BluesKing777 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 A couple of weeks ago I was checking out the J45 Donovan reissue and found a youtube clip of him performing Mellow Yellow. In it he said he and Lennon would sometimes peruse the newspapers for inspiration if they were stuck for lyrics on a particular song. He said that's when he came across an ad for a "marital aid", and then he launched into the electrical banana verse of MY. So unless this story is apocryphal, it should definitively answer the question of what the electrical banana refers to. Here 'tis: Well, there it is right from the horse's mouth! Thanks for that link. Mystery solved. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 And all due respect to Donovan, but he was not some great philosopher of the age. He was a 19-20 year-old kid having a blast with pot and the ladies. Then again maybe we should ask Zomb to phone his then-lady and ask her - not about yellow battery driven fruit - but to read the liner-notes for A Gift From a Flower To a Garden. I got the CD about 5 years ago and remember them as pretty out there for a young 1967 mind. He might have had influential inputs, but those words were far ahead of their time, among other things talking 'bout the ways to treat children in order to walk into a harmonious future-society. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Hey, I see Anthony Buckeridge is on-line. Mister B - could you by coincidence happen to have the full key to and understanding of this old hit single ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 And all due respect to Donovan, but he was not some great philosopher of the age. Except maybe with Universal Soldier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Except maybe with Universal Soldier. That song was written by Buffy Saint Marie - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Then again maybe we should ask Zomb to phone his then-lady and ask her - not about yellow battery driven fruit - but to read the liner-notes for A Gift From a Flower To a Garden. I got the CD about 5 years ago and remember them as pretty out there for a young 1967 mind. He might have had influential inputs, but those words were far ahead of their time, among other things talking 'bout the ways to treat children in order to walk into a harmonious future-society. No electric bananas but around 1970 or 1971 when I was working on the river for a living, I did keep a big old laboratory fish tank in the house. There were several decorations scattered around in there that had come from certain shops on 42nd St, NYC. Looked just like a big, strange sea anemone. Kept the Barbie and Ken with their kitchen table anchored at the bottom of the tank company. After hearing the "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" single on the radio, there was not a chance I was going to buy the LP for myself never the less read the liner notes. Then you also have to remember that The 13th Floor Elevators "Easter Everywhere" and Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" came out about the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 It was just a bit of Travis picking which every first year folkie digested. Started playing guitar in 1971 at the age of twenty. First thing a guy in college showed me was a drop-thumb Travis picking pattern (but with thumb & two-fingers as opposed to Merle's one finger technique). Being a fan of Gordon Lightfoot at the time, his music books actually called it "Travis Style" & put some nice chord progressions together with the picking pattern, which was readily expandable. I've never heard of this style referred to as "clawhammer" until reading through these posts. Clawhammer banjo picking yes, but that's a whole different beast. Of course the visual image of the hand over the strings makes sense & one can see how it could easily be applied to a variation of styles. What I know for sure is that I can never get enough of this style of playing. From Merle to Chet to Jerry, etc, it's just the prettiest darn stuff - and it's still what I want to hear most when picking up a guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Here the mentioned liner-notes from the 1967 box-set taken from the net - Oh, what a Dawn Youth is Rising to. With all the Love in my Heart I bequeath this gift from one flower to many. I wish only to enhance and beautify the days of youth that in doing so their young minds be filled with pleasant images. "Phonograph the First"may be described as music for my age group, an age group which is gently entering marriage. The children of the dawning generation are already being born. To these dear "little ones" I bequeath the second phonograph record. A new born child is apure and Holy flower and it is possible to tend and water this child-plant with due care and attention that it may blossom and seek the Sun. It is only Right. I honestly believe my generation is a blessed* one and that we will tend to these newborn ones, so fresh from God's lips. We shall fill their days with fairies and elves and *****s and paints, with laughter and song and the gentle influence of Mother Nature. To fulfill this all-important task we ourselves need the children's tales, once soloved in bygone days. Tales in song and in books. Toys of wood and paper. Homes of warmth and comfort, with love and smiles. No child shall be lonely. And so I sing my poems of the beauty I see that all may see and know the re-assurance I know, that God is Love. I call upon every youth to stop the use of all Drugs and banish them into the dark and dismal places. For they are crippling our blessed growth. Must you lay down your Fate to the Lord High Alchemy In the hands of the Chalk and the Drug Magic circles he will spin and dirges he will sing through the transparency of a Queen Ant's Wing Yes, I call upon every youth to stop the use of all Drugs and heed the Quest to seek the Sun. These poems are for youth, that is true, but they are fluid in their nature and may be enjoyed by All. And I'm sure no adult man or woman will be offended if I direct them to my generation and our children to be. To the blessed inheritors of all these lands. New horizons could not be reached in my work had I not the parental assurance of the most advanced recording company. Epic Records have followed my dreams to these Shores of Song. For which I thank them deeply. I do hope you enjoy my new writings. Thy humble minstrel Donovan * One need only look at our frustrated youth to see the fantastic amount of misdirected energy. ______________________________________________________________ Perhaps a bit Rudolph Steiner inspired, what do I know. Apart from the fact that these words shouldn't be seen as a political statement in this context. Nor do they necessarily express my personal values, beliefs and view-points. They should be seen as a historical document and a comment in this thread and discussion. Nothing more - Nothing less Hail . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Great words! Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, The Dalai Lama, Confucious, Aristotle, Plato, Roussaeu, Machiavelli---all great thinkers and men who spoke great words.....and now (drum roll) we add Donovan to the list....lol....Enjoying this Eminor7. I'd never read that before. I don't know what I read, but I'm still impressed. Thanks for finding that. I kind of think he was high all the time, especially when he was writing. I know you're a fan of his, so I'm just teasing you. However, being a fan of Richards and Cash, I can't go too far with it....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 To me in 1967 Donovan was totally overshadowed by fellow Scots The Incredible String Band who released "The 5,000 Sprits or Layers of the Onion" that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatbaroque Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Enjoyable thread. I have to confess the first record I ever bought from the little record shop in Kogarah (with it's three shelves of records)was the 45 rpm Atlantis.Not quite peak cheese for the Don but certainly on the plateau. 13 year old boys can relate well to those Antediluvian Gods. He wrote plenty of good songs amongst the Celtic Hippie tweeness though. As regards to the mellow Yellow discussion - there are lines from his song 'Young Girl Blues"... "Yourself you touch, But not too much. You hear it's degrading"........ but there was no mention of an electrical banana! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretplay Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Donovan was a miner star in the sixtys but not much heard of since however if something happens in the news relating to that time the press pick him up as he always has plenty to say. In the sixtys the music world moved around a small radius in the West End of London. The Marquee, The Speakeasy, Bag of Nails,it was easy to see Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Ray Davis in these places, no security and safe from fans. A different world unlike today. Donovan claims he got John and Paul into finger style guitar but lots of people were playing it so the Fabs would have had lots of influences. Blackbird is made up of two finger chords not the style Donovan plays however it is very like Joni Mitchell's style and her boyfriend Graham Nash was one of the crowd even came from the North West. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Donovan was a min[o]r star in the sixtys..... In SoCal, it seemed he was right up there with most of the others, IMO. Maybe not in record sales, but he got plenty of radio play. It seemed to me that Joni's first album took lyrics/poetry to a new level. Some of Donovan's stuff was getting there. And of course, Dylan was already there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 In the dictionary, right next to the word "talent" is a picture of Joni Mitchell. In the midst of the heyday of rock & roll, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, she did her own thing. God Bless, and get well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 In SoCal, it seemed he was right up there with most of the others, IMO. Maybe not in record sales, but he got plenty of radio play. Having spent my teenage years in the L.A. area during the '60s, I would agree. Seems like you'd be hearing Donovan all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Maybe because I was in NYC but Donovan seemed kind of silly compared to something like the Fugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Agree Cougar & bobouz - I'd say an artist, who before reaching 20, conquers both sides of the Atlantic including the European continent by, , , delivering 2 albums containing about 8 classics played to this day, , and the following year making the ground-breaking pre-psychedelic Sunshine Superman with timeless #1 US #2 GB title-song, , then putting out the Mellow Yellow LP with another ▲10 hit, , only to move further into 1967 with the second double-album in beat-history (the first box) selling half a million within 3 years, , plus a live-record, which introduces a never heard ultra light impressionist easy-listening flux vibe, , , for in the wake of that to join the Fabs to India and write the oriental inspired, still baroque-pop carrying October '68-release Hurdy Gurdy Man including 2 new chart-singles, , , and finally ending the decade with the super hit LP Barabajagal, is quite something, , , in my book anyway. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I'd say an artist, who before reaching 20, conquers both sides of the Atlantic including the European continent by, , , delivering 2 albums containing about 8 classics played to this day, , and the following year making the ground-breaking pre-psychedelic Sunshine Superman with timeless #1 US #2 GB title-song, , then putting out the Mellow Yellow LP with another ▲10 hit, , only to move further into 1967 with the second double-album in beat-history (the first box) selling half a million within 3 years, , plus a live-record, which introduces a never heard ultra light impressionist easy-listening flux vibe, , , for in the wake of that to join the Fabs to India and write the oriental inspired, still baroque-pop carrying October '68-release Hurdy Gurdy Man including 2 new chart-singles, , , and finally ending the decade with the super hit LP Barabajagal, is quite something, , , in my book anyway. . . Great review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 and the following year making the ground-breaking pre-psychedelic Sunshine Superman with timeless #1 US #2 GB title-song, , Not sure why you call this "pre-psychedelic". The Charlatans had already taken up residence in the Red Dog Saloon (with acid courtesy of Owsley) and Kesey had hosted the First Acid Tests. The Kinks released "See My Friends" (often viewed as the first UK bit of psychedelia) some 5 months before Donovan recorded "Sunshine Superman" while an early version of the 13th Floor Elevators "Your Gonna Miss Me" appeared in the States. Meanwhile the Byrds laid down the first version of "8 Miles High" the same month Donovan recorded his song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I've heard some say that the day Donovan recorded Sunshine Superman was the real "day that the music died." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 Donovan mentions somewhere that George Harrison got the descending A minor bass for While My Guitar Weeps from him, which he got from Davey Graham, who got it in Morocco from Oud players and made the single Anji.......the progression spread like wildfire.... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Donovan mentions somewhere that George Harrison got the descending A minor bass for While My Guitar Weeps from him, which he got from Davey Graham, who got it in Morocco from Oud players and made the single Anji.......the progression spread like wildfire.... BluesKing777. Hmmmm…I play it in Dm….but I get the gist. That chord progression is in a lot of songs too…. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 The guys in Morocco got it from me. At least now we know where it really came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Not sure why you call this "pre-psychedelic". The Charlatans had already taken up residence in the Red Dog Saloon (with acid courtesy of Owsley) and Kesey had hosted the First Acid Tests. The Kinks released "See My Friends" (often viewed as the first UK bit of psychedelia) some 5 months before Donovan recorded "Sunshine Superman" while an early version of the 13th Floor Elevators "Your Gonna Miss Me" appeared in the States. Meanwhile the Byrds laid down the first version of "8 Miles High" the same month Donovan recorded his song. 66 was when these ideas sprung musically and yes, there were others - nothing tho reached the levels waiting round the corner. Not saying he invented the genre - I fx see 1964 Chimes of Freedom as lyrical psychedelia too - but Leitch was out there first-wave exploring. And got away splendidly. . I've heard some say that the day Donovan recorded Sunshine Superman was the real day that "the music died." Don't believe everything you read on the internet, MissouriP ;-) You raw guys are mercyless on the mellow boy in the yellow velvet shirt - you fire slingshots at a butterfly. Such a tough scene to watch, , , apart from the fact you miss the saffron flier. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yggdrasil Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Not sure why you call this "pre-psychedelic". The Charlatans had already taken up residence in the Red Dog Saloon (with acid courtesy of Owsley) and Kesey had hosted the First Acid Tests. The Kinks released "See My Friends" (often viewed as the first UK bit of psychedelia) some 5 months before Donovan recorded "Sunshine Superman" while an early version of the 13th Floor Elevators "Your Gonna Miss Me" appeared in the States. Meanwhile the Byrds laid down the first version of "8 Miles High" the same month Donovan recorded his song. Not to mention that he actually references Jefferson Airplane by name on the Sunshine Superman track "Fat Angel". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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