Why Donovan Said ‘Season of the Witch’ Captured a Dark Era
The best classic rock songs often have sad backstories. For example, Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” was inspired by the dark side of the 1960s. The tune wasn’t actually a hit at the time, but it’s become one of the most ubiquitous songs of its era.
Donovan’s ‘Season of the Witch’ presaged the rise of hard drugs
During a 2011 interview with The Guardian, Donovan explained how “Season of the Witch” foretold the end of the 1960s. “I think someone asked Roger McGuinn [of The Byrds] about the ’60s, and he said: ‘Well it lasted until December ’66 and something dark happened,'” the “Mellow Yellow” singer said. “All the hard drugs came in and something started happening that was big business.”
“Season of the Witch” was one of many Donovan songs that straddled the lines between folk music and psychedelia. Donovan discussed why he formed his signature sound. “It’s psychedelic not because we were stoned before we wrote the songs, or stoned during composing them, but the experiences of searching for the transcendental world through altered states of consciousness were in the songs,” he said.
Why Donovan made a lot of his fellow musicians angry
Donovan said his career path in the 1960s sparked a backlash from fellow folk musicians when he entered the world of pop music. “There was a great resistance in the folk world to doing anything other than keeping it for ourselves, which was a totally unsocialist way of looking at things,” the “Hurdy Gurdy Man” singer opined. “They thought the masses were just stupid automatons, and I’d say, ‘Yeah, what are you going to do about it?’ I loved pop.”
This whole line of thinking is absurd. Bob Dylan is undoubtedly the most acclaimed and influential folk singer of the 20th century. He had several pop hits, and some covers of his songs became pop hits for other bands. His success doesn’t negate his talent or his importance. If he and Donovan didn’t become pop stars, their great folk tunes would have languished in obscurity.
‘Season of the Witch’ failed and then succeeded
Shockingly, “Season of the Witch” was not a single, so it was not a hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It appeared on Donovan’s album Sunshine Superman. The record climbed to No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 29 weeks. The song “Sunshine Superman” was arguably far more popular. It was No. 1 for one of its 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. The title track of Sunshine Superman remains Donovan’s sole No. 1 single in the United States.
The Official Charts Company reports that “Season of the Witch” was not a hit in the United Kingdom either. The song’s parent album, Sunshine Superman, reached No. 25 and charted for seven weeks. Meanwhile, “Sunshine Superman” hit No. 2 and charted for 12 weeks.
The real reason why “Season of the Witch” is so popular is because it’s appeared in so many movies and television shows. Some of those movies and TV shows deal with witchcraft, such as George Romero’s Season of the Witch, American Horror Story: Coven, and Agatha All Along. It’s also shown up in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and inspired covers by Hole and Lana Del Rey.
“Season of the Witch” is a classic, even if it comes from a difficult time.
