Eric Boswell, physics lecturer and writer of Little Donkey

Published on Tuesday 8 December 2009 20:52

Born: 18 July, 1921, in Sunderland. Died: 29 November, 2009, in Hexham, Northumberland, aged 88.

A PHYSICS lecturer by career and a prolific part-time songwriter, Eric Boswell had only one big hit, written 50 years ago. But you'll be hearing Little Donkey many times, sung or played by countless artists, over the next couple of weeks and probably every Yuletide for the rest of your days. With its slow, clip-clop rhythm, it has become as much part of Christmas as any of the more classic hymns or carols. In fact, when people first heard it on radio and TV in the late 1950s, most assumed it was a traditional, rather than a newly-penned song.

Little donkey, little donkey on the dusty road

Got to keep on plodding onwards with your precious load …

And then, of course, the chorus:

Ring out those bells tonight

Bethlehem, Bethlehem …

The song, which Boswell wrote on his piano in Sunderland in a couple of days in 1959, was first recorded by Gracie Fields and the Beverley Sisters in two 1959 versions, the former reaching No 20 in the charts, the latter No 17. But it was a version the following year, by Danish duo Nina and Frederick, that made it almost to the top, beaten into third spot only by Elvis's It's Now Or Never and Cliff and the Shadows' I Love You. Since then, it has been recorded by countless singers, orchestras and church or school choirs.

Boswell, whose real surname was Simpson and who lived his latter years in Humshaugh, close to the Scottish Border, was a lecturer in physics, an amateur classical pianist and writing songs for fun when he heard Harry Belafonte's Mary's Boy Child, which topped the UK charts in 1957. Deciding to have a go at his own Christmas song, he thought of the Nativity and the donkey said to have carried Mary to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus. "No-one's done a donkey song," he thought, according to his eldest son, Ian, who, as a young boy, watched him compose it. "He also wanted it to be simple, something children could sing," Ian said. When Boswell gave a reel-to-reel tape recording of the song to the big Chappell music publishing company, they felt Little Donkey could be a perfect Christmas song for Gracie Fields, the girl from Rochdale who had reached stardom before and during the Second World War.

Although Fields had an extensive vocal range, Chappell asked Boswell to modify the song, keeping it within one octave to emphasise its simple message. In addition, he had written it in waltz time but was told, "Donkeys don't waltz, Eric", so changed it into its current form to give it that clip-clop feeling. The song appears on a recently-released, digitally-remastered album by Dame Vera Lynn – Vera Lynn at Christmas – originally released in 1976. It is also a popular mobile phone ringtone at this time of year.

With a contract from Chappell, Boswell moved to London and wrote songs for artists including the crooner Matt Monro. But he was homesick for the north-east, moved back north, eventually to Humshaugh near Hexham, and continued to write, mostly humorous songs about the north-east and often in Geordie dialect. He wanted to reflect the humour of that part of the country, he said. "I believe if we can leave behind a legacy of laughter, then that's as near as we're likely to get to immortality."

Some of his later songs are as far removed from Christmas carols as you could imagine. They include: There's More to Life than Women and Beer, I've Got A Little Whippet (That Never Won A Race), Father's On The Beer Again, Hielan' Chorus and Tyneside's Where I Come From.

Eric William Simpson was born in Sunderland on 18 July, 1921. After attending West Park School, he gained a degree in electrical engineering from Sunderland Technical College (now Sunderland University). At the start of the Second World War, he moved south to work for the Marconi electronics company. Parts of the wreckage of Luftwaffe planes shot down over England were sent to Marconi and Boswell's job was dismantle the plane's radar systems to determine whether the Nazis had made any technological advances. At nights and weekends, he attended Birkbeck College in London's Fetter Lane, part of the University of London, and the only central London college not to relocate out of the capital during the Blitz.

Boswell died only ten days before the release of a new album of his songs, sung by husband-and-wife opera singers Graeme Danby, from County Durham, and mezzo-soprano Valerie Reid, from Pitlessie, Fife. Its producers and Boswell's family were anxious to point out that the album, There's More to Life: Graeme Danby and Valerie Reid sing Eric Boswell, was anything but an attempt to cash in on the songwriter's death. The couple had worked on the album for three years, with Boswell present at all the sessions, and he had been greatly looking forward to its release.

Using digital technology, the album includes a new duet version of Little Donkey, featuring Danby and the late Gracie Fields, Danby's voice superimposed over her 1959 version.

Eric Boswell died in Hexham General Hospital after suffering from bronchial pneumonia and increasing dementia.

His first and second wives predeceased him and he is survived by his sons Ian, David and Tony and grandsons Mark, Christopher and Michael.