I had totes forgotten about Donovan! My iPod and I thank you.

Donovan has never stopped producing music. Check out his discography. He is one of the true legends of music, though largely unrecognized. There are at least 23 studio albums. From Amazon:

"Donovan Leitch struggled to escape the frequent comparisons which tagged him as Britain's Bob Dylan, though he did seem to be happier, and perhaps somewhat prettier, than his US counterpart."

Timing is everything, but his music has become even more enjoyable in later years (IMHO) as the troubadour has largely disappeared. I think Elliot Smith is of a similar vein, but darker. He is greatly missed.

My favorite Donovan song these days is "Catch the Wind" although I also have a great fondness for a song called "Colours" with the Brit spelling. That one is better known as, "That's the Time I Love the Best."
In true 60s fashion the plural, "Colours" does not appear anywhere in the lyrics of the song making it harder to market.
I was in bands that played "Sunshine Superman" into the ground as well as this one, "Season of the Witch", although we stuck to the arrangement from the "Super Sessions" album by Mike Bloomfield, etc...
On the trivia front, did you know that the voice speaking in "Mellow Yellow" is Paul McCartney?

Finally, on the Bob Dylan thing: It is beyond classic when Donovan hooks up with a young, brilliant Bob Dylan in the movie, "Don't Look Back."
Donovan sings one of his songs, and then Bob breaks out a little something he's been writing called, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."

The look on Donovan's face is priceless. He's clearly knocked out by the tune but there's a realization that there is no way he'll ever touch Dylan with the lyrics. Very endearing. Dylan's song is so new that the greatness in the lyrics is still causing Bob to crack up a little as he sings it. He knows it's a knockout.

Donovan can be proud though. If you contribute lasting music of any kind you are on the list of greatness.

Another one, I love: "Jennifer Juniper."
One thing I learned just now: Donovan had polio as a kid as the result of an unsafe vaccination. Yikes.

Of course he got a lot of flack for being wimpy but I think he rises above that into a sort of sophisticated cool vocal sound in his best work. Plus, he lasted and that's the best revenge.

Still, he did take heat for the wimpiness factor and that's going to happen. Especially if you put out an album called, "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden."

Not exactly Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols, is it?

I was blown away by "Atlantis." That was an extreme longshot, but he pulled it off.

And "Epistle to Dippy"!

By the time Cat Stevens showed up, the way had clearly been paved.

BTW, who is the Hurdy Gurdy Man -- Jesus?

"The song was written for Donovan's old friend and guitar mentor Mac MacLeod. MacLeod was in a Danish band at the time called Hurdy Gurdy."--Internet

Perhaps the "man" referred to was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

There's something about Donovan, especially the earlier stuff, that's so tasteful (and in this song so tastefully haunting). For more music news and info check out Oregon Music News

I'll never be able to hear "Hurdy Gurdy Man" now without thinking of the movie "Zodiac"...the song played over the depiction of the first murder shown in the film.