I’ve found that a lot of young people today have never heard of, or listened to the music of, many of the great names of the early days of pop and rock music. They don’t even seem curious about it. I suppose it’s for them like it was for me in my youth, being told about the music of the 1920’s and 1930’s – it was meaningless to me, something I didn’t enjoy much. (I’ve since learned to listen more attentively to the music of earlier generations, but as a teenager one doesn’t bother about that – one’s too wrapped up in one’s own certainties.)
Be that as it may, I was still surprised to come across a couple who’ve never heard of the British musician known as Donovan. He’s as iconic a representative of the 1960’s as the Beatles, or Simon and Garfunkel, or the Rolling Stones, and was certainly as popular as any of them in Europe (perhaps less so in the USA). I’d say he’s more emblematic of the drug-using, feel-good “hippie generation” and the “turn on, tune in and drop out” movement than any of them (not to mention the influence of Zen Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation, very big as they were in that period). Still, his music isn’t played nearly as much in America as it is in his own country, so I suppose there’s some excuse for them never having heard of him.
At any rate, I thought I’d remedy that by putting up half a dozen of his best-known songs. You’ll find many more on YouTube if you look for them. In no particular order, here we go.
How many of you were having flashbacks to your misspent youth as you heard those songs? I certainly was . . .
Peter
I don't necessarily change stations if "Season of the Witch" is playing on the radio.
In the chilly hours and minutes of uncertainty … can’t even remember if they were his words, they ring a bell. Feeling all mellow yellow.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8a8cutYP7fo3iGNGjHP6X_MnLqyiAPYc
With what might seem musically anomalous, note that the Allman Brothers Band's "Mountain Jam" (which first showed up on record on the Eat A Peach album, and later on the more complete reissues of the Fillmore East Live album) begins by echoing "There Is a Mountain", and so he even gets a writer credit for the cut.
Jennifer Juniper was part of my Mom's inspiration for my little sister's name. (Mine was partly from the villain in a Zane Grey novel, I think I'd told you that?) So I'd heard that song before.
I'm pushing 78, and I remember many of the songs of my yout(h). Some silly, but then, I DO "Silly".
Thanks for the memories! Remember him well!
I never understood the appeal of Donavan but my musical tastes back then ran ro ELP and ELO.
meh, boomertoons. The beatles sucked, and bob dylan needed to find a key and stick to it.
I'll take the Boomtown Rats or The Clash over any of the above, but that's just me.
Thank you much! I had totally forgotten how much I enjoyed Donovan
Some good ones there.