''A Gift From a Flower to a Garden'' is the fifth album from Scottish singer-songwriter

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

, and marks the first double-disc album of his career and one of the first

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

s in folk music. It was released in the US (

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

L2N 6071 (monaural) / B2N 171 (stereo)) and the UK in December 1967 (

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

NPL 20000 (monaural) / NSPL 20000 (stereo)). At the same time, Epic Records also released each of the two records from ''A Gift From a Flower to a Garden'' as separate stand alone albums in the US. The first record was released as ''Wear Your Love Like Heaven'', and the second record was released as ''For Little Ones''. This was done to allow budgeting for the double-disc album package, which included a folder of the printed lyrics to the second disc with artwork, and a cover featuring an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...

photo of Donovan by Karl Ferris who was his and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

's personal photographer (requiring six colour separations for printing, instead of the usual four separations).

History

After recording the ''

Mellow Yellow "Mellow Yellow" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. In the US, it reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Outside the US, "Mellow Yellow" peaked at No. 8 in the UK in early 1967. Content The song was rum ...

'' album, Donovan focused on releasing hit singles. " Epistle to Dippy" (essentially an inside-joke/open letter for a childhood friend) hit the top 20 in February 1967 and " There is a Mountain" (#11 US; No. 8 UK) followed in August. Riding high on the success of these singles, Donovan entered the studio in October to record his next album. The double-disc album that resulted from these sessions consisted of one disc of acoustic and electric soul music (''Wear Your Love Like Heaven'') and another of acoustic children's music (''For Little Ones''). The acoustic album allowed Donovan to present a facet of his songwriting that had not been featured on his singles. It also allowed him to show his strength as a guitar player and performer in a way that he could not when augmented by

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s. In fact, Donovan's live performances of the time featured instrumentation and performances more in line with ''For Little Ones'' than his hit singles and the first record of ''A Gift From a Flower to a Garden''. While

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Ch ...

produced the single from the album ("

Wear Your Love Like Heaven "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" is a song and US single by British singer-songwriter Donovan, released in 1967. It became the opening title of his 1967 double-disc album ''A Gift from a Flower to a Garden''. It peaked at No. 23 in the ''Billboar ...

" b/w "Oh Gosh"), and is credited with the album's production, Donovan actually produced the bulk of the material himself, allowing Most the credit to help sales. In the album's liner notes, Donovan explained his purpose in creating two rather different discs (one for the present generation, and the other for the "dawning generation"), and also denounced the use of drugs. Several of his earlier records had contained both veiled and open references to drug use (particularly

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

and LSD), but since the release of ''Mellow Yellow'', he had both been arrested and prosecuted for marijuana possession, and had seen people he knew turning to harder drugs (

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quant ...

, heroin,

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

), and the damage this caused in their lives. Instead, Donovan promoted the use of

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

and other techniques, in his new songs.

Songs

"Mad John's Escape" is a song written for a friend of Donovan's who escaped from a mental health centre. The song details Mad John's escape and subsequent adventures. "Under the Greenwood Tree" is originally written by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

in ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

'', and set to music by Donovan for the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

, who planned to use it in a stage production. At the end of the song, Donovan sings "Will you, won't you... join the dance?" in reference to the chorus of "The Lobster Quadrille" in Chapter X of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

's ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...

''. "Epistle to Derroll" is dedicated to the banjo player and singer

Derroll Adams Derroll Adams (November 27, 1925 – February 6, 2000) was an American folk musician. Biography He was born Derroll Lewis Thompson in Portland, Oregon, United States. At 16, he served in the Army, but was discharged when his true age of 16 was ...

, an early influence on Donovan.

Cover

The front cover photo design of ''Wear Your Love Like Heaven'' features a

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jam ...

style infrared photograph of Donovan on the moat in front of

Bodiam Castle Bodiam Castle () is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area again ...

by Karl Ferris who was his and Jimi Hendrix's personal photographer. The back cover photo was also a shot taken by Ferris in Los Angeles during Donovan's and Karl's initiation into

Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes ...

, and depicted Donovan visiting with

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918

Reception

''A Gift from a Flower to a Garden'' spent 22 weeks on the US ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at number 19. In 1970, the album earned a

Gold Record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

award for half a million sales.

Track listing

Original double-length album

All tracks by Donovan Leitch, except where noted.

''Wear Your Love Like Heaven'' (first part)

Side 1 #"

" – 2:30 #"Mad John's Escape" – 2:16 #"Skip-a-Long Sam" – 2:23 #"Sun" – 3:13 #"There Was a Time" – 1:59 Side 2 #"Oh Gosh" – 1:42 #"Little Boy in Corduroy" – 2:33 #"Under the Greenwood Tree" (Words by

, music by Leitch) – 1:53 #"The Land of Doesn't Have to Be" – 2:32 #"Someone's Singing" – 2:44

''For Little Ones'' (second part)

Side 1 #"Song of the Naturalist's Wife" – 2:53 #"The Enchanted Gypsy" – 3:19 #"Voyage into the Golden Screen" – 3:12 #"Isle of Islay" – 2:20 #"The Mandolin Man and His Secret" – 3:32 #"Lay of the Last Tinker" – 1:47 Side 2 #"The Tinker and the Crab" – 2:52 #"Widow with a Shawl (A Portrait)" – 2:58 #"The Lullaby of Spring" – 3:25 #"The Magpie" – 1:27 #"Starfish-on-the-Toast" – 2:39 #"Epistle to Derroll" – 5:45

Personnel

*Donovan – vocals, guitar, harmonica, whistling *Eric Leese – electric guitar *Cliff Barton – bass *

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...

– bass on "Someone Singing" *Ken Baldock – double bass *Mike O'Neill – keyboards *Keith Webb – drums *Tony Carr – drums, bells, congas, finger cymbals *Mike Carr – vibraphone *"Candy" John Carr – congas * Harold McNair – flute

Release history

Reissues

*In 1993,

BGO Records BGO Records (Beat Goes On) is a British record label specializing in classic rock, blues, jazz, and folk music. In 1965, Andy Gray opened Andys Records and set up a market stall in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Year by year he opened up more shops. ...

reissued ''A Gift from a Flower to a Garden'' on compact disc in the UK. Mono and Stereo versions were issued. See https://www.discogs.com/Donovan-A-Gift-From-A-Flower-To-A-Garden/release/3875953 for details. *On 12 September 2000, Collector's Choice Music reissued ''A Gift from a Flower to a Garden'' on compact disc in the US. *On 16 January 2001,

Collectables Records Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Jerry Greene formed Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. Soul Survivors gained the hit "Expressway to Your Heart" (1967) while on Crimson Records. History It maintains a ca ...

released ''Mellow Yellow/Wear Your Love Like Heaven'' (Collectables 6644), which contained all of ''Mellow Yellow'' and the ''Wear Your Love Like Heaven'' portion of ''A Gift from a Flower to a Garden''. *On 26 January 2009, EMI reissued ''A Gift from a Flower to a Garden'', remastered, on compact disc with under a license agreement with Donovan. *On 28 January 2022, State51 Conspiracy released a remastered mono version of ‘’A Gift from a Flower to a Garden’’, as a double compact disc.

References

External links

''A Gift From A Flower To A Garden'' – Donovan Unofficial Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gift From A Flower To A Garden Donovan albums 1967 albums Albums produced by Mickie Most 1967 compilation albums