![]() But then Donovan told his father that he was the very one who had planted the rambling seed. His father, a hard-grafting factory worker, had been horrified by this and was trying to convince his son to do a sensible trade such as printing. He ran away from home several times, wanting to sleep under the stars with his guitar and write songs. The rest is musical history, most of which is documented in his autobiography - The Hurdy Gurdy Man. With his father's Protestant work ethic and his Catholic mother's musical background, complete with Irish roots, he became a troubadour. ![]() He always knew that he wanted to be a singer songwriter, performing his own songs. As he says, "the Sixties was a party".ĭonovan's tale is one of talent, luck and hard work. There was much madness with sex, drugs and peace marches. Such hysterical adoration amused him until he realised the possible danger if a scissor girl fell. In his heyday, young women used to chase after him with scissors in their hands, simply to get a lock of his curly hair. ![]() There is something very cheery about him a ready smile and a glint in his stony grey eyes which hints at the hedonistic Sixties when anything could happen. It may be a gloomy day but it matters not a jot, for being in the presence of Donovan is like basking in the tropics. Decades later, on glorious summer days his songs still waft from the radio spreading their simple joy.Īs he drives me to his home, a converted rectory he has lived in for the past 20 years, not only does the sun continue to shun us but the sky glowers down. He is mister Mellow Yellow, the Hurdy Gurdy Man who wrote other well-loved classics such as Catch the Wind, Sunshine Superman and Colours. ![]() This is Donovan Leitch, the Glaswegian folk singer and songwriter who is best known for his music in the Sixties, those gentle songs with messages of peace and love. It is a grey day with a foreboding sky and yet he is wearing this summer hat, he tells me, in the hope that it will bring out the sun. Strands of dark hair hang to his shoulders. In Mallow train station, a man in a cream Panama hat, flowery shirt and pinstriped trousers loiters on the platform. But as Donovan Leitch, who has been married for 40 years and swears by transcendental meditation tells Ciara Dwyer, the groupies he attracted in his heyday tended to prefer reading to sex In the monthly lists of the music magazine music Express was it both in January, as February as March noted.In the Sixties women used to chase after him with scissors in the hope of snipping off a lock of his curly hair. Dutch Top 40 Chart positions: week 48 in 1966 t/m 4 in 1967 The picture was twelve weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at place number 2. In the United Kingdom took the eighth place in eight weeks. In Netherlands and Belgium was then only one chart available. ![]() The song was used in an advertising campaign for a Mello Yello citrusdrankje of Coca Cola Company in the years 80. Mellow yellowis a single by Donovan. It is from his album Mellow yellow. The song is about drugs. At the time, did the story circulating that dried banana peels would have a hallucinogenic effect. Research has shown that that very probably was not the case. The rumor what fellow in the world helped by Country Joe McDonald. Later gave Donovan that the number also refers to the use of a vibrator ( electrical banana is gonna be a sudden craze).Īt the time, the song also called The Beatlesascribed to. Donovan then worked together with those music group and Paul McCartney sang along on Mellow yellow and seems to have appeared on other songs from the corresponding LP by Donovan. On the other hand, Donovan a small contribution to Yellow Submarine.Ī number of covers of the song is known, but none was as popular as the original. There seems to be a French text (under the same title) and also a Italian: Cielo giallo. ![]()
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