Having spoken to JD about this topic specifically, I will relate to you what he explained to me. This, like most of his songs, is not about a particular person, and especially not about anyone named "William Standeforth Donahue", as he's never known or observed anyone by that name. Part of the name, I think "William Standeforth...", was taken from a doctor's office he was at sometime during the writing of ALL HAIL. He just liked the name, and it fit the meter of the song well. And it is "William Standeforth Donahue" on the ALL HAIL recording, but has been sung differently at several live shows. He has acknowledged this, but I don't remember if he ever said it was intentionally changed or just sort of came out that way. Dunno. He was pretty open on the topic though, when asked.
Having spoken to JD about this topic specifically, I will relate to you what he explained to me. This, like most of his songs, is not about a particular person, and especially not about anyone named "William Standeforth Donahue", as he's never known or observed anyone by that name. Part of the name, I think "William Standeforth...", was taken from a doctor's office he was at sometime during the writing of ALL HAIL. He just liked the name, and it fit the meter of the song well. And it is "William Standeforth Donahue" on the ALL HAIL recording, but has been sung differently at several live shows. He has acknowledged this, but I don't remember if he ever said it was intentionally changed or just sort of came out that way. Dunno. He was pretty open on the topic though, when asked.