Donovan - Sunny Goodge Street Lyrics

Heard this when it first came out (well, Collins' version first perhaps). Used to go to the underground station in my teens (that's subway/MRT station of course, not IT/Oz etc) and don't think it ever struck me that Goodge Street is ..well...underground. So how can it be platform in the sun (OF sunny Goodge Street)? I know it's become fashionable to see Donovan as the stoner par excellence, but a) that's not based on his actual lyrics, least not here or the other "proof" song, "Season of the Witch"; b) this song pays more homage to the hipsters (Mingus) than the hippies (violent hashsmokers). (Sure, it doesn't really matter, but it were a true classical piece (eg a piece by Monteverdi or Schubert), people would find the discussion interesting, long boring academic papers would be written about it, etc (and yes I've written a few myself).

An example of "folk jazz" which Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin also promoted.

Jazz-Folk was born here in this song.

There is the success of fame ,money and adoration.There is the success of being the master of your game and the smile of recognition from all the other masters of thiers'

Tom Northcott did a good version of this also

A musical lyrical masterwork

Shame Donovan just got left behind the curve, dylan, Beatles, Stones

I am 70 years old and I still listen to Donovan I think he is very important person. He makes me feel happy so relaxing

A big influence on Nick Drake, i guess.

jazz.start of his psych.great lyrics

Judy Collins really “scooped” him with Peter Schickele’s arrangement of “Sunny Goodge Street” But ...this version is jazzier

In the early 80's, the first version of this song I heard was Vancouver act Tom Northcott with his carnival like atmospheric version from 1968: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR_WEqwAtP0 Love Donovan's original as well. Two completely different perspectives on this tune.

i was in high school when Fairytale came out. He had plenty of recognition and was widely liked. Up there with Dylan and Peter. Paul and Mary

111sienna I only really “discovered” him in college. “Legend of a Girl-Child Linda” was amazing to me then. 40 years later, I finally found a copy of the rendition that Mimi(Baez) Fariña’s, Judy Collins and Joan Baez did on the “Women’s Strike for Peace” concert album, now folded in with a Joan Baez CD 3-disk set at Joan’s Concert tour circa 2009.

@Doug R. That's cool....you can't be blamed for not knowing everyone. For me, i loved his first album almost every song which is quite rare as albums go. Dylan and Donovan were probably the top two folk types. It's kind of like the next generation that let him fade so fast.

Love Donovan's music but prefer Judy Collins' version of SGS (probably because I heard it first). In fact that whole album "In My Life" has many gems on it.

I love Judy's version but I think I prefer Donovan's loose, free-flowing version. By comparison, Judy's rhythm is quite metered and a bit stiff. I do love her voice, just not the particular arrangement she used.

Joseph Brabander indeed it did, thanks for clarifying my post!!

on any given day this would be on my list of top 10 DONOVAN songs,that list would be in a constant state of change,so many GREAT songs!!!!

groovy guru, your handle is from a Donovan lyric, isn't it? Clara Clairvoyant, I think.

LOVED HIM ALL MY LIFE

Cello, bass & flute make a decent trio, even without Donovan.

I remember waking up after an operation in hospital to this song on the hospital radio headphones. First time I ever heard this by Donovan. It was an amazing experience.

Dylan said "Somebody should tell Donovan there's somebody running around doing his act" meaning Dylan thought Donovan was ripping him off... and there is certainly some strong resonance in the lyrics of this song to Dylan's schtick, but the jazz sound in this number was completely alien to Dylan's groove. And Dylan himself said in _Chronicles_ that his lyricism owed almost everything to certain influences he found in New York... so everybody influences everyone. Read T.S. Eliot in _Tradition and the Individual Talent_.

"My, my they sigh" its so terribly sad\uplifting I dont know how to handle it......

searched far and wide, lyrics seem to differ in (small) places and this the most common: from "crazy cult goddess", "crazy Kali Goddess", to "crazy kerb gullies" and even that is possible - "cult Goddess" sounds most like it - to my tin ears. 
Love this song immensely. So many beautiful sounds put together here and they all work and his vocals are perfect. Bless my Mom to buy this for me when I was 15.

further study and listening to a very old take where he plays it all alone (it's here on the tube too) I hear: smearing their eyes on the crazy Colours Goddess - which in view of his own song Colours (that was already there) makes perfect sense. Thanks +nextoesc for sharing and leaving this comment on at all. After invasive surgery age 67 to be singing again at all is bliss - and to get the feel again I am going back to where I started off - which brought me here. Love 2 You All!

Harry Vsingersongwriter I always heard it (in the J.C. version ) as “crazy cop goddess”. Look up the word “Mondegreen”, it’s relevant!!

Marvelous arrangement.

This song really shows Don`s jazz roots it`s very much a pre hippy beat nick feel, love it.

Recorded 1965. Fantastic music!

si sente molto il nick drake che verrà

Ho pensato la stessa cosa quando ho sentito questa canzona la prima volta. E la seconda volta....

Lovely song evokes London turned-on Sixties, love love love, PS doff cap to late great Harold McNair.

: Donovan
Album: Fairytale
Data di uscita: 1965

He's a God

He's not you know.

To hear this for the first time in 1965 must have been mind blowing. So many people have copied this style since. The whole of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks starts from Sunny Goodge Street.

One of the great songs of all time. Complete with humour.

I plodded miles to see him, he is no longer hip, not sure why

cool as F##k

EXCELLENT, learning to play it on my lrftie caster, great jazz chords, regards

A real surprise, this one. By far the grooviest Donovan track I've ever (thanks to Brain Matthew) encountered!

You know it the stoniest song ever☮😎

Thanks :)

timeless!!

it would be really nice if donovan could finally get the credit he deserves....no, NOT the "scottish" bob dylan.....

mom mie much more thé Modern Lord Byron!!!

Very Jazz! I do prefer Tom Northcotts version though .

Yamex5, as far as I can tell it was either Donovan or Shawn Phillips, Phillips is listed as playing guitar and 12 string guitar and Donovan is listed as playing banjo, guitar and harmonica, with the already listed musicians There are no other guitarists.

this song makes me hurt so bad in the best way possible. I can't listen to this song too frequently or i will dematerialize

+hoopaj00

i have hanging on my wall, a depiction of "the magician who sparkles in satin and velvet".....i embroidered the face of donovan from the "troubadour" collection, and built him a sorceror's body with pieces of satin and velvet, and made him sparkle with metallic and pearlized threads.....it's beautiful, if only in my own opinion......

well, not just MY opinion, since i have had to make several copies....

nothing bad will ever happen to you from listening to this song....it's just as beautiful as it feels.....

listen to all of his music.......he's beautiful, definitely one of a kind.....

+hoopaj00

you would probably like "hampstead incident" also.....

Me too!! I don't want to lose it. I hear it once or twice a year

@mom mie i didn t know this song. Its so good also!

the most beautifull song ever.. I played it over and over and over and over again when I was little.. <3

The day I discovered violence.

The day I discovered sweet little kittens.

Brilliant song, brilliantly performed. As evocative of Lonndon 60's as The Avengers.

McCartney said this was one of his favorite songs

That figures

no1cares

@szs voc You mean no1cares about your pettiness

@gaussagain u r petty moron

Nice try Donovan! :)

I put this in my Donovan playlist with Judy's version. This was pretty obscure until she got a hold of it!

Love the picture of your dog.

The portal is from Goodge street in London to Deep Ellum in 1991...

Donovan....... always original when it comes to this mixture of jazz, folk ect. As a musician it was one of tbe first song to go out side the box in this s area of song as the lyrics don t always add up.......it makes it even better

@Ian Reynolds hello,,from Norway,,,the London scene in the 60ties,I!! believe JohnMcLauglin played with him (I know),,from Dag

Tom Northcott did a great cover of this song. It was the only version I knew growing up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCqMOaFeOwA

I used to have an EP, from around 1967, with (definitely) Jersey Thursday and Sunny Goodge Street, and I'm pretty sure Ballad of a Crystal Man and Turquoise. All fantastic songs. But I can't find any reference to such an EP on Wikipedia or anywhere. Can anyone confirm my memory please?

@BRIANHEP Try watching on www.Discogs.com

@BRIANHEP Could it be this one http://www.discogs.com/Donovan-Donovan-Vol1/master/759868 ?

Isn't that the "Fairy Tale" album?

Yes, I think it was that one. Sorry, I've only just read your reply a year later!

I was replying to Esplo there. Kapuoa - it was a 4 track EP, not an album.

Ohmygawd! This is so beautiful!! I looove it. I love the dreamy jazzy sway of it. I am not new to Donovan. I didn't discover his music until 1974 when I was 14, but all the years since I have cherished my Donovan. I took my two daughters to see him about 15 years ago. He did the show mostly sitting on zafu I believe. It was wonderful!! Anyhow, I nonetheless have never heard this song. Thank you for uploading it. I am just saddened that his "Greatest Hits" album isn't on Youtube. I really like the version of "Catch the Wind" that is on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E01wIGfVXhk

This is a very different version (dreamier, more relaxed) than Judy Collins’ also excellent rendition, accompanying arrangement probably by Peter Shickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) on thé album “In My Life” (Or was it “Wildflowers”?)

This is in 3/4 time.

Skip Alan – drums
Brian Locking – bass
Harold McNair – flute

You just couldn't miss with this combo, and 50 Years old, tis hard to believe. My, my they sigh.....:-)

+This Muse of Fire - Do you know who was playing the electric guitar?

This Muse of Fire 🔥

Released October 1965, a month before Rubber Soul. Donovan never got the recognition of his amazing talent and his place at the forefront of musical experimentation in the sixties. Sunshine Superman was recorded before Revolver, too.

Doug R. ... all these decades and I never even thought about his last name till you mentioned it. It’s Leitch.

ndogg20 yes, of course!!

Brazilian Atlantis
beatles donovan together in india at mmy meditating rishhikesh ashram
factoids not gossip

@Howard Acquistapace Yes, they hung out in '68, but they admired him in '65 too.

@Doug R. "Leitch?"

Wasn't this the B- side of "Wear Your Love Like Heaven"?

The B-side of “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” was titled “Oh Gosh”—at least in the U.S. I can remember listening to both sides of that 45-RPM record, an embarrassing number of years ago....

I think 'Firefly platform' refers to the cheap lighting on the murky Northern Line tube station in the 1960s. Haven't lived in London for decades but it's probably brighter now.

no its not.

The first album I ever bought, at the age of seven,  was "Fairy Tale", which featured this song.  I loved "Sunny Goodge Street".   As a kid  I knew what Goodge Street Underground was, and Chocolate Machines on its platform, but I thought "Violentish Mocha" was referring to my family's pet dog which was named "Mocha"!  Listening back after nearly 50 years,  I still think it's a fantastic song.

+joshgreifer - It's 'violent hash smokin' I thought ...

+yamex5 I thinks it's actually it's 'violent hash smoker' - but that was not how I heard it as a seven-year-old in 1965!

It's most definitely violent hash smoker. I was 15 in 1965.

joshgreifer MONDEGREENs strike again!! Look up the word in Wikipedia, please?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for uploading.  I purchased about 12 albums of Donovan at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago....but haven't purchased a record player yet!  I love his music!!!
Goes well with realizing one's true self. 

brilliant song- what a ledge..

I was a big Donovan fan in my early teens, but this is one that I missed. Never heard this one before. Interesting mix of flute, string, other instruments. It definitely wouldn't have made the Top 40 of those days, but this kind of material shows another side to Donovan, a real musician and artist.

Superb!

Moments of brilliance

Splendid, folk, jaz, poems and an atmosphere, not so easy

Shouldn't it be able to be psychedelic without any outside help?

drop some lysergic acid dieythlamide and then look out the window. you'd be surprised how psychedelic it is

I wouldn't if i were you.

Je suis heureux de réécouter ce fameux morceau. Dans les temps passés, j'avais le LP, mais ou est'il passé !!! Je crois que Donovan avait fumé un solide joint le jour ou il à chanté ça... Avec Marianne Faithfull peut-être car elle interprète également une version.

me da nostalgia y pena esta canción ....hermosa melodía !!...se me viene a mi mente mi amor cuando estamos juntos paseando en el atardecer

thank you I didnt think I would ever hear this again.

Oh, it transports you from London to NYC, huh? OK.. well, it was the 60's///

10th street in NYC.

Are you PK's manager?

I don't know -- it's sort of lounge, jazzy, impressionistic -- but I wouldn't quite call it psychedelic..

A portal to where?

Judy Collins offers an excellent rendition of this song that in my opinion, is much better.

My my sigh

thank you, thank you, thank you

Donovan is one of the greats in folk music. I always loved this song!

another "folk song" that led me to jazz ....

"Wear your love like heaven"

I can't understand why anyone could care in the slightest one way or the other,will it change the way you feel about him?Will it make him a better or worse performer?Rock and Roll Hall of Fame an absurd concept.

I love Goodge Street. It a London Street with a very good vibe, There's a portal there!

Full of chain coffee shops.

My friend Ethan did the most beautiful cover of this..after we both saw Donovan play at Syracuse's Jazzfest yesterday.

fucking donovan! yes.

Spiffing Donovan! Yes.

One of Donovan's best songs.The flute solo is perfect.

I love Donovan but this sounds a bit too much like a Van Morrison song for my tastes. I dont like Van no more. Im sick of him

thanks a lot loved it

it's oniric, fantastic, I hear it only once a year, so that i won;t get tired of it and hear it for ever

I first heard this song on the Judy Collins album "In My Life". She did a brilliant version. Wonderful album too.

Judy Collins did a very nice version of this. His peers understood his talent. Congratulations, Mr. Leitch.

Obviously it's influenced by Dylan's stream of nonsense, but this has to be the earliest explicit example of psychedelia, preceding, as it did, even Norwegian Wood (which was pretty mild). Very outre arrangement, as well. Great stuff.

Lennon and McCartney both considered Donovan a peer. "Norwegian Wood" was also influenced by "See My Friends" by the Kinks.

Thanx to Donovan for giving birth to this song...but it was Judy Collins who turned this caterpillar into an exquisite butterfly.

@tommotd Yeah, sounds like Joe Pass on Guitar too!

love, love, love..

@nextoesc Not too much here either :>{

The Donovan the radio did not play !

Brilliant tune from 1965......"On the firefly platform on Sunny Goodge Street a violent hash-smoker shook a chocolate machine." Can someone tell me why this guy isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame??? Thanks for posting.

Very Cool. Thank You.
Was that Mingus on bass? (only kidding)

THANKYOU =D