4/28/10 - Lonnie Donegan

Wow, 2 more days of my month of review. And more interesting - this is my 200th song of the day. It's been a fun journey of exploration so far so I'll keep it coming :)
"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor" was originally, "Does Your Spearmint Lose It's Flavor" when it was first written in 1924 but because of British copyright laws not allowing the mention of a copyrighted product in songs unless you were the copyright owner, Lonnie Donegan changed it to the generic, "Chewing Gum".
Lonnie Donegan has the honor to be known as the most successful British musician before the Beatles. He had 24 top 30 hits in the UK and the first Brit to have two top 10 hits in the U.S. He was known as a skiffle band, an older form of American Jazz that really had gone by the wayside by the 1950s in the US but was revived by Lonnie in the UK. Usually, Skiffle bands played assorted homemade instruments such as the kazoo, washboard, cigar box, musical saw, with a banjo and guitar thrown in for good measure. Seems to me like something you'd see in old Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Well, "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor" became Donegan's biggest hit and is still popular in Dementia circles, having been played numerous times on Dr. Demento's show as well as his CDs. So here is Lonnie Donegan with "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor". Enjoy:



The Lyrics change on every version I find.... funny :)