Lyr Req: Colours (Donovan)

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 02:25 PM

PDQ, Thanks for Donovan's caterpillar explanation! The image certainly resembles the piles of work on my desk. Now, who's Juanita?

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: Chris Green
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 02:04 PM

To be honest, most of Donovan's stuff doesn't really float my boat. However, I rather liked the soundtrack he did to Zefferelli's 1972 film "Brother Sun and Sister Moon" about Francis of Assissi. Anyone heard it?

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: Pauline L
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:49 PM

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.

Thanks for reminding me of Donovan's songs.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: pdq
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:07 PM

Cool Beans -

Donavan once explained the song lyrics "first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is" by saying that he was watching a caterpillar. It moved by raising it's back , then lowering it, then raising it again as it moved along. Yep, that is his story.

Also, the Allman Brother's "Mountain Jam" is based on the melody of that song. Maybe the best jam the Allmans ever recorded.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 12:41 PM

I had no idea that Ione Skye was his daughter. She's a looker that one! Haven't seen her in anything lately though...
And it's a well-known fact that if Dylan doesn't scorn you, he doesn't like you.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: PoppaGator
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 11:52 AM

I could've answered immediately, too, if I'd been here an hour ago. It's pretty amazing how many respondants have contributed to this thread in such a short time. Donovan gave us quite a few wonderful folk-ish songs that have really stood the test of time.

It's a treat to be reminded of a great song (one that I used to perform quite regularly, back in the old days). I had forgotten all about it, but remembered *instantly* as soon as I read GUEST Sheila's query. "Catch the Wind" was a favorite, too -- I'm sure that I sang it with a somewhat rougher edge than Donovan did, but never analyzed it like catspaw49 does above (at 12:31 AM). I think he's absolutely right!

An old friend used to sing "Season of the Witch" regularly, when fronting a band; he'd always do a humorous spoken introduction, impersonating a radio DJ promoting his station -- "All Donovan, All The Time!"

Oh yeah, one more thing -- it's true that Donovan's son, Donovan Leitch [Jr.], has worked as a movie actor, and so has his daughter, Ione Skye.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 11:31 AM

Donovan, like all of us the same age back then, was in awe of Bob Dylan. OK, so he tried to be like his hero (I remember stepping into a crappy recording booth in Blackpool around 1964 with my crappy guitar to record "Times they are a changin'" - adopting the characteristic nasal twang of course) - it cost me a couple o'bob (lot of money back then) and it was a disaster. Donovan had a bit more success than me I'm pleased to say - and is still selling his songs.

He certainly didn't deserve the disdainful scorn that Dylan heaped on him (why is it that Bob manages to wax so lyrically about his fellow man, yet treat him with disrespect?)

I still have his songbook (in pristine condition) bought way back then - good luck to him. He's living in Co Clare Ireland - a wonderful place to sit and play your guitar; still married to his childhood sweetheart; Mr Zimmerman could do much worse.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 10:50 AM

Didn't his SON act in the late 80's?

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: Splott Man
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 10:49 AM

Yellow is the color of my true love's teeth
In the morning,....

Blue is the color of my true love's chin....

Red is the color of my true love's eyes...

Green is the colour that I get
When I see her...

That's what I used to sing anyway

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 10:41 AM

See the current issue of Acoustic Guitar for a nice article on the man, info on his new cd, and a picture of his cool guitar - I'd like one like that with Yr Draig Coch. I have always like to do Catch the Wind and Colors - both sound great with the ol' Echo harp. Whatever happened to his actress daughter?
Chris yn Wheaton

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 10:38 AM

After finishing a prodigious amount of work and taking a break before beginning another I finally understood (after many years) what Donovan may have meant by "First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is." Good art will do that to you.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's? (Colours)
From: alanabit
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 03:14 AM

Donovan probably had a hard time because too much was expected from him. There only ever was one Bob Dylan and there was only ever going to be one. Donovan had a plaintive voice, could play guitar and wrote some wistful songs. With intelligent producers, it made for good pop music at the time. I have heard different versions of both Colours and Catch the Wind. I am with Spaw on this one. Spot on. Catch the Wind is my favourite too.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:23 AM

I think Gene Clarke (the bloke in the Byrds) once sang it : "Red is the colour of my true love's nose, in the morning..."

I love Don by the way.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Peace
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 12:41 AM

Jaysus, Pat, I've never known you to go even slightly off topic. That's another good'un from Mr Leach.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 12:31 AM

Versions make such a difference in a song. Another of my favorite songs is "Catch the Wind" and I generally have heard it as a bit plaintive to the point of sighing. But the song, both words and tune, lends itself to a different interpretation. Far more aggressive in it's plaintiveness and with some anger thrown in for good measure as though the singer is mad at himself and the world because he cannot remedy the situation. In the first version the singer is basically hopeless and in the second, though equally hopeless, the dude ain't giving up without a fight.

This may be a classic "navel gazer" to some, but unlike a true navel gazes where only the writer can directly relate, "Catch the Wind" shares an emotion and situation that many have felt in one way or another.

Sorry to zoom off topic there..........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:40 PM

Donovan later re-recorded the song with a band arrangement; that's the one in the sound clip. The original was just him and a guitar.

The song gets asked about here from time to time. Usually somebody insists on posting a parody, though that wears thin quite quickly. See also

colours by donovan

colors donovan

Red is the Color of My True Love's H

Colors (Digital Tradition file with title mis-spelled and incomplete attribution)

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:34 PM

Brucie, Mark,

I was born in '59. I found him (like Dylan) later. If I have any memories of a girl it was probably my grade four teacher. But I think that there was an innocence about Donovan. I also believe that he lacked the confidence that he was entitled to. It could have come from Dylan dismossing him as evidenced in "Don't Look Back". But I think that where Dylan created his magic by putting his slant on his American influences, Donovan did the same using British Folk Influence. Thank goodness for both of them.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:30 PM

Hi y'all. I'm verrrrrry impressed!!! YOU GOT THE SONG!!!!! and thank you, but the memory I have is of a more dreamy version. And Brucie, I have to tell you, my husband once wooed me with that Tommy Roe record: "Never knew a girl, like-a little Sheila....." I still love it. And him. Sheila

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:15 PM

Steve, Donovan was a Dylan wannabe in his early years (workman's cap, harmonica, and all), and then metamorphosed into a flower child. I liked both of him.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Peace
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:10 PM

Goodness, do I agree with that, Steve. Donovan seemed to adopt the look Dylan had (the buffalo hair), but his writing was always his own. I liked his voice and that mellow kinda thing he brought to his material. Listening to his material always takes me back to a certain summer in California, and it never fails to evoke feelings that I had then. Mostly it was a mad crush on a gal, but it was other things, too. He represented in some ways the 'flower child' image in my mind, and his voice will ever remind me of those gentle people.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:06 PM

Nice song...

Play it (keywise) where you feel comfy...

Bobert

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:02 PM

It's nice to see that the CD version of Donovan's Greatest hits includes the four bonus tracks. Have the Cassette and I could never understand why they (especially "Atlantis") were left off.

I know that Donovan is often slagged as a Dylan wanabee. I really liked him. I thought that he wrote some wonderful, albeit sometimes disjointed, songs. Hey, it was the sixties. I thought he had a wonderful voice and great feel. Colours is a great example. The loose percussion and harmonies were wonderful. There are very few producers today who wouldn't want to tighten it up, but in doing so they would lose the magic of the song.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Peace
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:53 PM

Sorry, Steve. Cross-posted.

I always liked that song and it's neat to be reminded of it. Thank you, Sheila and Steve.

And thanks, Sheila, for having a name that reminds me of another favourite that was done by Tommy Roe.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Cluin
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:52 PM

Sorry you had to wait so long, Sheila.   ;)

Subject: ADDPOP: Colors/Colours ^^^
From: Peace
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:50 PM

Yellow is the color of my true love's hair
In the morning, when we rise
In the morning, when we rise
That's the time,
That's the time
I love the best

Blue is the color of the sky-y-y
In the morning, when we rise
In the morning, when we rise
That's the time,
That's the time
I love the best

Green is the color of the sparkling corn
In the morning, when we rise
In the morning, when we rise
That's the time
That's the time
I love the best

Mellow is the feeling that I get
When I see her, mm-hmmm,
When I see her, mm-hmmm
That's the time,
That's the time
I love the best

Freedom is a word I rarely use
Without thinking, mm-hmmm,
Without thinking, mm-hmmm,
Of the time,
Of the time
When I've been loved

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:49 PM

I just did an Amazon search. It's called Colours. There is a sound clip here.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000ICNY/qid=1100835947/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-2356520-4593636?v=glance&s=music

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Peace
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:48 PM

Steve's got it.

Yellow is the colour of my true loves hair
In the morning when we rise
In the morning when we rise
That's the time, that's the time
I love the best.

Subject: RE: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:45 PM

It was Donovan, I believe it was called "Yellow is the colour". Nice song.

Subject: Help! A folk/pop song from the 60's?
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:39 PM

Dear Friends, I'm trying to recall a John Denverish song from the 60's that goes through the colors, e.g., "Red is the color of my true love's ----- in the morning, when I rise; in the morning when I rise; That's the time, that's the time I love the best." In the key of C, it goes, G, GFE, EDC A G, GGAC..CAG..GGAC..DCE..FED..EDC..DCDE..... I'd appreciate hearing from you. Thanks, and Happy Thanksgivings. Sheila