Here are two figures from a very formative period in the history of Popular Music. Both had their beginnings in the denim protest folk songs of the early sixties. Marc Bolan's first demos include a cover of Dylan's "Blowin in the Wind" and Donovan had to weather constant  and unwarranted comparison to Dylan prior the release of "Sunshine Superman." The picture on the left shows both Marc and Donovan as 'bookends' in a London peace march in late 1964 or early 1965 (Joan Baez is next to Donovan and Tom Paxton is just cut out of the picture on Donovan's left.)

Both took a similar turn in the latter half of the sixties (though Bolan did so only after a brief 1967 sojourn in the punk psychedelia of John's Children).  Donovan began this turn in 1965 with the recording of "Sunshine Superman" and, after a stint in India with four Beatles, a Beach Boy, and Mia Farrrrow, stepped completely through the door into a 'Flower Power Oz' with the release of the "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden" double LP. Marc Bolan, on the other hand, formed the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex and, under the masterful production work of Tony Visconti managed to produce a body of acoustic work whose pinnacle was the magnificent "Unicorn" LP released in the last year of that decade. Bolan turned electric shortly after this and initiated and rode the wave of 'Glam Rock' for the first few years of the seventies. Ironically, Donovan enjoyed more success in the States than he did in England while Bolan could never crack the U. S. market, no matter how big he was in the rest of the world.

According to Donovan, Bolan and he only recorded together once when they found themselves together in Munich in 1975 while on separate tours. The track they recorded in the studio was a version of Donovan's "Lalena" which Donovan claims has subsequently been lost. Marc Bolan was killed tragically in a car crash in September of 1977 while Donovan is still touring and recording today. The picture on the right is one taken at the "Dandy in the Underworld" record release party for Marc Bolan, just a few months before his death. The young boy in the foreground is Julian, son of Brian Jones and Donovan's step son.

I've chosen to create web pages for these two poets and musicians because of the way in which their music and words have fit as favourites with me. Finding such favourites in life and having them there to contribute to buoyancy in your life makes treading water that much more easy when you have to do it.  For this I am tremendously indebted to them both.

--ivan  < ikocmare@cogeco.ca>