International Success, 1967–69
In July, Epic released the single, "There Is a Mountain", which just missed the top ten in the US and was later used as the basis for The Allman Brothers Band's Mountain Jam. In September, Donovan embarked on a tour of the US, backed by a small jazz group and accompanied by his father, who introduced the show.
Later that month, Epic released Donovan's fifth album, an album set entitled, A Gift from a Flower to a Garden, the first rock music box set, and only the third pop-rock double album released. It was split thematically into halves. The first, subtitled "Wear Your Love Like Heaven", was written for the people of his generation that would one day be parents; the second, subtitled "For Little Ones", was a collection of songs Donovan had written for the coming generation. Worried it might be a poor seller, Epic boss Clive Davis insisted the albums be split and sold separately in the US (the "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" album cover was photographed at Bodiam Castle), but his fears were unfounded – although it took time, the boxed set sold steadily, eventually peaking at 19 on US album chart and achieving gold record status in the US in early 1970.
The psychedelic and mystical overtones of the work were unmistakable—the front cover featured an infra-red photograph by photographer Karl Ferris showing Donovan dressed in a robe holding flowers and peacock feathers, while the back cover photo showed him holding hands with Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Surprisingly, the liner notes for the album included an appeal from Donovan for young people to give up the use of all drugs – a notable stance for a rock musician at the height of the Summer of Love. His public disavowal of drugs came after his time with the Maharishi in Rishikesh, a topic discussed in a two-part interview for the first two issues of Rolling Stone magazine.
In late 1967, Donovan contributed several songs to the soundtrack of the Ken Loach film, Poor Cow. The title track (originally called "Poor Love") was released as the B-side of his next single, "Jennifer Juniper", a song inspired by Jenny Boyd, sister of George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd. It was another top 40 hit in the US.
Donovan developed a strong interest in eastern mysticism and claims to have played a significant role in awakening the interest of The Beatles in transcendental meditation. In early 1968 he was part of the group that travelled to India to spend several weeks at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh. The visit gained worldwide attention thanks to the presence of (for a time) all four Beatles as well as Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love and actress Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence (who inspired John Lennon to write "Dear Prudence"). See also: The Beatles at Rishikesh.
According to a 1968 Paul McCartney interview with Radio Luxembourg, it was during this time that Donovan taught Lennon and McCartney various finger-picking guitar styles including the clawhammer style, which he had learned from his St Albans friend, Mac MacLeod. Lennon went on to use the technique on songs including "Dear Prudence", "Julia" and "Look At Me" and McCartney with "Blackbird" and "Mother Nature's Son".
Donovan's next single, released in May 1968, was the swirling psychedelic "Hurdy Gurdy Man". In the liner notes from EMI's reissues, it is revealed that the song was intended for Donovan's old friend and guitar mentor Mac MacLeod, who had a heavy rock band called Hurdy Gurdy. After hearing MacLeod's power trio version, Donovan considered giving it to Jimi Hendrix, but when Mickie Most heard it, he convinced Donovan that the song was a sure single that he should record himself.
Donovan tried to get Hendrix to play on the recording, but he was on tour and unavailable, as was Jimmy Page who was out of the country touring with The Yardbirds. Instead the job went to a young British guitarist, Alan Parker. It is possible Jimmy Page did play on other tracking sessions for The Hurdy Gurdy Man LP, although this is unlikely, as the remaining guitar parts were acoustic only and played by Donovan except on "Tangier", which features Bert Jansch. John Paul Jones played bass with Clem Cattini on drums.
The heavier sound of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was a deliberate attempt by Most and Donovan to reach a wider audience in the US, where new hard-rock groups like Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience were having a major impact. In this case Most's commercial instincts were spot-on, and the song became one of Donovan's biggest hits, making the Top 5 in both the UK and the US, and the Top 10 in Australia.
In July 1968, Epic released Donovan in Concert, the recording of his Anaheim concert in September 1967. The front cover featured only a painting by Fleur Cowles (with neither the artist's name nor the title). The album only contained two of his big hits and several other songs which would have been new to the audience. The expanded double CD release from 2006 contained "Epistle To Derroll", a tribute to one of his formative influences, Derroll Adams. The album also includes extended group arrangements of "Young Girl Blues" and "The Pebble And The Man", a song later reworked and retitled as "Happiness Runs".
During the summer of 1968 Donovan worked on a second LP of children's songs, eventually released in 1971 as the double album, HMS Donovan. In September, Epic released a new single, "Laléna", a subdued acoustic ballad which reached the low 30s in the US charts. The album The Hurdy Gurdy Man followed (not released in the UK), continuing the style of the Mellow Yellow LP and reached #20 in America, despite containing two earlier hits, the title track and "Jennifer Juniper".
After another US tour in the autumn he again collaborated with Paul McCartney, who was producing Post Card, the debut LP by the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin. Hopkin covered three Donovan songs: "Lord Of The Reedy River", "Happiness Runs" and "Voyage of the Moon". McCartney returned the favour by playing tambourine and singing backing vocals on Donovan's next single, "Atlantis", which was released in Britain (with "I Love My Shirt" as the B-side) in late November and reached 23.
Early in 1969, the comedy film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium featured music by Donovan; the title tune was written by him and sung by J. P. Rags, and he also performed "Lord of the Reedy River" in the film as a singer at a youth hostel. On 20 January, Epic released the single, "To Susan On The West Coast Waiting", with "Atlantis" as the B-side. The A-side, a gentle calypso-styled song, contained yet another pointed anti-war message, and became a moderate Top 40 US hit. However, when DJs in America and Australia flipped it and began playing "Atlantis" heavily, that song became a major hit, achieving top ten in both countries in spite of its subject matter, its lengthy spoken introduction, and its running time of five minutes. Ironically, the gentle "Atlantis" formed the musical backdrop to a very violent scene in Martin Scorsese's film "GoodFellas". "Atlantis" was revived in 2000 for an episode of Futurama titled "The Deep South" (2ACV12) which first aired on 16 April of that year. For this episode Donovan recorded a satirical version of the song describing the Lost City of Atlanta which featured in the episode.
In March 1969 (too soon to include "Atlantis"), Epic and Pye released Donovan's Greatest Hits, which included four songs previously only available as singles – "Epistle To Dippy", "There is a Mountain", "Jennifer Juniper" and "Laléna", as well as rerecorded versions of "Colours" and "Catch The Wind" (which had been unavailable to Epic because of Donovan's contractual problems) and specially-mixed stereo versions of "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch". It became the most successful album of his career; it reached #4 in the US, became a million-selling gold record, and stayed on the Billboard album chart for more than a year.
On 26 June 1969 the track "Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)" (recorded May 1969), a song which gained him an avid following on the rave scene decades later, was released, reaching #12 in the UK but charting less strongly in the US. This time he was backed by the original incarnation of The Jeff Beck Group, featuring Beck on lead guitar, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Micky Waller on drums.
The Beck group was under contract to Most and it was Most's idea to team them with Donovan in an attempt to bring a heavier sound to Donovan's work, while also introducing a more lyrical edge to Beck's.
On 7 July 1969, Donovan performed at the first show in the second season of free rock concerts in Hyde Park, London, which also featured Blind Faith, Richie Havens, The Edgar Broughton Band and the Third Ear Band.
In September the Barabajagal album was released (not in the UK), reaching #23 in America. Only the recent "Barabajagal" /"Trudi" single and "Superlungs My Supergirl" were 1969 recordings, the remaining tracks were from sessions recorded in London in May 1968 and in Los Angeles in November 1968.
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