Lovin' Johnny
trad
I learned this from an album by Nova Scotian singer Bonnie Dobson. Many years ago, when Dougie MacLean did a concert for the Melbourne Folk Club, he sang it as Lovin’ Hannah.
I rode to town last Sunday,
My true love passed me by,
I knew his love was changing
By the roving of his eye.
By the roving of his eye.
By the roving of his eye.
I knew his love was changing
By the roving of his eye.
O, Johnny, loving Johnny,
Come and give to me your hand.
I vowed if I'd ever marry
That you would be the man.
That you would be the man.
That you would be the man.
I vowed if I'd ever marry
That you would be the man.
So I'll go down by the river
When everyone's asleep.
I'll dream of loving my Johnny
And then begin to weep.
And then begin to weep.
And then begin to weep.
I'll dream of loving my Johnny
And then begin to weep.
Ringwood HS Choir
This was a seminal song for me. I learned a simple guitar running change between the chords using a simple finger-picking style which I had taught myself. I constructed a harmony for it which I used to sing with my mother.
This photo was taken in 1966. I was on my way to my first formal, a dance at Swinburne Tech, where my boyfriend was a student. The skirt was made from the same pattern I used for the choir.
When I was in form 6, I joined the school choir. The choir leader was Mrs Mentz, the geography teacher. I don’t think she was actually much of a singer, but she was nice enough. However, she wanted to put on a musical rather than do choir songs. The musical she chose was The Pyjama Game.
We were mostly girls, and most of us weren’t keen on doing a musical. We just wanted to sing. One girl in particular – Pam Adamson – was training as a singer.
I fielded the idea with the other girls of starting our own choir in the fashion of a folk group. I figured I could manage enough guitar to get by. The headmaster, Mr Hodge, was not in favour, but one of the other teachers went in to bat for us, and we got permission to use a classroom at lunchtimes for rehearsals.
We included Lovin’ Johnny, with its harmony, to which Pam Adamson added a descant. Together, we constructed several other quite simple but very satisfying harmonies.
Although we started out as an unofficial choir, we ended being invited to perform at the Christmas concert – Ringwood High School at Ringwood Lake in 1968. We even had a uniform of white blouses and long black skirts (mine was red) all of which I made myself, with some help from the other girls.
