Bob Dylan and Donovan

I recently re-watched Don't Look Back. Gotta admit, I was a bit surprised at how often Donovan was mentioned. It seemed like every other scene, Dylan made a condescending comment about the "Scottish bloke."

Don’t Look Back: Bob Dylan vs. Donovan – Green and Black Music

Why was Dylan so harsh? Did he feel threatened? Simple jealousy? I've heard the two became friends, but based on Pennebaker's documentary, Dylan seems to have a clear dislike for Donovan.

 

Early in Donovan's career there was a sort of Dylan soundalike/lookalike thing going on with him (folksinger with acoustic guitar and harmonica...curly hair) "Colours", "Universal Soldier", "Catch the Wind", "Josie", etc. Can't blame Dylan for being upset. It took Donovan a couple years to come up with his own style.

 

I find that early Dylan footage hard to watch. That hipper than thou condescending cutting sarcasm should have been met with a good hard slap.

 

Well to be fair, Dylan makes condescending comments about everyone in that movie...

But Donovan's early persona was as a folksinger, with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica and a fishermans cap. I don't think Donovan was just simply aping Dylan - there was a good folk scene in Britain before Dylan - but after Dylan became a hit in the UK, promoters went looking for similar acts to promote. And there was Donovan.

 

That interview with the Time magazine reporter makes me cringe.

 

Early Donovan sounds a heckuva lot like Dylan. Or, put another way, early Dylan sounds a heckuva lot like Donovan.

Dylan's early chip on his shoulder was tempered by humor as he too, like Donovan, abandoned the strict folk scene for much more groovy pastures.

 

More so than Donovan as a target, I find Dylan and Neuwirth's treatment of Joan Baez beyond despicable.

 

So what did Bob think of Ian Hunter?

 

Its because Donovan was, is, and always will be .... ****e!

 

Dylan was not the first folksinger with an acoustic guitar, harmonica and a cap.

 

Dylan wasn't threatened by Donovan at all. When Donovan played that song for Bob in the film, Donovan had lifted the melody from one of Bob's songs - and Bob mentioned it, that's all. Earlier in the film, Dylan remarks about how the English press kept mentioning Donovan to Dylan - expecting Bob to comment. So Dylan joked that he 'hated him.' He didn't even know who Donovan was before that tour.

 

I think that entire film shows pretty clearly that Dylan was a bit of a jerk.

 

Small potatoes compared to how Dylan's fans and the whole "anti-establishment" movement turned on him when he went electric and started writing songs that didn't conform to their ideals.

 

"I looked in the closet, there was Donovan"

 

I can't figure that out, give me some more letters please. If this was Wheel Of Fortune I would lose.

 

"I'm just mad about Dylan, but Dylan's not mad about me..."

 

It's all because Alan Price said that Donovan was a better guitar player than Bob.

 

Donovan was and is a heck of a guitar player.

 

There's that scene where Neuwirth points out her skirt and says something about it being see through but "you don't want to." Apparently she went into her room and cried. I may have to re-watch it and focus on how Dylan treats Baez.

 

Donovan threw the glass into the street.

 

As the film critic for the Atlanta Journal described it in 1967, “the neighborhood’s biggest brat blowing his nose for 90 minutes.”

 

precarious Arthur was using a slang word that the British use -- take the "e" off the end and you'll have a four letter word that should be easy to figure out, and also, quite untrue of Donovan.

 

I found this article from 2015, in which Donovan talks a bit about his friendship with Dylan:

My favourite photograph by singer Donovan

 

These scene is pretty cringey. Donovan plays a nice catchy ditty before Dylan tosses off a brilliant, cutting version of It's All Over Now. I mean, I like Donovan, he's got some good tracks, but it's just artists on two completely different levels.

 

Early Dylan always has struck me as a person I would not have enjoyed hanging out with. Good thing he had the goods to back up the attitude.

Early Jerry on the other hand...