Re: Donovan/Dylan

[jgower@mtholyoke.edu (Jeff Gower)]

Andrzej wrote:
>"ah but I may as well try to catch the wind..."
>Donovan was definitely, consciously imitating Dylan when he first
>appeared.

Perhaps you are right, but I just never liked him being called a Dylan
"clone", especially long after his initial Dylanesque phase - their sound
was quite different, IMO.  Dylan was such a powerful force in those days,
his influence was everywhere.  And no doubt about it, he was one of
Donovan's early idols.

>If in any doubt at all about this, just watch "Don't Look Back",
>a documentary of Dylan's 1965 English tour (the last before he went
>electric). There is a wonderful scene where Dylan and Donovan meet- Don.
>obviously awe-struck in the presence of his idol,

GREAT film, folks!  Even if you aren't interested in Dylan, this is a very
entertaining film.  Anyway, yeah, I remember Donovan was very visibly
awe-struck and nervous around his idol, especially having to sing one of
his songs in front of him - talk about a case of "I'm not worthy!"  It
would be something like Tori Amos singing one of her songs in front of the
Master, Kate!  Haha!  (Sorry, Tori fans, I am being frivolous here and mean
no offense)  :-)

>then Dylan takes the guitar and sings "It's all ocver now,
>Baby Blue" , looking out of the corner of his eye like "See, kid, this is
>how it's done".

Yep, precisely!  I noticed that also, and Donovan looked like he was going
to shrink up and disappear.  I wonder what Dylan really thought of Donovan
- did he respect him at all, or was it otherwise?

>This is not to say that Donovan did not outgrow his Dylan phase- he
>definitely did progress.

Yeah, for sure!  Hey, Donovan is no Dylan, but he is still worthy of more
respect than simply being brushed off as a Dylan clone these days.

Thanks for the reminder of the Don't Look Back film - I am going to have to
rent it again soon.

Jeff