It’s pretty well known that Donovan Leitch sang some pretty obscure (and hard to understand) music, but recently I have begun to like his music, and I was wondering: does anyone understand, or has any explanation been given for, the lyrics to Where Your Love Like Heaven?
Here is a link to the lyrics. For a while I didn’t even know what the frickin’ words were, but now that I have seen them I still don’t know what the heck he’s talkin’ about.
Wear Your Love Like Heaven Lyrics
Joey.
I made a mistake with the link. It’s http://www.ivory.org/lyrics/wearlove.html
Just copy and paste.
This question actually belongs in the Cafe Society forum. I expect a moderator will move it. Read the FAQ to learn about what to post where and other pertinent info.
The song is essentially a poem. It’s artistic and somewhat oblique. He’s observing the world–sky, sunset, etc.–and presumably is inspired by what he sees. He seeks God’s blessing, that he may be filled with joy and love, as if closer to heaven.
Then, in the least obscure part (“All our race proud and free”), he either sees hope for mankind in general, or for progress in the rights of Scots vis-a-vis England. Some thought he was trying to be a Dylanesque protest singer with that line.
Sadly, Donovan was one of the millions who bought into the rumor that you could get really really high by smoking a bowl of Doctor Bronner’s 18-in-1 Pure Castile Soap. He was still recovering from the experience when he penned Wear Your Love Like Heaven. His later work, such as the classic Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, shows what the man was capable of after regaining full control of his faculties. 
Is this the same Donovan who sang Mellow Yellow?
Some songwriters believe that if you can give a single, simple, obvious meaning to their song the first time you listen to it, then there’s not much point in listening to it a second time.
Not only “Mellow Yellow,” but also “Goo Goo Barabajagal.” (Admit it–you’re jealous you didn’t think of that title, aren’t you? :rolleyes: )
And “Sunshine Superman.”
And “Season of the Witch.”
And “Catch the Wind.”
And “There is a Mountain.”
And “Hurdy Gurdy Man.”
And “Jennifer Juniper.”
And “Atlantis.”
And more. He may have been weird, but he was prolific.
I could have sworn I posted here and moved this thread to Cafe Society quite a while ago. Nothing to worry about, I’m just going insane.
Off to Cafe Society.
bibliopahge
moderator GQ
Apparently, the electric yellow got Donavan by the brain banana when he wrote most of his music.
Donovan’s Greatest Hits is one of the great albums of the 1960s. Yes, great. There, I said it in public.
And that’s Paul McCartney singing backup (“quite rightly”) in “Mellow Yellow”.
But you have to go to another album to find the much superior original to “Catch the Wind,” which was redone for Greatest Hits. (Or redone somewhere along the line, since I can’t even find a source that says that this version isn’t the original. It isn’t. Trust me.)
Donovan notes on the back cover of the Wear Your Love Like Heaven LP that “if some words appear strange they are the names of colours.” That’s not quite accurate–terms like “alazarin crimson” and “havana lake” are the names of pigments. Evidently Donovan was perusing the tubes in his paintbox for inspiration. (By the way, he badly mispronounces “alizarin”–it’s a-LIZ-a-rin, not al-iz-a-REE-an.)
That’s correct. Both “Catch the Wind” and “Colours” were re-recorded for Greatest Hits because Epic didn’t have rights to Donovan’s earlier recordings.
Donovan was an artist. Many of the references to colors were used as they were the names of paints. I believe he is talking about colors used to paint a sunset or a garden, or both plus how he gets his inspiration. I think he uses a lot of color references in his songs and that mellow yellow was NOT referring to smoking bananas!! LOL!!
After thirteen years, I think the OP has figured this out.
Then there is no mountain.
Then there is.
Oh Juanita!
Gary T gets it right.
Donovan is singing about a beautiful sunset, one that makes him feel close to God for a moment.
Dude comes from a country where they can’t even pronounce “aluminum” correctly.
You’d expect him to get “alizarin” right?
You guys are all wrong. It’s about a young girl with freckles who is trying to be grown up and discovers a certain make-up will cover the freckles over.