(* and His Group )
Chart entered : 16 August 1962
Chart peak : 11
Another passing the torch moment here. With great poignancy this last hit of Lonnie's lingered just long enough to share the chart for a couple of weeks with his most famous legatees. There's definitely an air of "Job Done" in Lonnie's exiting at this point, the more so when you examine his chart record and see that there was no obvious decline leading up to it. ( In actual fact Lonnie had had a couple of recent flops including "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" which later became a big hit for Tom Jones ).
"Pick A Bale Of Cotton" was another of Lonnie's beloved American folk songs , originally popularised by Leadbelly. It represented something of a backward step for Lonnie , perhaps an attempt to placate those dismayed by the comedy songs like "My Old Man's A Dustman"
and ballads like his previous hit "The Party's Over ". It's a return to skiffle although the complex vocal arrangement ( incorporating a contribution from veteran music hall comedian Max Miller ) and discreet electric guitar acknowledge that music has moved on since "Rock Island Line". Lonnie's vim hasn't diminished which makes it an effective but repetitive and rather empty listening experience.
His next single in December 1962 was a live recorded comedy duet with Miller " The Market Song" which packs in plenty of corny gags as Lonnie and Max trade lines as a couple of Del-boys over a functional skiffle rhythm. "Losing By A Hair" from March 1963 sees Lonnie picking up on the beat group sound with some neat harmonica touches on a philanderer's mea culpa but it's marred by Lonnie's OTT vocal gymnastics in the latter half which suggest he was trying to outdo his compatriot Karl Denver. In May he released a slow , sparse version of Ervin Drake's "A Very Good Year" which suggests he'd been listening to Joe Meek with its ghostly choir and echoing organ chords. Lonnie next switched to folk-pop with a cover of Peter , Paul and Mary's US debut hit "Lemon Tree" recorded in Blackpool with an uncredited female vocalist. "500 Miles Away From Home" sounds like The Searchers. Lonnie's ability to quickly replicate whatever sound was in the charts is impressive but the public weren't biting.
In 1964 he went to Nashville to record with Elvis's sidemen Charlie McCoy, Floyd Cramer and The Jordanaires but his next single in June was the unfunny, sexist "Beans In My Ears" which is just a waste of vinyl. In September he released the first fruits of the Nashville sessions with "Fisherman's Luck" which is an acceptable slice of country pop without being a particularly strong song.
"Get Out Of My Life" from March 1965 marries a Gene Pitney-ish vocal to a lounge pop arrangement from Tony Hatch who also plays the cocktail piano. Then it was back to the Nashville sessions for "Louisiana Man" with Floyd Cramer's odd piano notes the only noteworthy element on a routine country song.
By this time I think Lonnie had worked out that the biggest handicap to sales of his singles was the name on the label and his releases become sporadic. He worked as a producer Pye notably with the young Justin Hayward which probably extended his own recording career with them. At the end of the year he got the nod for the first of England's World Cup songs "World Cup Willie". Though still fondly recalled ( there might be a non-music related reason ) by those around at the time it couldn't get Lonnie back in the charts. Whether it was the incongruity of the ragtime arrangement or the awkward fact that Lonnie was a Jock I couldn't say.
Neither do I know what possessed him to go into battle with The Beach Boys in April 1966 by re-releasing his folky arrangement of "I Wanna Go Home" but history records who won that contest. "Auntie Maggie's Remedy" from November that year is another tiresome novelty song somewhere between George Formby and The Wurzels though I do quite like Joe Brown's frantic banjo break. It proved to be his last release on Pye.
Eighteen months elapsed before Lonnie's next single "Toys" came out on Columbia , his only single for them. Opinion amongst his fans seems quite divided but I like it; it's lush string-driven late sixties pop with a ringing guitar arpeggio and a Bobby Goldsboro- like poignant vocal from Lonnie about childhood pleasures. After the first chorus another guy comes in harmonising over the top of Lonnie's vocal and that's probably what divides the fans.
In 1969 he fetched up at Decca releasing "My Lovely Juanita" which confusingly has the same tune as "Toys". Two years later it was RCA's turn to try and revive him with "Don't Blame The Child". Pye started releasing the odd single from the vaults from 1971 onwards.
By this time Lonnie was working mainly on the cabaret circuit in America . In 1975 he returned for a reunion concert with Chris Barber which was cut short by a bomb scare. The following year he suffered a heart attack and underwent quadruple bypass surgery. That September Decca gave him the opportunity to release his final new single and the world was graced with the single entendre smut of "I've Lost My Little Willie" which makes My Ding-A-Ling seem subtle.
Perhaps mercifully Lonnie stuck to re-recording his hits including an EP with rockabilly revivalists The Shakin Pyramids in 1981. Inevitably his stock began to rise again. Starry fans like Rory Gallagher, Ringo and Brian May came in to re-record his hits on an LP called Putting On The Style. He started touring again and starred in his first musical Mr Cinders in 1984.
In 1992 another heart attack meant further bypass surgery but he recovered enough to continue touring including a 40th anniversary concert with Barber in 1994, and a well-received concert with Barber and Van Morrison in Belfast in 1998 . In 2000 he appeared at Glastonbury and received an MBE. In 2001 he appeared at the Cropredy Convention. In 2002 he was still touring and planned to appear at a memorial concert for George Harrison but in November he suffered a final heart attack near Peterborough and passed away aged 71. His two sons have since formed bands of their own.
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