![]() Not so hopeful is the excellent “ Season of the Witch” which opens up side 2. My favourite track appears on the first side, “ A Ferris Wheel”, which as Donovan explained in a Mojo interview: “was about a girl we met that got her hair caught in a Ferris Wheel and had to cut it off.” He can turn any old hap-penance into a thing of poetic wonder that boy: “A silver bicycle you shall ride, to bathe your mind in the quiet tide, far off as it seems your hair will mend, and a Samson's strength to begin again” I quite like a tale with a moral keep reaching for those goals. 'Superman''s released and it's #1 all over the world.'“ Little did the US playlist makers realise that “Sunshine” was a name for LSD! It’s got to be one of the most pleasing number one singles ever to sit atop the American single charts, and it opens up the album with a nod and a wink to the scenesters. He recalled to Billboard Magazine: “The phone rang, and Ashley Kozak, my manager, said 'Get yourself back to Athens, you've got a first-class ticket to London. singles chart, turning his world upside down. Much to his surprise and delight, the insanely catchy “ Sunshine Superman” shot to Number 1 in the U.S. By this time, a cheesed-off Donovan had fled to a Greek island with his trusty creative sidekick, Gypsy Dave. Somewhat tragically, the LP never did see the light of day in Britain and was only finally issued in September ’66 Stateside. Adding to this frustration, Donovan was arrested in June ’66 for drug possession and this prevented him from entry to the US for a while, a penalty which would hamper his imminent promotion of the album over there. Frustratingly, the album’s release was blocked due to some contractual dispute with Pye Records. Most’s production was able to incorporate drums and electric guitars without over-imposing, and bongos, sitar, harpsichord, organ, violin, bouzouki and flute all further graced the third Donovan LP a set which he himself regarded as his masterpiece. Don’t let Paul McCartney hear it.Although it has a largely acoustic feel, the album, produced by Mickie Most, benefitted from highly skilled arrangements, which empathised with the mystical, ethereal poetry of the talented Scot. “Like a movie.” When Mickey heard the result, he said: “We’ve really created something here, Don. “You want a soundtrack to your poetry,” he said. “You need an arranger,” he said, introducing me to John Cameron who understood immediately. I was getting into baroque music and told my producer, Mickey Most, I wanted harpsichord on the track. We were all experimenting, nicking sounds from each other. I tried LSD, mescaline and finally meditation.Īt the time, I was great pals with the Beatles. I’d just read The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley’s book about taking mescaline, and wanted to get to the invisible fourth dimension of transcendental superconscious vision. Sunshine did come softly through my window the day I wrote it, just like in the lyrics, but “sunshine” can also mean LSD. I sang: “It’ll take time, I know it, but in a while / You’re gonna be mine, I know it / We’ll do it in style.” I wrote Sunshine Superman knowing she’d hear the lyrics and realise I still loved her. “Plenty more fish in the sea,” said Gypsy Dave.
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