duration: 74.10 ???
producer(s): Donovan (except Homesickness - Mickie Most and Donovan)
comment: Donovan's 9th studio album - not released in any other territory

Side 1

1. The Walrus and the Carpenter (8.34)
   [poem by Lewis Carroll/music by Donovan Leitch]

   Jabberwocky (2.38)

   [poem by Lewis Carroll/music by Donovan Leitch]

   The Seller of Stars (2.58)

   [poem by Thora Stowell/music by Donovan Leitch]

   Lost Time (2.30)

   [poem by Ffrida Wolfe/music by Donovan Leitch]

   The Little White Road (2.40)

   [poem by Thora Stowell/music by Donovan Leitch]

   The Star (1.38)

   [poem: anon./music by Donovan Leitch]

1. Coulter's Candy (1.41)
   [poem: anon./music by Donovan Leitch]

   The Road (1.00)

   [poem by Lucy Diamond/music by Donovan Leitch]

   Things to Wear (1.05)

   [poem by Agnes Grozier Herbertson/music by Donovan Leitch]

   The Owl and the Pussy-cat (2.21)

   [poem by Edward Lear/music by Donovan Leitch]

   Homesickness (2.28)

   Fishes in Love (1.00)

   Mr. Wind (2.39)

   Wynken Blynken and Nod (2.17)

   [poem by Eugene Field/music by Donovan Leitch]

1. Celia of the Seals (3.00)
2. The Pee Song (2.06)
3. The Voyage of the Moon (5.14)
4. The Unicorn (0.50)
5. Lord of the Dance (3.36)
   [words and music by Sydney Carter]

   Little Ben (1.39)

   Can Ye Dance (1.29)

1. In an Old Fashioned Picture Book (3.10)
2. The Song of Wandering Aengus (4.41)
   [poem by W.B. Yeats/music by Donovan Leitch]

   A Funny Man (1.40)

   [poem by Natalie Joan/music by Donovan Leitch]

   Lord of the Reedy River (1.33)

   Henry Martin (5.08)

   [adapted and arranged by Donovan Leitch]

   Queen Mab (2.15)

   [poem by Thomas Hood/music arranged by Donovan Leitch]

   La Moora (2.20)

Timings are from the inside record cover and record labels.

Commentary

The record cover and spine list the album as HMS DONOVAN but the record label and inside cover list it as H.M.S. DONOVAN. I have chosen the latter because HMS is an abbreviation and is correctly punctuated with full stops.

The artwork for this album is amazing, second place only to the artwork for A Gift from a Flower to a Garden. (Once again, the art direction is by Sid Maurer). The album credits Patrick with the paintings (his signature appears on the bottom right hand side of the front cover and on the book Don is reading). Patrick's painting wraps around onto the back cover and the entire picture would make an excellent poster.

The front cover has a picture of Donovan dressed in a traditional sailor's outfit with an open book (presumably the old fashioned picture book mentioned in the song) on his lap. He's sitting in a garden and around him are various characters from the songs on the album: the walrus and the carpenter, the unicorn, a jar of stars (The Seller of Stars), a fairy in the grass (Things to Wear), Mr. Wind, Wynken, Blynken and Nod, what I think is meant to be the Jabberwock, a girl hugging a swan (Lord of the Reedy River), a baby falling asleep (La Moora), a boy holding a watch (Lost Time), a single star in the sky (The Star), a mermaid holding a baby (Celia of the Seals?), the owl and the pussycat and the moon (The Voyage of the Moon).

The songs that I don't think are represented are The Little White Road, Coulter's Candy, The Road, Homesickness, Fishes in Love, The Pee Song, Lord of the Dance, Little Ben, Can Ye Dance, The Song of Wandering Aengus, A Funny Man, Henry Martin and Queen Mab but I may have missed some.

On the inside cover is a picture of eight children running with cats, dogs and rabbits, with streamers and a bird trailing behind them. This is reflected down the spine to form a mirror image. The left side has two short poems by Donovan, where did we lose the way to do nothing? and once upon a tiny time.

Homesickness sounds out of place - an electric rocker on an otherwise mainly acoustic album. Maybe it's an out-take from previous sessions. The fact that it was produced by Mickie Most and Donovan lends support to this theory.

Copies with the foldout poster and worth double the price without!

Errors

• on the record label:
  Fishes in Love is listed as FISHESEIN LOVE
  the poem Queen Mab is credited to Thomas Hoods

  on the record label, inside cover and in BMI's listing, The Owl and the Pussy-cat is listed The Owl and the Pussycat (see the song listing for Owl and the Pussy-cat, The)

  in the acknowledgements, Lord of the Dance is credited to Sidney Carter

  although the album credits state `All selections B.M.I. Donovan Music: Peer International', Lord of the Dance does not come within this publishing group - yes, I know, this is pretty picky!

Discrepancies

• in the acknowledgements, several `child poets' are listed incorrectly: Lewis Carrol
• the poem Lost Time is credited to Ffrida Wolfe, but in BMI's listing, her name is spelt Frida Wolfe
• the poem Things to Wear is credited to Agnes Grozier Herbertson on the record label, inside cover, and in BMI's listing but in the acknowledgements her name appears as Agnes Grazier Herbertson
• the poem A Funny Man is credited to Natalie Joan on the record label, inside cover and BMI's listing but in the acknowledgements her name appears as Natalie Wood
• In an Old Fashioned Picture Book is listed on the inside cover as In an Old-fashioned Picture Book
• The Song of Wandering Aengus is listed on the record label as The Song of the Wandering Aengus

Miscellaneous

• The Seller of Stars, Lost Time, The Little White Road, The Road, Things to Wear and A Funny Man are from Herbert Strang's book One Hundred Poems for Children, published in 1925 by Clarendon Press, Oxford
• Lord of the Dance is from Songs of Sydney Carter in the Present Tense Book 2, published by Galliard Limited, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
• The Song of Wandering Aengus is from The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats, by permission of M.B. Yeats

Details for Collectors

Gatefold sleeve with poster
The record labels are light purple with black text. On my copy, the fourth side is more of a light pink. Whether this is a result of a careless collector leaving that side face up in the sun, I do not know
Dawn Records logo

First record: DNLD.4001-1
Side 1: DNLD.4001-A
  runout groove on my copy: DNLD 4001A-1 *T   and   AF
Side 2: DNLD.4001-B
  runout groove on my copy: DNLD 4001B-1 *T   and   AI
Second record: DNLD.4001-2
Side 3: DNLD.4001-C
  runout groove on my copy: DNLD 4001C-1 *T   and   AF
Side 4: DNLD.4001-D
  runout groove on my copy: DNLD 4001D-1 *T   and   AA