Sunshine Superman

Woke with a strong sense of the melody of this song, but only a very vague sense of the lyrics and no clue about the recording artist. I found it by googling the only bit of lyric I could conjure: "when you make your mind up." Now that I'm hearing it, of course it's Donovan. I thought maybe Turtles, Small Faces, but knew I couldn't quite get a bead on it. The magical internets also tell me that Jimmy Page (then of the Yardbirds) and John Paul Jones (later also of the Yardbirds; both soon after of Zep fame) play on the track. Kind of an epic song in the rock canon, it seems, and good trivia for a future pub quiz!

Artist: Donovan
Year: 1966
Rating: Warm

There Is A Mountain

Fun performance, though he's having a tough time rallying the crowd on the chorus. I have no idea why I was triggered to remember this song this morning. I can appreciate the spiritual simplicity better now than when I first heard it as a wily teen and had to mock it. It was still amusing to wake to, though.

Artist: Donovan
Year: 1967
Rating: Warm

Mellow Yellow

I'm just mad about Saffron/And she's just mad about me.

Could have sworn I'd blogged about this song before, but nope.

Artist: Donovan
Year: 1966
Rating: Warm

Happiness Runs

First learned this song as a camper at good old Camp Shalom, but we sang it a bit differently than the original. And then, us little hooligans intentionally bastardized the lyrics by substituting "happiness" with "diarrhea," since, you know, it runs in a circular motion...?

Still, lots of fond feelings for this lovely meditation. "You can be anything if you let yourself be." It's twoo.

Artist: Donovan
Year: 1969
Rating: Warm

The State I Am In

Cute montage video - unfortunately the very very end of the song gets cut short. But this is one of my most dearly loved tracks from post-jangle pop twee band Belle & Sebastian. I love their ability to set serious lyrics to an uplifting Donovan-esque tune. And the chorus is absolutely cathartic.

Artist: Belle & Sebastian
Year: 1996
Rating: Hot!