Writer In The Sun by Donovan

Album: Mellow Yellow (1967)

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This was written during a difficult time in Donovan's life. He was the first high-profile British pop star to be arrested for cannabis, which had a serious effect on his career – because of the charges he was refused entry to the US until late 1967.

Donovan was also encountered legal problems as the Sunshine Superman album was not being released in the UK due to a continuing contractual dispute. Unable to promote the title track, which was rising up the USA singles charts, Donovan and his right hand man Gypsy Dave took off for the Greek island of Paros.

All these problems led Donovan to write resigned songs like this one, where he sadly contemplates the possibility of his own forced retirement from the music business at the age of 20.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out The Barrel)Will Glahe

In 1939, a polka craze swept America thanks to "Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out The Barrel)."

BloodstreamEd Sheeran

Ed Sheeran's "Bloodstream" was written after an experience taking MDMA during a wedding celebration in Ibiza; it's basically about all the feelings that he got from that time.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who is about a revolution, but it doesn't have a happy ending, since in the end the new regime becomes just like the old one. Pete Townshend thought that whoever was in power was destined to become corrupt.

Good TimesChic

The disco song "Good Tmes" by Chic was a huge influence on early rap, providing the bassline for "Rapper's Delight."

Dancing QueenABBA

ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson conceived "Dancing Queen" as a dance song with the working title "Boogaloo," drawing inspiration from the 1974 George McCrae disco hit "Rock Your Baby." Their manager Stig Anderson came up with the title "Dancing Queen."

Uptown FunkMark Ronson

The actress Michelle Pfeiffer gets namechecked in the 2014 megahit "Uptown Funk" ("Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold"). When it was released, "Riptide" by Vance Joy was on the charts; that song also mentions her ("Closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen").