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Donovan, John and Paul

18 April 2012
2.56am

Into the Sky with Diamonds

New York

Rishikesh

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10 August 2011

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Met Donovan last night. That was a thrill; a great free spirit. Still has that twinkle in his eye.

I asked him if it was true that he taught John the finger picking of "Julia."

Yes, he said. When the Beatles and Donovan were in India, the Beatles only had acoustic guitars. They would strum them perfectly well, but didn't finger pick the strings.

But John was interested, and he wanted to use it on a song he was writing about the mother he never knew, and imagined being on a beach with her.

He also used the finger picking on "Dear Prudence."

"Paul's a genius" Donovan said. "Wouldn't admit to wanting to learn to finger pick, but I could see him out of the corner of my eye." Then he goes off to write "Blackbird" …

"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)

18 April 2012
12.42pm

Ben Ramon

Candlestick Park

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Haha how wonderful! I did in fact imagine it rather like that- Paul sheepishly eying Donovan teaching John to fingerpick and developing his own style rather than coming to Donovan for help. Also Paul and Donovan wrote "Heather", a lovely song of which there is a demo or two banging around.

SHUT UP - Paulie's talkin'

20 April 2012
12.50am

Into the Sky with Diamonds

New York

Rishikesh

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1966 was the year of psychedelic yellow: "Mellow Yellow" "Yellow Submarine"…

Maybe not a coincidence – Donovan was at the crazy "Yellow Submarine" recording session.

Any other colors come to mind?

The White Album, ….

"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)

20 April 2012
1.23am

GniknuS

Rain? I don't mind

Apple rooftop

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That's awesome, I've been looking to get into some Donovan albums recently, any suggestions on where to start? Colors is one of my absolute favorite songs.
Paul's "fingerpicking" style is most definitely his own because he doesn't really pick all of the strings like we see on Julia, it's more of a fast, precise strum seen on Blackbird and Mother Nature's Son which I've actually always found more difficult to play. That's what makes Paul so freaking cool, he has so much style as a musician and is able to embellish simpler things so well. I do find it curious that none of the three really seemed all that interested in fingerpicking considering their love for Dylan and given that fingerpicking sounds so nice, certainly as evidenced by Julia, Blackbird and Mother Nature's Son. I wonder if Donovan tried to teach them about open tunings because I believe Colors is in Open D, although I could be wrong.

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine

20 April 2012
3.05am

meanmistermustard

Apple rooftop

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Paul is on Mellow Yellow, no idea what was first.

"Well, probably we'll sell less records, less people'll go to see the film, we'll write less songs, and we'll all die of failure" (John Lennon 8/64)

20 April 2012
1.55pm

Into the Sky with Diamonds

New York

Rishikesh

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Gniknus said, "I've been looking to get into some Donovan albums recently, any suggestions on where to start? Colors is one of my absolute favorite songs."

Gniknus, great to hear from you.

I agree with you on "Colours" – great song (and easy to play on the guitar!) [and also starts with "yellow," right?]

I have 3 Donovan albums (+Greatest Hits): Fairy Tale, Hurdy Gurdy Man, and the more recent Beat Cafe. They all feature a mixture of great and not-so-great stuff.

I would start with his Greatest Hits album (apparently The Essential Donovan is just being released – not sure what's on it); can't go wrong there! Then I would explore the others.

(songs that I like that are not on Greatest Hits include "As i recall it" "Get thy bearings" "The river song" "a sunny day" "the sun is a very magic fellow" "poorman's sunshine" "beat cafe" "yin my yang" "lover o lover".

[He does a good "Universal soldier" though that's Buffy St Marie's song]

"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)

3 May 2012
3.52pm