Project 1001: Sunshine Superman by Donovan
When I look over my shoulder / What do you think I see? / Some other cat lookin' over / His shoulder at me / And he's strange / Sure is strange
I listened to this album twice to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Other than the title track, which features playing by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones (I wonder what ever happened to those two after this), and “Season of the Witch” I didn’t find much I liked on this record other than a bunch of meh. I’m chalking up my ambivalence to this being one of those albums that you needed to be there at the time to fully appreciate it. My rating:
The story behind the writing of the single “Sunshine Superman” is quite interesting:
““Sunshine Superman” was inspired by Donovan’s relationship with Linda Lawrence, who dated the singer briefly in 1965 after Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones broke up with her. Linda split with Donovan at the end of that year because she was uncomfortable with the attention she was getting as the girlfriend of a pop star.
After the breakup, Lawrence became Donovan’s muse, and he wrote many songs for her. “Sunshine Superman” includes Donovan vowing that he will win Linda back. The song features references to LSD (“sunshine”) and the London music scene. It also boasts some braggadocio, as Donovan compares declares his superiority to Superman and another superhero, the Green Lantern.
In a 2011 interview with Mojo, and quoted by SongFacts.com, Donovan reflected meaning behind “Sunshine Superman.”
“It’s not a normal love song,” he said. “On the face of it, the song is about being with Linda again. But sunshine is a nickname for acid. The Superman is the person capable of entering higher states because it’s not easy to go into the fourth dimension and see the matrix of the universe in which everything is connected.”
Donovan eventually reconnected with Lawrence in 1970, and the couple have been married since that year.”1
The Independent said, “Donovan was rarely given due credit for his innovative work in the late 1960s and Sunshine Superman is a “landmark chamber-folk album”, the recording of which pre-dated such comparably ambitious works as Revolver and Pet Sounds even though legal issues delayed its release until after those two albums.2
John Bush at AllMusic liked the singles better than the rest of the album:
“Paced by the title track, one of Donovan's best singles, 1966's Sunshine Superman heralded the coming psychedelic age with a new world/old world bent: several ambitious psychedelic productions and a raft of wistful folk songs…The two side-openers, "Sunshine Superman" and "Season of the Witch," are easily the highlights of the album; the first is the quintessential bright summer sing-along, the second a chugging eve-of-destruction tale. The rest of Sunshine Superman is filled with lengthy, abstract, repetitive folk jams, perfect for lazy summer afternoons, but more problematic when close attention is paid.”3
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Yoshi Kato wrote:
“Having already established himself as a folk troubadour, (Donovan) Leitch was marching toward an innocent brand of psychedelic pop with Sunshine Superman.” 4
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #115
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Sunshine Superman”, #1 6
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on August 26, 1966. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Summer in the City” by The Lovin’ Spoonful7
• Number one album: Yesterday and Today by the Beatles8
• Number one movie: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf by Mike Nichols9
• Most watched TV programs: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Green Acres, Rat Patrol, Bonanza, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.10
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann11
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: How to Avoid Probate by Norman F. Dacey12
Some other albums released that month
Sport
• Aug 6 Muhammad Ali knocks out English boxer Brian London in round 3 at Earl's Court in London to retain his undisputed world heavyweight title.
• Aug 15 Puerto Rican champion José Torres beats American Eddie Cotton on points in Las Vegas to retain the WBC/WBA light-heavyweight boxing title.
• Aug 17 San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays takes 2nd place on all-time HR list.14
Notable Births
• Aug 14 Halle Berry, Oscar-winning American actress (X-Men: The Last Stand: Monsters Ball), born in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Aug 19 Lee Ann Womack, American country singer ("I Hope You Dance"), born in Jacksonville, Texas.
• Aug 20 "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, American heavy metal guitarist (Pantera), born in Arlington, Texas (d. 2004).15
Historical Events
• Aug 1 Charles Whitman wounds 31 and kills 16 at University of Texas.
• Aug 14 1st US lunar orbiter begins orbiting Moon.
• Aug 19 Earthquake strikes Varto region in eastern Turkey with 6.8 magnitude killing around 2,400.
• Aug 27 British sailor Francis Chichester begins the 1st solo sail around world leaving Plymouth aboard the Gipsy Moth IV (completes May 1967).16
Notable Deaths
• Aug 16 Jack Mather, American actor (Cisco Kid), dies of a heart attack at 58.
• Aug 17 Ken Miles, British-American auto racer and engineer (USAC Road Racing C'ship 1961; 24 Hours of Daytona 1966), dies in practice accident at 47.
• Aug 23 Francis X. Bushman, American silent film actor (Sabrina, Ben-Hur), dies at 83.17
Kato, Yoshi, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p.121.
Ibid.