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 Posted
on Thu, Oct. 31, 2002
Donovan, still relevant after all these years
Tunes by 1960s flower-power minstrel getting new life in pop culture
By JONATHAN TAKIFF
takiffj@phillynews.com
Why
should we care that Donovan is playing the Tin Angel next week?
No,
the man has not have done much new for us lately, besides releasing
a children's music album (appropriately called "The Pied
Piper"). Yet his legacy is still burning bright, and yes,
he's still wearing his love like heaven.
Consider
this evidence.
In
his 1960s folk-protest years, singing anthems like "Universal
Soldier" and "Catch the Wind," Donovan Leitch was
positioned as the rival and equal to Bob Dylan - in much the same
way that the media trumped up a "war" between the Beatles
and the Rolling Stones.
But
the truth, Donovan related in a recent call from northern Italy,
was something different. Even the seeming fireworks between him
and Dylan exposed in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary "Don't
Look Back," were seriously edited for dramatic effect. "They
cut out all the sweet and harmonious scenes between us, and also
the shots of me and Allen Ginsberg lettering the signs that Bob
used in the 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' sequence. That feud
was just a joke."
Music
history also places the Scottish-born, roving minstrel at the
forefront of the '60s flower power revolution that's still bearing
buds. He was the "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Sunshine
Superman" who espoused peace and spiritual enlightenment
through meditation and songs of love. Look at the newsreels of
the Beatles' famous spiritual pilgrimage to India and yup, there's
Donovan (and actress Mia Farrow, among others) trailing alongside
them.
"I
also found time in India to teach John [Lennon] the guitar technique
he used on 'Julia' and 'Dear Prudence,' " Donovan recalled
with obvious delight.
In
the grand scheme of things, Donovan's most lasting influence may
have been his birthing of folk jazz and popularizing of world
beat music - by integrating cool school flutes and bongos, plus
Latin, Caribbean, gypsy flamenco and classical licks into his
cheeky pop songs and arrangements. "I loved it all and in
particular the rediscovery of ancient Celtic rhythms" - which
of course became a major movement unto itself.
Of
late, Donovan has been largely preoccupied with spiritual pursuits,
including raising funds to build a Tibetan Buddhist school in
north India, honoring the 12th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.
Yet despite this otherworldly work, he continues to have a presence
in the contemporary pop mindset - more than most.
"Not
a week goes by when someone doesn't call and ask if they can use
one of my songs in a movie or commercial," Donovan related
as he highwayed to being honored at the San Remo Music Festival.
"I particularly liked the use of 'Season of the Witch' in
the Nicole Kidman movie 'To Die For,' during the end titles when
she's under the ice. The Gap did a big campaign last year with
'Mellow Yellow,' and there's some music of mine in the new George
Clooney movie ["Solaris"], I think." (Yours truly
also just heard Donovan's "Colours" scoring the current
Kohl's TV spot.)
So
what's bringing Donovan to our town for a couple of very rare
and surprisingly intimate shows at Tin Angel next week? Clearly,
his sense that the visit will bring some good karma to all concerned.
"My
initial purpose was to come over to Washington, D.C., for a very
special event at a gallery called Govinda in Georgetown, where
my old friend Barry Feinstein is staging a photo exhibit. He was
responsible for the first images of myself in '66 that represented
me to the U.S. He was also Dylan's photographer in the early days
and took the cover photo for George's [Harrison] 'All Thing's
Must Pass' album. So then when I found out from my old friend
Larry Goldfarb that the Tin Angel was having a special anniversary,
I thought why not come up and celebrate with you. This is what
you call a 'one-off.' It's the only shows I'm doing this time
'round" (and he's doing them solo).
Ah,
but with singer-songwriters on the ascendancy again, and Donovan
contemplating his upcoming 40th anniversary of music-making, the
Philadelphia gigs may be the kindling for a major career revival
"in the next 18 months to two years," he allowed. "I've
just completed an album with the great Danny Thompson on bass
and Jim Keltner on drums, a very good project, I think, that we're
shopping around to the industry.
"Also,
my daughters Astrella and Oriole have just formed a label, Donovan
Discs and a new publishing company, She Music, to deal with the
archive of 400 lost tapes of mine - a lot of studio sessions and
demos that just go on forever. Prolific writers like myself, Dylan,
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell wrote a lot of songs that's nobody's
ever heard." Some of that treasure trove is already available
via his Web site - www.donovan.ie.
Also
in the works are a Donovan biography and his own autobiography,
a video documentary and a six-disc box set covering his most honored
and successful career years.
So
maybe it's time to fire up one of those e-lectrical bananas, and
get mellow yellow, all over again?
"You
can't repeat the kind of creative renaissance we went through
in the '60s, every decade," Donovan concluded, "but
the seeds of those years are flowering today. The government programs
are being developed by the age group that came to enlightenment
in the '60s. It always looks awful on the six o'clock news, but
now it's up to the '60s generation, and the children of the '60s
generation, to develop the ideas that will save the world."
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