This is psychedelia at its finest. I’ve always been a little obsessed with the 60′s and especially psychedelic culture. The art, the styles, the music, the spaced-out idealism, the colors, the drugs… love it. As far as the music went, Donovan was definitely a high master. Emphasis on high, lulz! A high master of balancing between being very serious and inadvertently silly, and of wearing bedazzled velvet robes with aplomb. I’m sure you all know this classic. A hurdy gurdy, I’m told is a weird stringed instrument popular with street performers in the middle ages, and now mainly heard at Ren Faires. Just so you know, I guess.
If you’re still not getting with the self-actualization program here, let Donovan teach you this ditty to help you along. It’s very simple, almost like a nursery rhyme, but don’t let that fool you, it’s all you need to know. It’s also very sixties and very Donovan, in his goofy yet deep way. It’s awful cute to see him, in his velvet wardrobe, giving lessons in how best to sing the manly bits of La, la la, lalalalalalalala, la, la la la, lalalala. How appealing you find him may depend on how much tolerance you have for men who emulated him in the sixties and never changed and are still wandering about with unkempt hair and beat up guitars, trying to turn everyone on to cosmic consciousness. In other words, do you like hippies?
Oh, Donovan, you’re one in a million. Who else would think to write a ballad about an old English legend of dubious historical truthiness, and play it with sitar? I guess such a mashup of Englishness and exotica is fairly typical of 1966, but who else could have pulled it off with such panache? Donovan didn’t go about calling himself a troubadour for nothing. Guinevere sounds truly courtly and medieval – Donovan’s vocal is slighly mannered, enunciating every word with the conviction of a real bard, while the sitar and percussion lend an otherworldly effect. Yes, it’s something that could only have been dreamed up in the sixties, and as such maybe it’s a novelty. Maybe it’s too weird for ears weaned on the loud and obvious, but it’s a beauty. It’s both very much of its time, and uniquely a product of Donovan’s personal eccentricity.
There’s also an Epistle to Derroll, which is not as charming and all about starfish, in typical sea-life loving Donovan fashion. An epistle, by the way, being a scriptural term for a formal letter. Donovan did have a very unique recipe when he combined the ancient traditions of English balladry with more recent whimsical elements taken from Lewis Carroll. His sensibility was and remains thoroughly British, with a thoroughly British eccentricity, which no amount of admiration for caustic Americans like Dylan could shake loose.
What is the meaning of the word ‘twee’? Songs about enchanted “gypsy-o’s”. But don’t take that as derogatory. In the right mindspace, nothing could be more charming. An interesting fact about Donovan’s double album Gift From A Flower To A Garden – the second disc was supposed to be ‘For Little Ones’ i.e. children’s songs. However, there’s no noticeable difference between the songs for adults and the ones for children. All the songs are at an equal level of poetic whimsy, and could all equally appeal to children. They appealed to me very much when I was a child, I can vouch.
This is my favorite Donovan song. Really, hands down. I loved it when I was little. Now I find out it’s taken from a Yiddish play written in the 1940′s and the words about the calf going to slaughter is a Holocaust metaphor. It never occurred to me to see it that way, and I see Holocaust metaphors in a lot of things. Sometimes a calf going to slaughter is just a calf going to slaughter, sometimes not. And I just thought it was an old folk song about the rustic necessity of killing animals.
What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid. Donovan’s first album, released 1965 and recorded when the lad was only eighteen years old. That was before he developed his well known psychedelic troubadour persona, and was still hustling the Guthrie. Which was alright, mostly. On the album he chose to cover what must surely be Woody Guthrie’s most terrible song, Car Car. Also, a handful of traditionals made the cut. It’s kind of a rare album, partly because of confusing reprints and reissues that make it hard to tell what’s what. It’s worth finding, though. There are some originals that are classic, like Ramblin’ Boy and Catch the Wind. And this one, of course, which has a folksy/bluesy feel to it that must have been exactly the spirit he was trying to capture.
If someone just had to write a song about the fine art of astrology, it’s just as well that person was Donovan. He fancies himself a bit of a mystic. I think he’s too damn happy and optimistic to truly be one of the mystics (see below.) By which I mean no disrespect. Not a Mystic, but Cosmic Troubadour is a good fit perhaps.
Donovan in his early, Woody Guthrie copying days. It’s a common misconception that he was copying Dylan at this time. Easy to see why, since they were both playing (and looking) in a very similar style. However, they were both aping Guthrie’s style. Since Dylan did that particular act somewhat better, it’s reasonable that he’s thought of as the originator, especially by fans who don’t know who Guthrie was in the first place. Luckily, both soon realized that being a facsimile of your hero (even a very good one) isn’t nearly as fulfilling as going out and doing your own thing. Who needs three Woody Guthries anyway?
If I’m on target, here Donovan is in his usual hazy way saying something about mysticism being preferable to Catholicism. Would one be better off receiving spiritual guidance from a clairvoyant gypsy palm-reader or a ‘lumpy cassock’ priest? Good question. Donovan might, to the uninitiated, look like a gibbering acid-head, but acid-head or no he did always have something to say in his songs. His message isn’t hard to find. He espouses spiritual exploration and personal freedom, and encourages us to enjoy the beauty of nature. You know, core values.
Clara Clairvoyant
Consultation 10 to 4
In the shadows
Leave skepticism at the door
Oh oh oh rap tap table tap
Have you anyone to talk to
Not quite living on the other side, contact
Clara Clairvoyant
Her consultation is 10 to 4
Look
Kathy Kathoolica
In the box from 3 to 4
In the shadow
Leave genitals at the door
Oh oh oh but but tut tut
Have you any perversion to confess
To the lumpy cassock on the other side
Kathy Katholica
In the box from 3 to 4
Rocky RocknRoller
Sometimes up and sometimes down
In the long run
Take the path down on the ground
Between lost belief and gross fear
Have you any idea how much you have?
Not quite nothing and not quite all!
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