The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #75675 Message #1332569
Posted By: Pauline L
19-Nov-04 - 01:49 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Colours (Donovan)
Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
I have an old songbook of Donovan's, too. It's called "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden," and it has wonderful songs in it. Some of Donovan's best songs, IMO, never made the charts. They come from a time so different from ours, or so it seems, when life was simpler, and men wrote and sang loving, child-like songs. Some of them would probably be classed as children's songs today. The book has some great 60s-ish photos of Donovan in a rich, fantasy world of his own creation.
Here are some of my favorites:
Lullaby of Spring
Rain has showered far her drip Splash and trickle running Plant has flowered in the sand Shell and pebble sunning So begins another spring Green leaves and of berries Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by Mother bird eating cherries.
In a misty tangled sky Fast a wind is blowing In a newborn rabbit's heart River life is flowing So begins another spring...
From the dark and whetted soil Petals are unfolding From the stony village kirk Easter bells of old ring So begins another spring...
[There is so much sweetness and hope in this song]
Widow with Shawl Donovan explains this one by saying that long ago, men went out on ships to sea for a very long time. Their wives at home often waited years for them, not knowing when they would return or even whether they were still alive. A woman who is waiting and wondering sings, "I a-weary wait upon the shore."
There is another one that I love but can't remember the title or find the words in my large collection of disorganized music. Here is what I remember. If you know more about this than I do, please enlighten me. Little pebble in the sand I am holding you in my hand. How many years have you been lying here? Little human upon the sand You are holding me in your hand. How many years have you been standing here?
These songs, although often simple and childlike, have a "zen" character, reminding me of the oneness of the universe. After all, Donovan studied under the Maharishi in India.