The period between 1966 and 1969 was to produce Donovan's most original and enduring body of work. For early sessions he was sometimes assisted by John Cameron, whose tasteful arrangements avoided the excesses of many contemporary musical directors. Further input came from top sessionmen like Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, as well as seasoned jazz and folk players like flautist Harold McNair and bassist Danny Thompson. Drawing inspiration from jazz, blues and the traditional music of the British Isles - and generally featuring the guitar-dominated sound typical of the era - Donovan created music that put him at the forefront of the rock scene for a heady couple of years.
"Sunshine Superman" was one of the earliest, and finest, examples of psychedelic pop, and there were plenty of songs of equal worth on the U.S. album of the same title. His next U.S. album, "Mellow Yellow", saw Donovan incorporating vaudeville and more overt jazz elements, as well as simplifying his lyrical approach and reaffirming his enthusiasm for all things pastoral. But because of the delay in the release of the "Sunshine Superman" single in the U.K., these two albums were condensed into one set for the home market, and several U.S. singles went unreleased here. This enabled Donovan's next album, "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden", to be released virtually simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. This lavish boxed double album marked a further simplification in Donovan's approach and it epitomised that brief period of love, peace and naivety often referred to as 'flower power'. Donovan had flung himself into the spirit of the times with such enthusiasm that he was disadvantaged when the competition moved towards a more progressive style of rock at odds with the singles chart.
Adopting a heavier approach, the "Hurdy Man" single found Donovan harking back temporarily to the psych sound of the "Sunshine Superman" album. Subsequent singles like "Atlantis" and "Barabajagal" placed him in the rock mainstream, rather than at its cutting edge.
Donovan and Most parted company in 1969, and though the singer was able to sustain his albums success into the early Seventies, the hit singles had dried up. A reunion with Most on "Cosmic Wheels" gave Donovan his last commerical success on an international scale, after which there was a period of retirement in the late Seventies/early Eighties, and more recent product has been sporadic - and not always issued in the U.K.
Meanwhile, Donovan's classic recordings from 1966-1969 have been unavailable in the U.K. for over a decade. A full selection of Donovan's strongest music from this time would require a boxed set of albums, but this disc collects together the cream of his output - a sequence of hit singles and outstanding album tracks that represents the artist at the peak of his songwriting abilities, and at his most influential.
Track notes and Donovan story by
Lorne Murdoch & Peter Doggett (Record Collector)
It was too glib to point at the early Donovan and proclaim him ersatz Dylan. Those troubling to look beyond the denim hat and jacket, or the acoustic framework of his songs, found a gift for melody and an enchanting romanticism which constrasted the ire of his supposed inspiration. Within a year of his first recordings: `Catch The Wind', `Colours' et al. Don was preparing to escape the tag of imitator with the ambitious `Sunshine Superman'. Contractual entanglements delayed its release, but when it finally appeared in December 1966, the single proclaimed a new era in the singer's career. Gone were the Woody Guthrie lilt, the CND-styled protest and the tangible aura of boho haunts in Soho and St. Ives. In their place was a counter-culture sage, adept at penning pop chart quips or homages to idealistic dreams.
(A point of information. Those seeking a selection of Donovan's hits, as well as several rarer offerings, are hereby directed to a companion release Donovan's Greatest Hits... And More [EMI EMS 1333/CDP793 1462]. Our remit is to emphasise the performer's psychedelic leanings.)
`Sunshine Superman', and its follow-up `Mellow Yellow', appeared in America prior to a domestic release. They inspired two excellent albums never issued in Britain, although the UK version of `Sunshine Superman' was drawn from their contents.
This era, arguably, contained Donovan's most innovative work. Already excellent songs were enhanced by evocative arrangements containing either Indian instruments, John Cameron's sympathetic string sections, or even both. This was particularly prevalent on the lengthy `Legend Of A Girl Child Linda'. The singer's wistful characteristics also surfaced on the Arthurian `Guinivere' and the hypnotic `Celeste', while `The Trip', a fiery, rock-based song, punchier than the artiste's contemporary fare, offers another perspective to Donovan's work.
The singer was equally adept at creating life-like vignettes. A title like `Writer In The Sun' may infer contentment, but its melancholic performance suggests otherwise, while `Young Girl Blues', which portrays a lonely side to `Swinging London', is particularly moving. Indeed Don's infatuation with the capital and its place-names, unveiled on `Sunny Goodge Street', was continued on `Hampstead Incident' (originally entitled `In The Night Time') and `Sunny South Kensington', the US flip to `Mellow Yellow' not previously available in Britain.
Elsewhere `House Of Jansch', another track excluded from the UK catalogue, was one of several tributes Donovan paid to the celebrated folk guitarist. `Museum', a further British debutee, recorded by Herman's Hermits and, more effectively, Beverly (Martin). Meanwhile the gorgeous `Three Kingfishers' matched a gentle atmosphere with some truly sympathetic sitar passages, while `Sand And Foam', a simpler almost rustic piece, anticipated some of the styles Donovan introduced on his next project.
A Gift From A Flower To A Garden comprised of two albums, and offered some of the artiste's finest compositions. The sound was more compressed than on the two previous outings, and a more pronounced use of organ and drums gave several tracks a group-like feel. `Mad John's Escape' and `Oh Gosh' make full use of this new persuasion, although the lighter perspective apparent on, say `Mellow Yellow', re-occurs on `The Land Of Doesn't Have To Be' and the up-beat `There Was A Time'. The expansive use of strings and woodwind returns on `Someone Singing', which also features Jack Bruce on electric bass.
Two other titles, `Little Boy In Corduroy' and `Skip-A-Long Sam', suggest an affinity with the second disc, which contained twelve songs intended for children. This haunting set is an absolute joy and includes such pastoral essays as `Lullaby Of Spring', `The Isle of Islay', and `Widow With A Shawl (A Portrait)'. These delicate haunting compositions were rendered more effective by their simple, sparse setting, while an exaggerated vocal delivery focused the listener's attention on the evocative, almost poetic lyrics. Many of the songs reflected the singer's Scottish birthright, and shorn of the need for commercial trappings, they capture an artistic peak.
Despite the fact that Donovan enjoyed two Top 10 hits in Britain with `Jennifer Juniper' and `Hurdy Gurdy Man', the album featuring these singles, itself entitled Hurdy Gurdy Man, was not issued here. Although it lacked the purpose of its predecessors, this 1968 set contained some excellent material and two of its selections; `The Entertaining Of A Shy Girl' and `As I Recall It', are included here. Although the singer was increasingly drawn towards America, he made several recordings for John Peel's "Top Gear" radio show, which made the L.P.'s absence even more puzzling. Donovan In Concert was released here, but although it has some merit, the performances were surpassed by their studio counterparts.
`Barabajagal' became the singer's final British hit in June 1969. It inspired another album, but this rather piecemeal selection was a great disappointment and consisted of material pulled from a variety of sources. The set, which was also denied a UK pressing, marked the end, albeit temporarily, of Donovan's association with producer Mickie Most. As the 1970s beckoned so the singer abandoned a minstrel approach in favour of the `Celtic Rock' unveiled on `Open Road' but would never regain the artistic and commercial momentum enjoyed during this prolific period. For better or worse, Donovan is indelibly linked with the 1960s, yet his appeal remains intact, not because of nostalgia, but through the strength and quality of his excellent compositions.
Brian Hogg
At Chichester's Festival Theatre, I spent some time with Donovan and
Linda. There was the inevitable opening question: "Why had they disappeared
for so long? Donovan leaned forward in his chair.
DONOVAN: " Well, you know what the 60's were - the largest explosion of
popular media in the whole century. It was a big event. At the end of it I
needed a private life. Like most of my contemporaries, I married and had some
kids. You see, from 18 to 26 I was what you call a star.
Television and recording studios, concerts and dressing rooms,
these are hardly places to go through those years of life. I needed to take
on the experiences most people go through and I'd missed out on. It was a
time for retreat. "
LEAF: What brought you back ?
LINDA: After ten years moving into all those remote places, we came back when
the children got to 7 or 8 years old, which is when you develop your
character and you need to intermingle with others. Parents have done most of
their work by then. Our children needed to communicate more.
LEAF: How much of the Jack Kerouac Bohemian influence do you retain?
DONOVAN: Only the travelling gipsy feeling. Though I still love the nature I
discovered by travelling with the beats.
LEAF: What do you think about current musical expression? Does it seem
alien
DONOVAN: No, it doesn't seem that far off. You see in the 60's we were
influenced by the 50's. You must always go back and be influenced by those
before you; in fact, that's where the music comes from.
LINDA: It's funny because everyone thinks they've just started from nowhere,
but Don went robed in flowers, costumes, colours, and now there's Culture
Club, Boy George is no different, he's very close to Don.
DONOVAN: I was considered a homosexual because I sang of trees and flowers,
but in this month's National Geographic there's an African tribe where the
males wear make-up and beads in their hair. Just think of it - a tribe of Boy
Georges(laughs). Actually, the New Romantics grew out of the 60's
movement;it's not different from it: it's not to be compared to it, It's a
natural outgrowth.
The return of melody through Boy George's songwriting is a continuation of
the musical tree. I'm charmed that they're being influenced by me.
You were speaking about Bohemia. You musn't forget that the
beatnicks and the painters were interested in pop art.
Pop art means that the canvas is finished and the cinema image takes over.
Projecting myself on television was realising that pop art had moved to the
video canvas. Surely that's what the young groups are doing now? (Pentangle
bass-player Danny Thompson arrives and Donovan is whisked away for a
sound-check).
I asked Linda if they had seen Dylan since the 'Don't Look Back'
film.
LINDA: We bump into him about once a year. Last time was after one of his
Christian concerts. He seems to have got a lot of strenght from somewhere. We
were very pleased. It's wonderful for him.
LEAF: Did Dylan talk much about the Lord?
LINDA: Well, it was in a crowded dressing-room, you know...maybe not the
place.
But that's the thing with me and Don; so few words needed to be said. George
Harrison said to Don once, "It's so nice to see you because we never have to
say anything.".
THERE WAS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR... We were called away
for Donovan to plug the concert live on B.B.C. Radio Chichester. On our way
back we spoke about the Bloomsbury set and the importance for artists to
project through every media facility. Then it was time to leave them alone
for a while so Donovan could prepare for the concert, I took the opportunity
of speaking with Pat, who runs his fan-club. It was like talking to a member
of Don's family, rather than part of a superstar's entourage.
Leaving his dressing-room for the first set, Donovan sought us
out enquiring half seriously, 'Hey Pat, how'd ya like this hippy cape of
mine?' Pat approved and Don feeding off this, leapt up the stairs to the
stage. I turned around and there was The Lady of the Stars. It was not
difficult to see how he could be happy living a family life by that desert.
Linda has a strong presence and a distinctly fragile beauty. As we sat
together at the back of the auditorium, more than once I thought she was
going to literally collapse, but not because of nerves or feintness; it was
as though she was projecting empathetic energy, as though his jangling
harmonica was still keeping the harsh realities of life at bay and she, with
child-like concentration, was blowing every note with him.
Jim Leaf
“IN FUTURE ISSUES OF OUR MAGAZINE THIS PAGE WILL BE FOR YOU. WE WILL PRINT YOUR DRAWINGS, LETTERS, LYRICS, POEMS AND QUESTIONS SO KEEP THOSE LETTERS COMING. IN THE MEANTIME I HAVE ANSWERED SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS BELOW.”
Apart from the "Pied Piper" what other, if any, involvements have you had in films?
Back in the `60s I wrote some songs for a film called "Poor Cow", and I wrote the title songs for "If its Tuesday this must be Belgium". Which also saw me playing "The Lord of the Reedy River" in a small club. Then in the 70s I got involved in the "Pied Piper", and apart from playing the Piper I wrote all the music. Then I thought it would be nice to do a score and this I did for Franco Zefferelli's film "Brother Sun Sister Moon".
Were the soundtracks ever released?
No, although I did write and record the music, no soundtrack albums were ever released. But over the years I have received many requests to do so, I have now made plans to release them next year.
Looking back over your career who would you say are your greatest influences?
Real Celtic ballads, Jazz of all periods, Country and Western, Folk USA, early US pop music - from Elvis, the Everleys to Buddy Holly, and of course, the great white poet Dylan - he was very encouraging.
With whom would you most like to work?
I would like to work again with Jeff Beck, Ray Cooper, Phillip Donnelly, David Foster, Peter Frampton, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Carole King, Dave Mason, Graham Nash, Jimmy Page, Cosy Powell, Chris Spedding and Danny Thompson. But still there are many friends with whom I should like to work given the time and circumstances.
What music of today do you listen to?
Only melodious writers and singers can I listen to. I know the new wavers of music since the begining of punk have put down the 60s & early 70s music but the new wave is the child of the old and naturally rebellious, but they have yet to show they have improved on our contribution. We in the 60s recognised our influences, the newest waves do so now. I particularly like Dire Straits, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper and of course Bruce Springsteen.
Are there any plans for you to tour?
Yes, after the new album is completed this winter of 84, I of course will travel to play.
S: "Becase there's such a strong re-birth of thoughtful, outspoken, accoustic music in the likes of people like Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, Pater Case, Ten Thousand Maniacs and on and on, more and more, all the time, so I'm please to have with me here tonight in the KCRW performance studio, a timeless troubadour, a man who's a story teller and a poet, Donovan Leitch. First of all, happy birthday Donovan."
D: "Thanks very much. It's been a very happy birthday and thanks for inviting me."
S: "Welcome to KCRW. Well this is special. I've heard of the bits and pieces of the new material that you're working on, one of the things that struck me originally, most strongly, was the degree to which you were not only a person of a time of the sixties and continuing on but also extremely timeless, a shanakee, a story teller and I'm so happy to have you here tonight."
D: "Thank you, well it's part of the Celtic tradition that the story teller will mean the same thing to any age group in any decade because in our life we only arrive at two or three relationships with a family, with our lover and with our children and the world's problems continue to expand from the sixties onwards, so my new songs of love and social importance and rock'n'roll still mean the same things now as they did then."
S: "Let's go back to your very earliest beginnings, let's go back to the beginning of Donovan since you've just had a birthday and come forward. Depending on which book you read you were born in the Maryhill section of Glasgow, where do we go from there?".
D: "There's two birthdays that people attribute to my birth, the truth is I was born on May 10 1946 at 1807 Maryhill Road, Glasgow, Scotland into the arms of Donald and Winifred Leitch and the second world war had been officially over for twelve months and the city lay in ruins as did most ports throughout the British Isles. My father worked in the Rolls Royce, the famous factory which produced those engines of the war machine for the tanks and the aeroplanes. From an early memory, I remember being woken up to be kissed goodnight, the smell of the machine oil on his workclothes. He was a working class lathe operator with a self taught knowledge and an appreciation of literature, a scholar he might have made had he not been born a poor boy, barefoot and underpaid. Mother, she worked in the Rolls Royce as well alongside other childless wives who, having no kids to look after, joined the war effort. She was a young beauty, who loved to dance, as did all the big band generation. Ya cud see her doon the barra land with her friz and shiny hair, a buxom Ginger Rogers and a skinny Fred Astaire.
And what I do here is quote from a book I'm writing because my musicial birthda is next year, 1990, but that is a recollection of where I came from."
S: "Twenty five years in music, 1965 was the first single, was it not?."
D: "It was March 12 1990 marks the 25th anniversary the year and the date.
S: "And how did that first song come to be?"
D: "'Catch The Wind', I wrote it for Linda, although I hadn't really met her yet. It is a song of unrequited love, yet I hadn't really met her, so how could I miss her? And I seem to write prophetic songs in the sense of the Celtic poet and I wrote this song before I met Linda, of a love I would like to have had and lost."
S: "So there you were, a nineteen year old puppy with a hit single on your hands."
D: "Well, yeah. Let me flip through a few pages here and I must say before the hit single, I must say where I came from. What you have to imagine is Bohemia. Consider the Roman city of St Albans the wide main thorough fair from the town hall clock and conveniences, to the round-about and The Cock pub. Like so many British towns streets with modern glass fronts built onto older facades, except for Bewleys, selling pipes and fags, matches and tobacco, lighters and trinkets. New Dolcis shoe shop and the Burton tailor, Marks & Sparks with Woolworth's as a neighbour, there was Boots The Chemist and one old faded department store selling out of date fashions in the dusty windows.
Lyons Tea House and a greasy spoon or two and the pubs, don't forget the pubs were drinks were taken and weren't they just! The Cock pub was our scene, a not over fashionable pub, a wee boozer patronised by the local beatnik set. In the long snug, hard wooden benches for the sweet bottoms of the middle class maidens and the working class molls who sat with the young dossers and art students, guitar pickers and singers, young men in peat coats, bleached jeans and Hush Puppies, cord jackets and checked shirts, great coats and rollnecks. And the beat girls, dark eyed and deathly white, roll necks and tight jeans, black tights and short skirts in long boots and sandals, bright eyed and fresh, rolling their own Golden Virginia tobacco smokes, on the benches by boyfriends with large pints in that long rustic room around the old stove fed with logs, winters remembered in our old pub, The Cock in St Albans.
But the road led to a club in Southend, where I was to be discovered by two Crombie overcoats called managers and I was headed for Tin Pan Alley. The hit single, three weeks on the innovative television show, Ready Steady Go, this record was made and I went from rags to riches in the old way. From the sleeping bag to the hotel suite in three weeks. I was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for the best new song which rose to number 4 in the charts, this was "Catch The Wind". This award is only given to a few categories and carries great prestige. Almost immediately I was offered a documentary about my lifestyle! Well they asked for it! For the first time a British TV audience saw beatniks smoking pot.
The producers were not aware of the actual scenes they were filming and they papers spoke of near orgy in pot party on TV. Soon I became the first rock'n'roll drug bust of many, I was a threat to the establishment in this new freedom of the sixties."
S: "It sounds to me though you're happy with your life."
D: "So far so good, I'm still with the lady I love, I have children who like me can you believe? And actually, I like them, they're not bad."
S: "Tell us a little bit about them."
D: "Linda, the muse, she is the lady in "Catch The Wind". It came about that I was in Tin Pan Alley as I just mentioned, in this street of many songwriters, along the road was Essex Music where the Rolling Stones were cutting some tracks down in the basement. I was cutting some tracks two doors along in Peer Music. Brian Jones came in and he said "You sound like Dylan." My first introduction to music was through Brian. Dylan aside, I was to meet the loved one of Brian only weeks later. Linda Lawrence, she was the first who was sensationalised in the press for having a child with a rock'n'roll star. And the first two rock'n'roll stars of Britain, it is understood, are Brian Jones and John Lennon. But before John, Brian was the real first outspoken, outrageous, eccentric British rock'n'roll star. Weeks later, I was to meet Linda and be torn apart in the heart because she'd had this child with Brian and their relationship was breaking up and Brian was very ill and as everybody knows, we lost Brian soon after.
So if I was telling you about my family I would have to start with Linda. I wasn't to marry her for many years later but I loved her and I fell in love with her and after "Catch The Wind" I wrote this for her and she put me on the charts and the lyrics are very prophetic, it'll take time, but we will be together."
DONOVAN SINGS "SUNSHINE SUPERMAN"
S: "My guest tonight is Donovan Leitch, who seems to be physically, spiritually and mentally, extremely healthy, which can't be said for a lot of the peers you grew up with."
D: "How profoundly said. Quite correct and very observant of you."
S: "Is there anything in particular that you can attribute that to?"
D: "Dropping out of the industry, and after the first flush of success, having a family and taking a pause around 1974. Being a poet, and also being a solo artist, not being a group I cant split up. And also not having much expectations beyond what I've already achieved, but still being full of ambition. And the children around me, and always singing for the young. It occured to me when I was singing first on Ready Steady Go that I was being put down by the folk crowd. A, presumably for copying Bob Dylan but b, mainly I was commercialising this wonderful folk music that should only be the property of those in the pubs with their pints and roll neck sweaters and their socialist ideas.
It always occured to me from day one that if I'm going to appeal to the youth I can introduce these ideas of brotherhood, expansion of consciousness, the saving of the planet, awareness of nuclear war, ecology and the re-education of the school system. If I was going to address myself to an audience, surely I should address it to the young and the fourteen year old kids in 1965 who only had dance music - love music - who could be introduced to these ideas whose minds were totally open, therefore I always felt parentally young addressing myself to the world's youthful part and if this is something to do with it, they reflected it back to me."
S: "But at the time you were having these ideas you were only nineteen, what were the forces that shaped you into having that sort of wisdom at that early an age or is it simply the Celt in you?"
D: "Interesting question, is it possible we've lived before? If you look at the early songs wisdom beyond his age, but let me tell you I didn't escape. I might have been aware, when I was eighteen, that I had to live in my middle years, I had to learn a lot of lessons I thought I already knew, so you don't escape. If there is a knowledge that comes through artistes that they've gained in a previous life, that's too precious! It's like me, I know this thing, wow! But in the songs I sang I actually asked my audience to find that in themselves and if I knew it where did I get it from? That is the question. I don't know."
S: "You certainly expanded on some of it, you've spent time with major philosophical cultural religious figures of the sixties, the Maharishi."
D: "Yeah. I remember meeting the Maharishi, he was doing gigs, you know, the Beatles had already met him and I went to see one of his gigs here in LA. It was kinda like a gig I suppose. I really was feeling I was going to get some instructions, the Christian religion in the West didn't really have any meditation and we were looking for that, so off we went. My first introduction was, I went to one of the gigs, introduced of course because I was famous already. Introduced backstage and so there I am and Maharishi is clack clack clacking on the little wooden shoes with the robe and the entourage around him, and he was always very soft. Coming on stage he would sit and them speak eloquence, before he spoke eloquence he saw me in the wings there and I heard him turn to one of his aids and say "Who is this?" (mimics Don in his Maharishi impression) and I heard his aid say "Like The Beatles, Maharishi." So I met him and was initiated and apart from all the press and all the hullabaloo that went down, he initiated me into his system of finding a depth in yourself which you can enter through various means. Essentially, through a mantra, essentially through breathing and essentially through quietness and he took me into a room and a lined up, like a lot of other rock'n'roll stars in a small room, in a lower Beverly Hills house and we sat there, in the front room and waited. And all along the wall was a hairy group of musicians which I didn't know who they were.
Next it was me. "Ah! Donovan" he always called me his transcendental singer, because of all the singers of the sixties, I could do this kind of mediative music, essentially like "Isle of Islay" if I touch the strings in a certain way, if I sang in a certain way I could put people into a deep space which he was about to do for me. "Come in, sit down, close your eyes, breath and say this word". He said "You're not supposed to tell anybody this" and he said "Say I-ing" so I said "I-ing" "No" he said "Not aloud - inside" and I said this word I-ing and he had already calmed me down and I fell into this deep hole, I just went deeper and deeper, he gave me that, forget the press, he introduced me into this system which you have to keep up and of course none of us are good at keeping things up. So I still meditate in certain ways. He said "Now come and see me again, come to India." That came later.
But then an aid came in "Are you ready for the next ones?" "Yes and who are they?".. "Well Maharishi, they call themselves The Grateful Dead". Maharishi said "You should not call yourselves The Grateful Dead, you should call yourselves The Grateful Living." Maharishi was funny, I liked him."
S: "Donovan, what is your real full name?"
D: "Donovan Philips Leitch. Now my father, his name is Donald and he wanted a D but he didn't want Donald, he didn't want Dermot and he didn't want Dougal and he was watching a cowboy movie one day and he saw this guy pull his six gun out and shoot the town to hell and his name was Donovan. So he said "Let's call him Donovan."
Now Philips is my mothers maiden name and I come from a family in Glasgow who are partly Irish and partly Scottish and Irish and Scottish folk music features strongly, obviously, in my life. Leitch, my fathers last name, Leitch, does it sound Scottish? It doesn't sound Scottish to me. Because all the Scottish names being with Mac. But Leitch somebody told me were leeches, physicians to the clan Macbeth. Presumably the family goes back to a small group around a larger clan in old Scotland. The names are interesting, but Donovan is infact an Irish name as a last name. When I started making my first music the two managers said "Let's call you Donovan" I said "Fine".
I was going to go on to say that if I was a threat to the establishment in
the new freedom of the sixties one must relate to this freedom. One must
understand that it was Pete Seiger, Woody Guthrie and in those days you
couldn't say anything against the establishment, you couldn't say anything
about freedom on media. I come from a generation who rose up as television
was growing and as radio was growing and records became cheap, the 45 single
and the youth had money in their pockets, it is easy to forget in the fifties
that songs of freedom were considered anti-establishment and it's easier to
forget that in the thirties and forties, the unions were actually attacked by
police for demonstrating. I come from this pedigree of singers of social
issues and yet I arrived in pop music like Dylan did and Joan Baez did and as
many artistes who came after us, who infused pop music with a message. And
I'm leading up the sing a new song here, and when I say the new freedom of
the sixties, it was the first time really, on radio and on record that these
messages could be sung. And I recall the largest CND campaign, CND means
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, was set to start and end in Trafalgar
Square, London and in the beginning I was part of this campaign and there was
one particular singer that I met, a Canadian Indian American girl, Buffy St
Marie. She wrote some heavy songs, she still writes, she wrote this
originally about the Vietnam war but it means the same thing now. I had the
good fortune to record it, it's called "The Universal Soldier"."
S: "What are the things that have changed and the things that have remained constant?"
D: "Interestingly enough, in regard to music, and I missed the point for a while, music has become visual and it is possible to turn the radio on and hear a singer who you might think is not very good, but when you see the video, there is an impact. So with the rise of radio in the sixties and everybody could hear what's going on, I remember lying in my mums' house listening to Radio Luxembourg and it kept coming in and fading out and then listening to John Peel on pirate radio, the good stuff! But that was all audio, what has changed is that television which actually is good as Andy Warhol told us, it's a multiple change of images, as he did in his works, but what the change is that audio and visual have become one. But...Eric Clapton has said he doesn't want to make videos because it takes away from the audio."
S: "What do you see as the social changes in the music you wrote then and the music you write now. You talked about CND which is perhaps a good deal more active and the Green Party in Britain and Europe than anything we have here. I keep hoping for a resurgence here."
D: "Well it's interesting, what you're talking about, sure they've got parties there, sure they've got group, sure they've got gatherings but I think you should look at it globally. In actual fact what happened in the sixties was that certain subjects were aired, that was the first word we called radio. Then they were broadcast on television and these subjects were never really spoken about, only in coffee bars, then they were projected on television and radio.
What has changed? What has happened? Is it better in Europe? What they have in Europe is a party and an organisation which you don't see in America. It is not a small country America, you can't localise events, it's really five countries America. But in England it's one country and events can happen coast to coast which is only a few hundred miles, in about an hour."
S: "Well, it amazes me, you can drive across the country in an afternoon!"
D: "Well, they tell the story in Ireland, in a pub, of a Texan who was looking for his history and he went to a pub and his name was O'Brian and this Texan who owned great lands in Texas and the O'Brian who is related to him 17 times removed, says to him "And where are you from sir?"... "Well, I'm from Texas"..."Ah! well you're American then"... "Yes I am"..."And what kind of business are you in sir?"..."I'm a farmer"...."Well I'm a farmer too sir"...."How big is your land?"....and the Texan says, "Well my farm is so big it takes me three days to drive from one end to the other"...and the Irishman says, "Argh, I had a car like that once myself sir!"
The sixties came to an end, like a party that wouldn't stop and the
exhaustion showed on the young men and women who were projected into fame by
the baby boom generation, a generation who sought peace, freedom, love and
understanding after two world wars and a depression.
I was lucky, I was to meet magically again Linda and marry. I was saved. Others fell from high states into death and disillusionment, taking holy orders with eastern Yogies who mopped up the casualties of the rock'n'roll decade. I met Linda, she'd been through it all, she knew we loved, she knew I loved her all through the crazy days apart. Fate had smiled on us, we two early runners on this course to disaster, we saved ourselves and started a family. The sixties was to stretch into 1973 before the realisation that John Lennon was right when he said "The dream is over", but let me add, the dream is over now reality begins. A generation tried to put into practise in the seventies the naive beginnings of a new world. The age of the new man and woman, a creation which I was committed to in which infused all my work. And talking of John, and the changes, I thought of him the other night and came up with this song."
S: "Hurdy Gurdy Man maybe responsible for an entire genre of music by virtue of the people playing with you, the musician in the background, from which sprang metal music."
D: "When I wrote "Hurdy Gurdy Man", I thought, this is for Jimie (Hendrix) and my producer, Mickie Most, said "No, this is your song", so I said "Well, maybe Jimmy Page should play on it". Jimmy Page at that time was doing sessions. They hadn't formed 'The Band' yet, they were about to form.
All around the "Hurdy Gurdy Man" sessions Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, the bass player on many of my recordings, especially "Mellow Yellow" he wrote the horn section, a band was forming around these sessions and Led Zeppelin, I believe, looking back, was formed around "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" sessions. A ballad form of song where I played it on guitar, a very heavy drum section and a very wild guitar sound and story telling. So if I formed Led Zeppelin I want to call upon those boys next year, I wanna record it with them next year! OK, I started Led Zeppelin and it goes like this.
OK, I STARTED LED ZEPPELIN!!!"
DONOVAN SINGS "HURDY GURDY MAN"
S: "The 1989 twelve inch extended mix of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan on SNAP, that's great!
S: "Do you keep up to date with the young folk singers that are happening, like Billy Bragg?"
D: "Heard the name, not the music. Say a few more."
S: "Peter Case, Michelle Shocked, Suzanne Vega."
D: "Vega, yeah. When I go back to England I will be meeting The Hot House
Flowers and The Waterboys, they are my fans and I'm their fan and on my new
recordings I hope to pull a few of these young ones in.
The singer/songwriter has returned, the acoustics are in, synthesizers are
out. Infact, I met a real drummer the other night in a pub in England. I
said, "What do you do?"...he said "I play drums"...I said "No,"...he said
"Yeah"....I said "Wow! I haven't seen a real drummer in years, I think it's
great". Singer/songwriters are back, storytelling is back."
S: "Where do you find people who interest you musically?"
D: "I generally listen to me, because I write so many songs. I used to be influenced by The Beatles, because they fused pop music with lyric and arrangements in a special way. George Martin was very important there. If you ask me who I'm getting turned on by now and what I write about, it seems like my source is myself, the Celtic thing within me keeps drawing out these things. It seems like I can turn out lots of fusions on my own, but who turns me on...Mortal Coil - The Cure. I know what Robert Smith is up to, we all posed, I loved what he said about Morrissey "The jerk, Morrissey, he's only got one song, at least I've got two!"
S: "How long has it been since your last album?"
D: "About eight years."
S: "Can I get you to sing a new song Don?"
D: "No song can I sing will be representative, but I will play the end of the album."
S: "You're doing something that doesn't really happen to me, you're catching me with a loss for words, this is turning into an extremely special edition of SNAP."
After Donovan finished performing "The Ferryman's Daughter"
S: "An apt finale, thank you very much for coming here tonight, stories and music from a man who clearly understands beyond the trends of day to day and decade to decade, bon voyage Donovan Leitch."
Initially feted as "Britain's Bob Dylan", Donovan underwent a transformation from bedenimed sage to counter-culture troubadour within 18 months of his first release. Much of his early work paid homage to Woody Guthrie, Derroll Adams and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, but the topical songs and protest anthems such mentors inspired were set alongside compositions already betraying a poetic romanticism. 'Catch The Wind' and 'Sunny Goodge Street' were imbued with a poignant beauty, one which flowered fully when the singer embraced electric music, penning pop chart quips or homages to idealism. The four albums such interests inspired are included in this set, beginning with the inventive "Sunshine Superman".
The song 'Sunshine Superman', subtitled 'For John and Paul', had been written and planned as early as late 1965. This engaging, innovative composition was previewed on the short-lived BBC pop/magazine programme, 'A Whole Scene Going', but although it was issued in the USA the following July, contractual imbroglios ensured that a British release was withheld until December. Bassist Spike Heatley and drummer Tony Carr provided a subtle rhythm section, while the mellifluous guitar work of Jimmy Page underscored a sense of adventure. Donovan's lyrics, part autobiography, part comic-book fantasy, cemented the idea of a new era, one enhanced by the single's coupling, 'The Trip'. This fiery, rock-based performance was cut in Los Angeles in May 1966 with Bobby Ray (bass) and 'Fast' Eddie Hoh (drums) during a period Don as barred from recording in the UK.
Several songs on the ensuing "Sunshine Superman" album came from the same sessions. 'Season Of The Witch' boasts one of rock's seminal, two-chord riffs and while the subject of several cover versions in its own right, the simple two-chord progression has been adapted by several acts over the years. 'Guinevere', by contrast, is a delicate offering with a Camelot metaphor ripe for the approaching 'Summer Of Love'. 'Celeste', 'Ferris Wheel' and 'Three King Fishers' prove equally hypnotic, the gentle sitar courtesy of American folksinger Shawn Phillips providing the perfect shade of atmosphere colour. Equally enchanting are John Cameron's string arrangements, particularly on the lengthy 'Legend Of A Girl Child Linda', a moving paeon to Donovan's long-time partner, Linda Lawrence. Real-life vignettes also surface on 'Bert's Blues', a reference to contemporary guitarist Bert Jansch, and 'The Fat Angel', the singer's tribute to Cass Elliott of the Mamas and Papas. The latter song also name-checks Jefferson Airplane, who repaid the compliment by cutting a version of the song on "Bless Its Pointed Little Head".
Elements drawn from classical, folk, jazz and rock can be heard on "Sunshine Superman", but these disparate style were drawn together by the singer's grasp of melody and producer Mickie Most's commercial instincts. This was particularly apparent on Donovan's next single, 'Mellow Yellow', a highly memorable, effervescent song buoyed by John Paul Jones' distinctive bass arrangement. Paul McCartney was one of the guests adding voice to the singalong chorus, reciprocating the line Don had supplied to the Beatles' similarly colourful 'Yellow Submarine'.
An album entitled 'Mellow Yellow' duly followed. It featured several other equally commercial compositions, notably 'Museum', later recorded by Most proteges Herman's Hermits and, more effectively, Beverly (Martin). By contrast 'Young Girl Blues' portrays the lonely side of 'Swinging London' while two further homages to the capital surface in the ebullient 'Sunny South Kensington' and ambitious 'Hampstead Incident', which switches from folk to jazz time with consummate ease. Originally entitled 'In The Night Time', it's an outstanding example of the singer's craft.
Two travel songs reflect a period of uncertainty. Penned in Greece at the height of Donovan's legal entanglements, 'Writer In The Sun' shows a singer unsure if he could ever record again, while 'Sand And Foam' tells of a much brighter sojourn to Mexico. 'House Of Jansch', at least in title, pays another tribute to folk acolyte Bert, leaving two songs, 'The Observation' and 'Bleak City Woman' to complete the set. Neither track has been issued in the UK prior to this compendium as the "Mellow Yellow" album was only issued in the USA and mainland Europe. Meanwhile the British "Sunshine Superman" LP was a composite selection and at last, some 27 years later, these two albums are available here as originally intended.
By 1968 Donovan had established himself as a fixture on the pop charts and as part of the 'Underground', recording excellent sessions for John Peel's "Top Gear", and carving an original niche on the American live circuit. An expansive double set, "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden" and the excellent "Donovan In Concert" were issued in the UK but, inexplicably, "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was not. The title track remains one of the singer's best-known singles, contrasting his tremulous intonation with some scorching, wailing guitar work from Allan Holdsworth and, again, Jimmy Page. John Paul Jones arranged the track and supplied its bass lines but although Clem Cattini is credited with the pounding drums, John Bonham later claimed that he too contributed to the session. If so, then it represents as early focal point for the future Led Zeppelin. 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' has been revived by such contrasting acts as Steve Hillage and the Butthole Surfers, a tribute in itself to an enduring popularity.
The super set it inspired also featured the gentle 'Jennifer Juniper' which had provided Donovan with one of his best-known hit singles. He also enjoyed chart success with 'There Is A Mountain' and a corresponding calypso-cum-rocksteady lilt was apparent on 'West Indian Lady'. Flautist Harold McNair and long serving percussionist Tony Carr, both of whom had toured with the singer, provided its distinctive backing and the former's empathic support is also evident on 'A Sunny Day' and 'The Sun Is A Very Magic Fellow'. 'As I Recall It' and 'The Entertaining Of A Shy Girl' were a staple part of Donovan's radio sessions, the latter evoking a similar feel to the contents of the 'children's' portion from "A Gift From A Flower". By contrast, both 'Peregrine' and 'Tangier' suggest a mantra-like, Eastern atmosphere, reminiscent of fellow Scots the Incredible String Band, replete with cello and harmonium for extra texture. Don's eclectic palate encompasses Dixieland brashness on 'Get Thy Bearings' while his ability to score beautifully simple melodies in folk or pop forms is encompassed perfectly on 'The River Song' and 'Teas', two quite breathtaking compositions. 'Hi It's Been A Long Time', with its whiff of 1967 whimsy, completes the content of this exceptionally strong collection.
Donovan's already wide-ranging repertoire assumed yet another hue with 'Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)', a searing collaboration with the Jeff Beck Group - Beck, Ron Wood, Nicky Hopkins and Tony Newman. Madeline Bell, Leslie Duncan and Suzie Quatro added the emphatic backing vocals to Don's tenth UK chart entry which, in turn, introduced yet another album unavailable in Britain until this release. It proved as diverse as its predecessors and once again comprised of material recorded in London and Los Angeles. Gabriel Mekler, renowned for his work with Steppenwolf, arranged and added keyboards to several American masters, notably 'To Susan On The West Coast Waiting' and 'Atlantis'. The former song reclaimed the protest element of the singer's early work, but here he opted for a snapshot, creating characters to offer a more personal insight to the Vietnam War. On 'Atlantis' Donovan used the narrative form to relate the tale of the lost city and continent before launching into an extended coda redolent of the Beatles' 'Hey Jude'.
'Trudi', the British flip of 'Barabajagal', also featured the Jeff Beck Group and the song was fired by a similar edginess. 'Superlungs (My Supergirl)' was yet another impressive composition, one later taken up by another Mickie Most act, Terry Reid. It had been written in 1966 and a version was completed during the 'Sunshine Superman' sessions. The original take was shelved because of its drug connotation - "She's only 14 but she knows how to draw" - but Don recut it when times were deemed more liberated.
'Happiness Runs' had first appeared on "Donovan In Concert" under its previous title 'Pebble and the Man'. The studio version of this charming round included vocal support from the Hollies' Graham Nash and Scaffold's Mike McGear/McCartney. 'Where Is She', 'The Love Song' and 'Pamela Jo' showed Don's continued blend of sweet, simple refrains and inventiveness, while his jejune qualities reached a peak on 'I Love My Shirt'. Donovan's final album of the 1960s, "Barabajagal" confirmed the breadth of his talent, but it also brought the singer's 'minstrel' era to a close. He parted company, albeit temporarily, with Mickie Most and, having completed the ecologically-based single 'Celia Of The Seals', entered the new decade with a Celtic-rock band, Open Road.
Despite continuing to record for a variety of outlets, Donovan would not regain the commercial success he enjoyed during this prolific period. These four albums represent an artistic triumph, capturing an artist at the height of his creative powers. Haunting songs, fragile lyrics and a dazzling array of musical styles combined to create some of the lynchpin recordings of the 1960s.
Brian Hogg
July 1994.
Why did you disappear, what made you come back, and why with Rick Rubin?
If I can do a thumbnail sketch of 20 years, around 1970 I had
achieved everything I could have possibly dreamed of. There was nowhere else to go. So I walked
onto a BA jet in Tokyo and out of a tax plan called a drop-out year where I was going to earn
millions. It had ended. I didn't burn out, I wasn't a drug addict, but I was wounded in some
way, and I came home to my cottage in England... I married Linda [Lawrence], my great love and
teenage muse, and I walked away from fame, the Rolls Royce, the mansion. We went to Joshua Tree
in the California desert for much of the '70s and brought up the children as an alternative
family. But something was happening while I wasn't watching. In the '80s, things were getting
very dark, the earth was wounded and I felt dispirited. In '83 I stopped making records
completely. I came out around 1990. I'd gone into the studio and started recording ideas... Rick
Rubin had been working with Tom Petty, who was playing one of my songs. Rick says, "I've always
wanted to record Donovan." Tom says, "Why don't you phone him up?" So he did.
How did you go about writing and recording?
Rick said, "Try to write a song a day." He asked me what books I
was reading when I wrote. He has a huge mystic library. We took each other to New Age bookshops,
and he said, "If you went searching again would that get you writing?" So I did. I read
Siddhartha again, wandered through Edgar Allan Poe and Sappho... What Rick wanted me to do was
rediscover myself. I didn't have all the records, so I went out and bought some Donovan CDs and
listened. It was extraordinary, all the styles I'd absorbed – blues, jazz, folk, ethnic,
classical. Every time Rick would listen and put a song on the A-list, but he always went back to
this romantic acoustic feeling, the deep mystic feeling that he felt was the essence area.
Is this a one-off or the relaunch of a career?
The immediate future is a tour around the world. I think Rick
wants to make a second album with me and I want to make one with him. Hopefully I'll continue
all the way into the next millennium and beyond.
There's a little picture of Donovan and the caption: `Donovan: acoustic, mystic, still
optimistic.'
Source: MOJO magazine; Issue 36 - November 1996, p. 111
“MY MUSIC IS A STRESS RELIEVER, IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!”
Donovan proves he's way out there with Kula Shaker and Cast...
Twenty five years is a long time between albums. What have you been
doing?
“I haven't exactly been tending a fish farm in Norfolk, I have done the odd gig. The
comeback trail began in '91 when I returned from California, where me and Linda [long-time
partner and `teenage muse'] lived in the high deserts in a place called Joshua Tree. Then I
came back to live in Ireland, a spiritually uplifting place.”
What's Rick Rubin like to work with?
“Amazing. He's spent three years coaching me and reintroducing me to the art of writing and
recording. At one point, he made me buy two of my own albums and forced me to listen to them,
and it was like `Who is that guy? What is he playing?', I didn't recognise myself at all.”
How do you think you'll fit in in '96?
“My music is considered by some as a stress reliever so it's actually good for your health.
In the '60s, it was used to bring people down off bad acids trips – that easy going,
calming influence was the alternative to the wild and crazy scenes that were happening. But now
it's an antidote to the rapid times we live in.”
With Shaun Ryder as part of the family, Christmas must be interesting...
“The Leitch family is a three generational family and Shaun is the latest addition. He and
Oriel now live just down the road from us in Cork so we all get together. He's not what you'd
call a stay-at-home family man but he loves my daughter and Coco, my granddaughter. It's a wild
and crazy world of rock 'n' roll out there and we all need good women to love us and look after
us. Shaun's no exception.”
There's a little picture of Donovan and the caption: `Donovan: folkin' off his head'
Source: Select magazine; December 1996, p. 110