The jingle jangle jester rides his stallion “Fairy castle stark and black in the moonlight, The jaunty, good-natured vibe of “Bert’s Blues” aka “Good Guy” from Donovan’s key album “Sunshine Superman” in 1965 backed up the album’s bouncy hit single with tons of world-weary attitude, and strangely demonic imagery: Perhaps it’s because I never got the Donovan songs about London in the Swinging ’60s out of my head the entire time I lived in the capital of Blighty in the staider early 21st century, along with 1965 “Mellow Yellow” album tracks “Museum” and “Sunny South Kensington,” “Hampstead Incident” shows Donovan in the ’60s could match Ray Davies’ masterful English street scene songs in melody, incident and sense memory.Īlso, from “Mellow Yellow” “Young Girl Blues” ranks near the top of Donovan’s best work and provided Marianne Faithfull with the tailor-made line “I am but a young girl working my way through the phonies.” Today, Donovan is focusing his energies on a new animated film project for tykes, “Tales of Aluna,” and one listen to “Epistle to Derroll” will help you connect the dots across the decades. “A violent hash smoker shook a chocolate machine” on the album track “Sunny Goodge Street” and the world knew a very special new artist had arrived.ĭonovan mid-’60s run of hit songs helped persuade Epic Records and Clive Davis in 1967 to back his play with an elaborate double-record set, “A Gift From a Flower to a Garden,” boldly including an entire album of songs, “For the Little Ones,” which he composed specifically for children. Sometimes he stepped onto a sunnier side of the street, daring to dream of bliss, and “Eldorado” from Donovan’s 1996 “Sutras” album produced by Rick Rubin, is the result.ĭonovan’s 1965 album “Fairytale” is essentially the proof that the ‘60s had its own Billie Eilish since Donovan emerged while still a teenager and thanks to UK television, was a hit with the public even before he had a record deal. Just as Donovan has his shadow side, Edgar Allen Poe wasn’t all coffins, corpses and ravens. ![]() From the album “Sunshine Superman,” it was mostly recently reanimated by Lana Del Rey for Guillermo Del Toro’s and Andre Ovredal’s 2019 “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Like Donovan’s late ‘60s hits “Hurdy Gurdy Man” and “Atlantis,” “Season of the Witch” (1966) proves that Donovan can pack a rocky punch with an edgy undercurrent of weirdness and unexplained creepiness. Here are 10 Donovan songs to help wish our own septuagenarian Pied Piper a Happy Birthday! ![]() Perhaps it’s the reason why Dono’s best tracks keep turning up regularly in films and top artists such as Lindsey Buckingham, Vern Gosdin, Joan Baez, Sarah McLachlan, Glen Campbell, Marianne Faithfull and Lana Del Rey have effectively interpreted his tunes. Donovan may still wonder what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding, but his incisive songwriting has always had room for ominous premonitions, dread, darkness, ennui and loss.Īn immensely gifted ballad portrait artist, Donovan was also a devoted follower of his own fashion, which happens to be both as ancient as the starfish on the ocean floor and as cool as the Carnaby Street styles and the Soho jazz joints of the ’60s, from whence his cool Mose Allison-influenced vocals and the free-flowing small combo arrangements of key collaborators John Cameron and Mickie Most first sprang.ĭonovan’s originality is matched by his integrity, an organic quality of innocence and pacific idealism that may have once seem affected, but has remained the rock-solid foundation of his art.
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