Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan Leitch found a new voice with his eclectic and slightly psychedelic third album “Sunshine Superman”. The single of the title song was originally released in the US in July 1966 but would not be released in the UK until December 1966 due to a contractual dispute. This was unfortunate for Donovan, because this would have been considered much more innovative if it was released on schedule. It is notable as one of the first pop albums to extensively use the sitar and other Eastern musical instrumentation while maintaining an overall radio-friendly sound. It was Donovan’s only single to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It was the first product from the highly successful three-year collaboration between Donovan and producer Mickie Most and is generally considered to be one of the first examples of the musical genre that came to be known as psychedelia.
This song’s kinetic sound was in tune with, as well as ahead of, the times. “I don’t think many people could put their finger on what I was up to,” Donovan told Ultimate Classic Rock in 2012.
Only now, young journalists and history look back and see that in actual fact when you look at the calendar, that the ‘Sunshine Superman’ album was a herald of things to come. A year before “Sgt. Pepper”, a year before [Jefferson Airplane’s] “Surrealistic Pillow”.
In fact, a case could be made for “Sunshine Superman” as the first truly, and fully, psychedelic album. The Beatles and others had obviously dipped in a toe or two, but this was arguably the first album that flowed from start to end with a psychedelic glow.
Donovan told the Guardian in 2016:
It’s primarily a love song, but I was also trying to get to the invisible fourth dimension of transcendental superconscious vision.
“Sunshine” was indeed slang for LSD, but the reference was actually about the sun coming through my flat’s window. “Superman” had nothing to do with the superhero or physical power. It’s a reference to the book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” by Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote about the evolution of consciousness to reach a higher superman state.
The muse, and love interest, that was the inspiration of the song (as well as most songs on the album) was Linda Lawrence.
Linda, of course, was on my mind. I knew she would realize the song was about us. Five other songs on the album also were written for her.
I first met Linda Lawrence in March 1965 in the green room of “Ready Steady Go!,” the British pop TV show. Linda was a friend of one of the co-hosts. She had an art-school vibe, and after a brief conversation, I asked her to dance to a soul record playing. As we jazz danced, I fell in love. In the weeks that followed, Linda and I spent time together. She told me she had recently separated from Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones’ founder. She said while they never married, they had a 1-year-old son named Julian. After their split, Linda lived quietly at home, building her modeling portfolio. In the spring of ’65, she moved to Los Angeles to find work. Brian wasn’t providing financial support, and Linda wanted to start fresh. She left Julian with her mother until she was settled.
Linda Lawrence:
The first time I met Don on “Ready Steady Go!,” I felt something deep. But I had a young son then and I was only 17½. I needed time after Brian [Jones] and I split up. Don courted me all that summer in London and asked me to marry him in L.A. I wasn’t ready. Don was heartbroken, but I did love him. In L.A., I cashed in my return ticket and rented an apartment on the Sunset Strip. Then my London modeling portfolio was stolen and so were the lovely lace and velvet clothes Don had bought me. I couldn’t land modeling work easily, so I supported myself by making clothes and cutting hair. One day in 1966, I was home with my best friend Cathy when “Sunshine Superman” came on the radio. At the end, Cathy just looked at me, “Oh my God,” she said, “he still loves you.”
The story does end well. Donovan:
The song was a smash. Four years later, I was renting my old cottage in Hertfordshire out to two American girls. Lorey, one of them, went to a party at Eric Clapton’s house with Linda, who was back from LA. To this day I don’t know if Lorey was setting us up, but she told Linda: “I’m renting a cottage. Want to see it?” I met them when they came round and Lorey said: “Oh, do you two know each other?”
I gave Linda a hug. Then I grabbed my guitar and we walked into the woods to a field, where we sat down. I sang her a song I was writing. A cow came along and licked her on the face and walked off. We laughed. Soon after, Linda and I moved in together with Julian, and we married on Oct. 2, 1970. Linda and I have been together ever since.
There is more to this song, however, than a nice love story. The writing and recording of this song, and the album it was on, involved quite a few well known musicians.
In late 1965, my U.K. manager introduced me to Allen Klein, who advised the Rolling Stones and would later manage the Beatles. Klein introduced me to Mickie Most, a hugely talented English record producer who wanted to work on my upcoming third album.
When the album was temporarily shelved in early ‘66, Mickie begged me not to play “Sunshine Superman” for Paul [McCartney]. Mickie knew we had an innovative album and he was afraid Paul would like it and be inspired. I played the album for Paul anyway. “Sunshine Superman” was a pioneering work that for the first time presented a fusion of Celtic, jazz, folk, rock and Indian music as well as poetry. Paul liked it. Originally, when we recorded “Sunshine Superman,” it had a subtitle—“For John and Paul.” But we dropped it.
I played it to McCartney anyway. But they were already there, anyway, and George Martin was doing something similar with The Beatles, working out arrangements from ideas they had in their heads. George Martin was The Beatles’ guy and John Cameron was my guy and they both had an appreciation of jazz which was key.
As for some of the musicians who played on the track, there was half of what would become Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page on lead guitar, and John Paul Jones on electric bass.
He walked in – he was a session guy [on “Sunshine Superman”]. He did the session and we liked each other. That was as quick as it was. My father worked with me for a while, because I was underage and couldn’t sign contracts. I loved my father; he taught me a lot about poetry and stuff. And he kept everything. He gave me a box of papers that he kept, and in the papers was something from a Jimmy Page session: “Jimmy Page, £3.10.” It was amazing.
The duo reunited in 2011 to perform a note-for-note rendition of the folk artist’s classic 1966 album, and this song.
Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire (England), London, California, and since at least 2008 in County Cork, Ireland, with his family.
He taught John Lennon a finger-picking guitar style in 1968 that Lennon employed in “Dear Prudence”, “Julia”, “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and other songs. In an interview with Guitar World, Donovan explained his style:
It’s called the claw-hammer, and it comes from the Carter family and Maybelle Carter, who’s called “Mother” Maybelle now. In the Twenties, she transposed a banjo-picking style to guitar so there’d be a walking bass on the guitar. I learned it from a guy called Dirty Hugh. And I learned it well.
That early folk style, which I taught John and he adapted, would be in a song of mine called “To Try for the Sun” from the Fairytale album from 1965. It’s actually played with a capo. John plays a very clean, basic fingerstyle on “Dear Prudence” and “Julia.” He became quite proficient at it very quickly, and he developed his own style.
Donovan had befriended many of the early artists, such as John and Paul, Joan Baez, Brian Jones, and many others, including Chas Chandler and the Animals. Chas introduced Donovan to Jimi Hendrix on his initial arrival in the UK.
When we got into the music business, Gypsy Dave [Gyp Mills], my road buddy since we were 16, and I used to hang out with the Animals. Gypsy was dating Yvonne, a Swedish girl, and [Animals bassist] Chas Chandler was dating another Swedish girl, the friend of Gypsy’s Swedish girl. It seems a lot of rock bands were dating Swedish girls in the Sixties! So one day, we’re sitting around – me, Gypsy and Yvonne—and a call came in. It was Chas, and he said to Gyp, “You’ve got to get in a taxi and get to Heathrow. I’m picking up a guitar player from New York. He’s fucking amazing.” So Gypsy finally arrives at this horrible hotel we were staying in because we were busted and couldn’t go back to our apartment [laughs], and there was Jimi. He was thin, had an afro, a matchbox suitcase and a Fender guitar. We were the first to welcome Jimi to England.
In November 2003, Donovan was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Hertfordshire and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014.
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