Donovan - Epistle To Dippy (1967)

Well, it's been a while since I last did a Donovan video, not since "Season Of the Witch" back on October 10, 2018 when I was still at KZbin. Two-and-a-half years? Hard to believe!
This is among the more important ones he did, important to me that is, and right up there with "Sunshine Superman." It has taken many years for me to really "dig" what it is about, the song sort of sailed over my head back in the day (an awful lot of music did when I was 13), but loved the music and singing all the same when it was popular here in spring 1967. Jimmy Page played with Donovan on this song as well. The epistle (or letter) is actually an invite from Donovan to a pal named Dippy then stationed in Malaysia about the futility of war and how much better it would be to drop his uniform off at the cleaner's and return home and join in on all the fun he was missing out on (with a good bit of the old psychedelic making an appearance here and there). Lots of vivid imagery. This was a major hit here in the United States and struck me as being something of a cousin to "Sunshine Superman." Both songs were getting a lot of play in the spring.
Released in February 1967 as a single, the song rather quickly reached #10 on Cash Box on March 11, 1967, making it to #5 in Canada. Released outside of the United Kingdom only, and why is a mystery.

[@DanSPsych67]

SO This Little Gem... Was At An Amazing Time.... I Was 14 And My amy Mind And Eyes Were Psychedelicized!!!!?!

[@FarRite5921]

Best Donovan song and love the sync with the movie. Well done.

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

Thanks so much! Because the guy Donovan was singing to was an old school mate, that made me think of schools, and one of the best school films of the same year, 1967. Funny how the mind works.

[@rosshutch]

I love this clip and the Donovan song. I don't think I have heard it in decades. Mike Munrow's Retro - Keeping the Music Alive.

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

Thanks Ross! Yeah, Jimmy Page helped to give this the distinctive sound he had helped give "Sunshine Superman." For me, back then, I used to get confused about which song was which when they got played on radio. "Epistle To Dippy" ended up as a major US hit, but was fairly unknown in the UK, and it never charted there.

[@jgcaulfield]

This is the best video for this song. (And I have looked at several.)

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

Thanks so much JG! Glad you compared and this one came out ahead! Means a lot to me!

[@billydecker9396]

This is one of my favourites of your edits.

[@davyhenry8985]

Great song. The Dickies version is great too

[@kylegreen3247]

Purported to be about Paul McCartney’s replacement in ‘67.

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

Really? Never knew that.

[@KingpinTBM]

What do you mean?

[@paulamiles9559]

​@KingpinTBM The real Paul was killed in a car wreck, and a clever replacement was substituted. There are a gazillion secret messages in songs and album photos to enlighten fans to this truth

[@tombealy4070]

​@@paulamiles9559except none of them were true.

[@chreynest]

originally recorded in Feb. '66 at DeLane Lea studios

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

My, my, they took a long time releasing this one as it did not chart, at least here in the US, until almost exactly a year later. I find this kind of thing happening time and again from that era and it can get very confusing. I guess late releases or chart action was more common back in the 60's and early-to-mid 70's than it has been since then.

[@chreynest]

Donovan did an abundance of recordings for his new producer Mickie Most starting 12/31/'65 (Sunshine Superman) continuing through 1966. There were also large gaps in studio activity. But overall it provided many song choices to release over time, and while his music was very much in vogue then the radio market was heavily evolving and exactly what and when each new release was mattered a lot

[@Whatsahandle4]

What is the name of that movie

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

To Sir With Love?

[@Whatsahandle4]

@@mikemunrowsretro8973 oh nice. Thanks 👍

[@davyhenry8985]

Great movie

[@cliffmcginnis3231]

@@mikemunrowsretro8973 yep.

[@deyanawoolley8993]

What is the movie at 0:51

[@mikemunrowsretro8973]

To Sir With Love (1967). Not only a good film but a great song by Lulu. Maybe some day I'll do a video of the song, if I can. Not sure, because I put one up by her last year and it got taken down and I got a strike.

[@deyanawoolley8993]

@@mikemunrowsretro8973 thank you so much