Hebridean skies: How the Isle of Skye changed Donovan’s songwriting forever
London might have been the epicentre of the 1960s, what with its blossoming rock scene, daring fashions, and unshakable focus on youth culture, but that kaleidoscopic revolution, but that cultural explosion tended to fade drastically the further you travelled away from the – then yet to be built – M25.
In the industrial surroundings of Glasgow, for instance, the counterculture boom of the ’60s hadn’t had quite the same impact on the city as it had on one of its sons, Donovan. Born in the Maryhill area of the city, the future songwriter ended up relocating down south with his family at the age of just ten. So, when the London folk revival of the 1960s rolled around, Donovan was perfectly placed to take advantage and soon became a key figure of the city’s cultural landscape.
Yet, in spite of his early successes, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bob Dylan and The Beatles, the songwriter yearned to escape from the bustling surroundings of the English capital. After all, the folk music that he adored has never been naturally suited to concrete-ridden surroundings and inner-city dwelling. Those sounds have instead been passed down through the generations underneath unpolluted country skies and in the mists of sea air; so, towards the tail-end of the 1960s, Donovan set his sights on travelling northwards.
Even now, if you wish to escape the busy streets of London, you can’t get much further away than the Scottish Highlands, and the Hebridean archipelago, specifically. So it was there, in those remote, picturesque surroundings, that Donovan decided to settle, renovating a derelict old boathouse into the basis of a new-age community, filled with writers, poets, musicians, and artists.
Although he returned south on a pretty regular basis, both to record and perform, Skye certainly had a profound effect on the singer-songwriter, and one which is certainly noticeable when examining his output during that period in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was then, after all, that his work became far more imbued with naturalistic imagery, imbued with the tranquillity, history, and folklore of the Hebridean skies.
What’s more, those experiences in Skye allowed Donovan to interact with a multitude of figures whom he likely wouldn’t have met, and certainly wouldn’t have grown intimately close to, had he remained in the busy surroundings of London – or Lunnainn, as they call it in Skye.
For example, that boat house in Loch Bay served as the destination for Vashti Bunyan’s epic horse-drawn journey from London, forming the basis for her legendary (and far too ahead of its time) album, Just Another Diamond Day.
Donovan might not have stayed in Skye forever, but he did end up purchasing various nearby islands – Islay, Mingay, and Clett – which remained with him until the 1980s, and formed a core avenue of inspiration for his songwriting, most notably on the song ‘Isle of Islay’ from 1968.
Had Donovan not found solace in those Hebridean surroundings, his beloved discography would likely sound very different indeed. For it was the inspiration of those islands that allowed the songwriter to fully embrace, not only the communal lifestyle which became a core part of the counterculture age, but also the age-old Celtic folk traditions which continued to form the backbone of his sound for many years to come.
