He is in his library, surrounded by volumes of poetry, books about social revolution, books about meditation. These books, many of them read to him by his father, helped influence the singer/songwriter who, in turn, so strongly influenced the 60s Flower Power philosophy and the music that embodied it.
Donovan: During this last two years of re-presenting my work, Linda, my wife, in particular, was clear in saying, you know, in celebrating the 40th anniversary, that the 'flower' of the 60s was meditation. Both Linda and I agreed. Out of that Renaissance decade where so many new events were taking place in the world, based on old knowledge, meditation was definitely the flower of the 60s.
Q: How has your music been influenced by meditation, and how might it have been different without it?
Donovan: Of course, as a young man in college and then in the folk world I would present the songs of social change, civil rights, peace, brotherhood, and a great nuclear cloud hanging over the late 50s and the early 60s. But then, when I read about meditation, a bell rang inside [and I knew] that the true suffering of the world came from a misunderstanding of the true nature of Man. There had to be a fundamental spiritual change, an inner understanding, a true peace within.
[My music] was headed that way, Dave, but I had no technique. I wonder whether I would have sought out that technique. But two things came together: my great zeal, I would say, and my great mission and passion to bring the Bohemian manifesto into popular culture, because surely that was the mission of the beat poets, to bring back into popular culture the subjects that really mattered, and some kind of answer to the tragedy of man in the 20th century. And so, my music was empowered by meditation. It was headed that way, but now it was focused fully. And my music from then on was empowered tremendously -- a hundredfold from where it had been.
Q: What would you like your legacy to be? What would you hope people think about when they hear your music?
Donovan: It's already happening. Thousands of people have said over the years that my poetry and music have helped them. I would like to be remembered as a living poet who now can be listened to. Even beyond my death, the music will go on.
But, in a more frivolous mood, I would say on my headstone, "He played in between the notes." Powerful and highly skilled musicians are known for their music not because of the notes they play, but for the spaces they leave in between the notes. It's the whole story, Dave, of the doughnut is actually the hole. The silence and the so-called nothingness, the so-called inner spaces are constants in my music. So, "He played in between the notes."
Q: Speaking of legacies, your daughter Astrella has followed in your footsteps musically. Your daughter, Ione Skye and son, Donovan Leitch, Jr., are successful actors. That's quite a legacy in itself!
Donovan: Oh, it's great. I'm very proud. It's a joy. My daughters and sons and now my grandsons and granddaughters, believe it or not, are finding themselves being drawn to being artists and singers and filmmakers. It's a great joy. I guess I'm biased but Astrella is producing work now of a very high quality and a very very deep spirituality as well.
Q: Have you and Astrella performed together recently?
Donovan: In 2004, we [toured together to promote] Beat Cafe, my Bohemian project. And I'm doing a 'grand return' to the classic Royal Albert Hall in London where I began in '65. My wife, Linda and I are doing a charity on April 16, 2007 and Astrella will be on stage with me, and, hopefully, my other children -- Donny, Ione, all are invited and we hope we can all gather together.
Q: Will that be recorded?
Donovan: We hope to record it. There will be guests -- unnamed right now. I'll present a lot of songs in their original arrangements with string quartets and horns and woodwinds, with John Cameron, the original arranger of my album, Sunshine Superman. That evening will be for the White Lotus Trust which is a charity to build a school in northern India.
The Royal Albert Hall is my "grand return: that announces my new record. It will mark my return to the kind of rock that I'm known for, a kind of Celtic rock which is very deep, ambient, atmospheric ballads of a spiritual kind. It's going to be a double-album, actually.
Q: When you listen to music these days, who and what are you listening to?
Donovan: Recently my grandson, Sebastian, who's 15, turned me on to Evanescence. I listened to the vocalist, who has an extraordinary sound, and I thought there must be some folk music influences in there, although it's a very powerful rock sound, very atmospheric. Damien Rice I've been listening to, and who could not listen to White Stripes, Jack [White] and his sister [Meg], in the rediscovery of roots music?
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In the second part of our interview, Donovan talks about his close personal and professional ties with The Beatles.
