Musicians:
· Donovan: vocals and acoustic guitar.
· Joe Moretti: rythm guitar on track 01.
· John McLaughlin: rythm guitar on track 01.
· John Cameron: arrangements on tracks 02, 04, 05, 06, 09 and Epistle To Dippy (both versions), Preachin' Love, Good Time and Superlungs; piano on tracks 04, 05, 10 and Preachin' Love, Good Time and Superlungs; harpsichord on track 10 and Epistle To Dippy; organ on track 10; celesta on tracks 02 and 06.
· Big Jim Sullivan: electric guitar on track 05.
· Jimmy Page: electric guitar on Epistle To Dippy.
· Eric Ford: electric guitar on track 10.
· Danny Thompson: bass.
· Spike Heatley: bass.
· John Paul Jones: bass and arrangement on track 01.
· Phil Seamon: drums.
· Bobby Orr: drums on tracks 01 and 10.
· Tony Carr: percussion; drums on Epistle To Dippy.
· Danny Moss: saxophone on track 01.
· Ronnie Ross: saxophone on track 01.
· Harold McNair: flute on tracks 02, 04, 0 and Writer In The Sun and There Is A Mountain.
· Shawn Phillips: sitar on track 10.
· Pat Halling: violin on track 08.
· Paul McCartney: uncredited backing vocals on track 01.
Singles out of this album:
· Mellow Yellow/Sunny South Kensington
Trivia:
· The Mellow Yellow album was not released in the UK due to the same contractual dispute that also prevented Sunshine Superman from a UK release. In June 1967 a mix of both albums was released as Sunshine Superman (PYE Records NPL 18181) in the UK, to keep the English fans up to date.
· All this problems that prevented the release of Donovan's music in the UK led him to write resigned songs like Writer In The Sun, where he sadly weighs up the possibility of his own forced retirement from the music business at age 20.
· The title song, Mellow Yellow, was released as a single the previous November, and became a huge hit in both sides of the Atlantic. In a recent interview Donovan said that Mellow Yellow came up in a party in a hotel room, where he started making up the chords and lyrics so that all his friends could sing along.
· Although it has been said that the words "quite rightly" in Mellow Yellow are whispered by Paul McCartney, in his autobiography The Hurdy Gurdy Man Donovan claims it was actually him, not Paul. He also clarifies Paul contribution to the song: you can hear him cheering at the end of the song, with other people gathered in the recording studio.
· Sand And Foam is about a trip Donovan and Gypsy Dave made to the west coast of Mexico.
· By the time Donovan composed the album Mellow Yellow, Linda Lawrence had refused to marry him. Donovan was hurt and confused and wrote the song Bleak City Woman, which said goodbye to Linda and welcome Enid Stulberger, his new American girlfriend.
· House Of Jansch is dedicated to his friend Bert Jansch. This was the third Donovan album in a row with a song that paid tribute to this British folk musician.
· Young Girl Blues was inspired by Linda Lawrence, and it's about her days working as a model in America. A small part of the lyrics mentions female masturbation, which was very shocking those days.
· Epistle To Dippy was an open letter from Donovan to an old friend from school. Dippy was in the army in Malaysia by then, and when he heard the song, he contacted Donovan and asked him for help. Donovan bought him out of armed service. This song wasn't included in any LP album and was release as a single in February 1967.
· A recent Nick Drake biography, Darker Than The Deepest Sea: The Search For Nick Drake claims that the Mellow Yellow album was a significant influence on him. |
