Donovan Leitch Monday, March 10, 1997 New York City

So, here we have self-described legendary 60s icon Donovan, known for his hits "Mellow Yellow," "Sunshine Superman," and "Hurdy Gurdy Man," in a phone interview back in 1997 when I was working in Boulder, Colorado. Donovan had just released a new album with Rick Rubin that was supposed to do for his career what American Recordings did for Johnny Cash's. It didn't, and Donovan went back to slumbering retirement in Ireland. As far as interviews go, it's pretty tasty to talk to a guy who's rubbed shoulders with Dylan and the Beatles. Here he is, though, talking about Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, and some rather new-age drippiness.

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How does it feel to be in the music business for nearly four decades?

Well, I seem to be a legendary 60s icon, so if you see a 60s icon walking down Main Street, it'll probably be me. When I started, there was nothing legendary about me, but now I seem to be part of history. My music has settled into the ambience of the last 30 years. In the beginning, of course, no one knew how long it was gonna last. We thought it was going to be one season and we'd move on to doing something else, and I thought I was hitchhiking to India and beyond after my second record.


A few years ago, you worked with producer Rick Rubin. How did that project (Sutras) come about?

I couldn't have hoped for a better friend and ally. He's a great fan and a great talent. The way the record was made, we decided to make an album that wasn't all guns blazing and pop rock, although I have written a lot of pop and rock. I wrote 100 songs for this project, and out of those selections we made an album that is very personally me. I'm feeling quite comfortable returning. I knew I was part of things and I knew I was at the forefront of a lot of fusions and creating avenues for other musicians to walk down. I was very aware of that. There was quite a lot of groudbreaking going on. I knew what I was doing but I never thought of the future. One doesn't wake up every morning and say, "Good morning, 60s icon, how you doing today?"


It's pretty funny -- you, folk troubador, working with the guy who produced Slayer and the Beastie Boys! How did you meet Rick?

In the beginning I didn't know he was into hip-hop, rap or metal. In fact, the Rick Rubin I met was into Johnny Cash and Tom Petty and Mick Jagger. The guy I met was a big fan of mine, and he'd played my CDs to his artists for 12 years. He tried to meodel his way of recording vocals and instruments the way I made my records and the way the Beatles made their records. He was on his way to recording me a long time ago, but I didn't know which background he came from. So when I met him, I met the analog guy. He was into acoustic guitars and perferred making record in old studios with 60s equipment. On the outside, I guess it's an extraordinary match, Donovan and Rick Rubin -- but it's a good one. I wasn't sitting around twiddling my thumbs, waiting for somebody to call. But I wanted to make a record and Rick called in '93. He called and I asked my manager, "who the hell is Rick Rubin?" Like a fool, I didn't know. As it happened, he wasn't only the owner of a major independent label releasing records through Warner Brothers, but a guy who resembles in more ways than one George Martin or Phil Spector -- he's that kind of producer. He's a classic producer. But not only that, he's a meditator, a vegan, a student of kundalini yoga, and he owns two libraries of mystical books. I went, "BIN-GO!" How close can you get? He'd been wanting to make a record with me for years. I'd been looking for someone like that, but I thought those guys had gone.

You're incorporating more 'world music' influences than we heard on your early albums.

I feel like I'm responding again to the movement of the music of the day. On "Sunshine Superman" I was probably one of the first to grab hold of the world music sound and fuse it with harmonica and electric guitar. Peter Gabriel has to be credited for beginning WOMAD (World of Music, Arts, and Dance). In 1995 in England I played WOMAD with the Master Musicians of Jujuka, Joe Strummer and Iggy Pop. You have to feed from the roots.


From your perspective how has the music business changed? Was it hard to get back in the game again?

It's corporate to the max now, it's like Shell and IBM. It takes 30 people to say hello on the phone. It's a nightmare. But I wanted to be in the rock mainstream. All seven majors were contacted, and they were all fans, believe it or not. But they said, "Well, we just don't know where to put you." It was very nice "no." And that's why Rick is perfect, someone like a George Martin or a David Geffen, somebody who's got there own little empire within the corporate group. But the corporations didn't know where to put me because I made my own slot. I moved into a place where nobody else was.

How do you feel about contemporary artists covering your old material? The Butthole Surfers did well with "Hurdy Gurdy Man."

I'm fascinated. There's also a wild version by a band called When People Were Shorter and Lived Near The Water. I can only be flattered when the Butthole Surfers can do "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and make it to #1 in the indie chart, it's a great honor no matter how they're doing the song. That version might be hard to beat. The greatest fame is to be emulated and for your songs to be covered. And, you know, the lineup on the original session when I recorded "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. John Paul Jones arranged that song. So any young band listening to that were actually listening to Donovan and Zeppelin, I suppose. But for "Hurdy Gurdy Man," I actually meant for Jimi Hendrix to record with me when I came back from India. I was there six weeks with the Beatles and Maharishi. You know the rest. It's history.


Did you know Nick Drake, or feel any kinship with his music? It wasn't quite as optimistic as yours.

Maybe one night I brushed past him in a folk club. I guess there may have been a Donovan influence there, I don't know. Optimism? Read Buddhism. Come to some terms with your own angst. We're all damaged and it's not our parents’ fault, not really. We're here and we've got this obstacle course, this adventure, and we're all heroes and heroines of our own myth and legend. And we've go to find out which stage of the journey we're on. This life is a story and you're on it. This has not been an easy path, it's been rocky. I've been off and on the path. I've made things as difficult for my partner as well as any man can. But optimism, what else is there? You either call it a day, like poor Nick, or you say, "here comes another day -- let's see what we can do with this?" And it does help to have a partner. A lot of people get lost because they don't have a friend, it's true. Are you about to meet the goddess ... or are you a goddess about to meet the prince? I'm still on the path, I'm still questing away here, a knight in tarnished armor. I keep slaying the same dragon every day.

Will you be publishing a biography anytime soon?

They say if you remember the 60s you weren't there, but I remember a lot of things. Putting on one of my old songs -- or anybody's -- is great way of jogging the memory.


(Copyright 2010 by Jeffrey Charles Stratton. All right reserved. This material cannot be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission)