Donovan went to No.1 on the US singles chart August 3, 1966, with ‘Sunshine Superman’, a No.2 hit in the UK. Jimmy Page played lead guitar on this. Then Yardbird member, Page was a session musician at the time. The song was written for Donovan’s future wife Linda Lawrence.
In the 1960s, I was convinced that the world was
extremely mentally ill.
Donovan
The song was Donovan’s only single to reach #1 on the Hot 100.
Donovan first met his future wife, Linda Lawrence, in 1965 when she was recovering from a broken relationship with Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones.
The pair dated briefly, but not wanting the scrutiny and uncertainty of being a pop star’s girlfriend all over again, Lawrence broke it off at the end of the year. Donovan responded with this song.
“It’s not a normal love song, the singer told Mojo magazine in June 2011. “On the face of it, the song is about being with Linda again. But sunshine is a nickname for acid. 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. The line, ‘everybody’s hustling’ referred to the pop scene at the time, where you could lose yourself very easily. Gyp (Mills – Donovan’s lifelong friend and tour manager) would always keep my feet on the ground; we had left home at 16 to busk so we could see fame for what it is.”
This was one of the first-ever overtly psychedelic pop records.
Donovan played down the drug implications of the song, but “Sunshine” was a name for LSD.
In the video for The Beatles “A Day In The Life“, you can see a close up of the track “Sunshine Superman” playing on a spinning turntable.
