Donovan was another one of my musical obsessions back in the day. One of my favorites was the one I called “Down, Down, Down” but which was actually called “Celtic Rock.”
Donovan “Celtic Rock” Lyrics
Down in the wood in the murky gloom
Trolls go marching two by two
Down through the cave and the mouth of doom
Down, down, down in the gloom, gloom, gloom
Hey, kala ho, kala ho la jai
Who should come by the mountain way
Young Finn Hanley a lute he play
Clothed in scarlet livery
All wide eyed in the bright noon day
Tiree, tiraloo, tiraloo I ay
And here he is singing it. Just a picture of the album, so don’t worry that it’s so small.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Outline a story using that song as your prompt.
MA
jean baldridge yates
April 4, 2014 at 8:29amI LOVED and love Donovan! He is so cool! I love this song! I also remember an appearance he made on the Smothers Brother TV show. At the end of the show everyone stood in a group and sang “Way Down Below the Ocean”. I could not believe how amazing television could be!
jean xox
Marian Allen
April 4, 2014 at 10:13amI probably saw that show, Jean, since I rarely missed The Smothers Brothers. Donovan had a way of pulling you into his songs, didn’t he? After a group sing like that, you felt like you’d been somewhere. Hugs!
Jane
April 4, 2014 at 8:50amWonder what Donovan had been reading when he wrote that song? LOTR, maybe?
Marian Allen
April 4, 2014 at 10:19amA little LOTR, a little Marx (Karl, not Groucho), a little Celtic mythology. Tolkein didn’t INVENT trolls, although you’d think he did, the way everybody traces trolls, orcs, and fairies back to him and then stops. heh
Beth Camp
April 4, 2014 at 10:33amThat was a surprise. I knew Mellow Yellow and Hurdy Gurdy Man but somhow just misssed the rest of his songs. This one was very dark. I really liked how music told the rest of the story. And what a writing prompt, all set up and ready to go . . . down!
Marian Allen
April 4, 2014 at 10:42amBeth, I think a lot of people got turned off by his light-mood songs and the ones that were rumored to be about drug use. He did so much more than those! Thanks for dropping in and commenting. 🙂
jorobinson176
April 4, 2014 at 10:10pmDonovan’s brilliant! Introduced to him by one of my boyfriends way back in the mists of time who was hooked on him – he also had a VW Kombi called Elizabeth so you got the proper musical effect cruising around the mountains in Cape Town. 😀
Marian Allen
April 5, 2014 at 10:07amWow! Fantastic memories; fantastic image!