Donovan Quotes

Donovan

Profession : Musician

Birth : May 10, 1946

I regard myself as an international man, a citizen of the earth.

Donovan

Rock and jazz came together in a very powerful way on 'Barabajagal.'

Donovan

I became a recluse many times and enjoyed a private life I didn't have during the '60s.

Donovan

I absorbed the vinyl of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Jack Elliott, to Michael McClure and then into the Beat poets, Allen Ginsberg. At campus, we were absorbing that stuff. We looked to America.

Donovan

I'm a teacher, but I'm really a healer.

Donovan

Blues and jazz are such a root to music.

Donovan

I can't help it: when something strikes me, I write it down.

Donovan

Some music will make you dance. Other music helps you release tension.

Donovan

Actually, I'm the Scottish Woody Guthrie.

Donovan

I went to America not for fame or fortune but to be able to communicate with the biggest audience.

Donovan

My dad would always ask, 'How's the money?' but I was never interested. Millions came and went, stolen by the robbers in the music industry. But as someone said, 'You'll never be poor as long as you can pick up a guitar.'

Donovan

I get plastic nails done in the salon. When I was younger, they were stronger, but now I get my nails built up. Then I can dance over the strings. I say, 'Okay, I need four nails; I'm a guitarist.' Sometimes if I'm in a strange place, the girl says, 'Yeah, all the guys say that.'

Donovan

I didn't realise that I was so accomplished on the guitar until someone said to me, 'How do you do that?' That someone was John Lennon. He asked me to teach him my technique.

Donovan

Linda loves an argument, and I like to engage, too, but she knows that I'm a poet, so I will engage forever. We are in the Chinese astrology of dogs, and we are forever snapping at each other.

Donovan

With songwriters like me who are prolific, you just write the song and then put it on tape.

Donovan

Meditation is certainly not a religion, cult, or spiritual path: it's actually a very basic practice to reduce stress.

Donovan

Myself and The Beatles thought surely there was a way through our fame and success to bring something to our generation to help chill the future out.

Donovan

It's not like me and Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr hang out every week, but we keep together in promoting Transcendental Meditation.

Donovan

A man always has to leave his homeland, go to another time zone, another culture, to get a different recognition - to be accepted as someone who's following a different path, who's moving into a different mode.

Donovan

I'm probably the most successful Celtic bard of my generation, who projected this style and this image and this casketful of magical songs all around the world.

Donovan