that was no problem for me, because I can think and play in every key. After a week of concentrated work but much fun, too, we had a little party in Mulheim, Ruhr on Saturday, I November. The next morning, the Twins and I brought Tony and Dean to Dusseldorf airport, and a few days later I received a text message from Dean: "Last week was the greatest time in my life." Well, I have nothing more to say now.
All special guests of these first recording sessions, Dickie Bishop, Paul Leegan, Warren James, Tony Donegan and Dean Smith, will play again with us at our Skiffle concerts in the Rhein-Ruhr-area in December, 2004.
Visit Lonnie's official site where you can find all information about Sharon Donegan's promotion of the musical show, "The Story Of Lonnie D", featuring Peter Donegan, Tony Donegan and Lonnie's original band. This show will be on the road in October and November 2004.
Lutz Eikelmann - 6/8/04
