Utahpolis

Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man

As most of you who know me are aware, I’m a huge Donovan fan. Naturally, I was pleased, then, to find a copy of Donovan’s recently published autobiography at a used book store a couple of months ago.

Donovan remains a bit of a mystery to most people, including myself. While he was hugely popular in the 60’s, his fame has dwindled over the years. I’d imagine this is due either to the fact that his flower-power music (he claims to have been the inspiration for the term) hasn’t aged well, or that he made some awful albums in the 70’s and 80’s and was deservedly ignored. Whatever the reason, his peers have countless books written about them, yet Donovan’s autobiography is the first I’ve come across relating to him.

In the book, Donovan focuses almost entirely on the 60’s. If you believe what he says, he basically retired from music in 1970. This is quite odd, since he continued to record steadily up to the early 80’s, not including his more recent come-back albums. Just because those awful records are out of print doesn’t mean they don’t exist, Donovan! You can’t fool us all!

Now that I think about it, though, I’m kind of glad that he left out the bad times and focused on the good. It would have been somewhat depressing to read about why and how he went from his former greatness to new-age fluff.

For me, the book flew by. Donovan is a great story-teller and has plenty of tales to choose from. Somewhat surprisingly, he comes off as a bit of a hedonist. Throughout the book, Donovan discusses with great detail his various exploits with the ladies. This caught me off guard. I’ve always thought of him as this super-polite harmless fellow, and phrases like “I would have to creep up on her body delicately and have my fingers in her panties before she knew it” certainly throw a new light on our old buddy.

Donovan - Wear Your Love Like Heaven

Other points of hedonism? Well, there’s the expected drug use, but it isn’t really a major part of his life. One thing that struck me, though, was Donovan’s desire to escape society. After leaving home at a young age he became a beat, living on beaches and enjoying the proto-hippie lifestyle. Once he became famous, it seems like he spent as much time trying to stay out of the business as he did staying in. The book is sprinkled with extended stays in Greece, India, Ireland, Mexico and an aborted trip to sail around the world.

Donovan - Sunny Goodge Street

If you’re interested in reading about the music side of things, that’s all there to. He talks about meeting Dylan, a brief romance with Joan Baez, hanging out with The Beatles, the demise of Brian Jones, getting busted for drugs, etc. It was most fascinating to read Donovan explain how his albums were made. Some of his arrangements were so out-there and I always wondered what possessed him to do this or that in a certain song. Thankfully, Donovan gives us great insight into the making of his albums.

It’s also refreshing to see Donovan stand up for himself, to a degree. Most people don’t know it, but he was an influential figure and helped to shape a lot of the music that came out of the sixties. In the book, he’s quick to point out where he didn’t get credit for creating flower-power or being the first to embrace sitars or adding jazz to pop music. He does seem a little bitter at times, but he has a right to be.

If you have the slightest bit of interest in Donovan, I definitely recommend picking up this book at some point. It’s a quick read and stays engaging all the way through.

Cover Lay Down has a nice article on the modern-day perception of Donovan, along with some recent covers of his music.

Sadly, I can’t find any tour dates to announce. If you get a chance to see a rare Donovan concert, don’t pass it up! I had to suffer through a John Mellencamp show a couple of years ago in order to see Donovan do a thirty minute set and it was totally worth it. The best part was when Donovan came out with John Mellencamp and Stephen King (!!!) to do “Little Pink Houses”. Biggest WTF moment of my concert-going career. Ain’t that America, indeed.