The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #136017   Message #3104731
Posted By: GUEST,Rcihie
28-Feb-11 - 11:45 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Early Blues Songs
Subject: RE: Origins: Early Blues Songs
Here's a quote from online- notice the English Music Hall was singing songs about your "doney" or "donah" back in the 1800s:

GUS ELEN sang songs in the character of a cockney coster. Elen was a genuine cockney and his songs were truer to life than the more sentimental numbers of his closest rival, Albert Chevalier. As pictures of Elen show, his characters appeared bad tempered and pugnacious. Born in Pimlico in 1862, Elen had worked as a barman, a draper's assistant and had packed eggs for the Co-op before becoming a singer. At first he busked in the street and at small music halls. His first big success was in 1891 with a song called 'Never introduce your Donah to a pal' ('donah' meaning girlfriend).