remember that bit in my biography
where i’m walking down the school hall at lunchtime
and i hear a kid playing the guitar
and i blah blah blah blah
yeah
well the song the kid was playing was called atlantis
he taught me the chords too (my first chord progression!)
they are C D F C G
i felt as if i had learnt a spell
the spell still has not worn off
even after 40 years
now most pop music is a load of old rubbish
uh huh aint it the truth
meaningless tripe knocked out to try n make a buck
the kinda thing you listen to once and never again
however
once in a while someone writes something so good n powerful
it can stay with ya forever n forever
atlantis by donovan is such a song
in spades my my oh my word
i always liked donovan
he was a big influence on my uber-hero marc bolan
when i first heard this song back in 69 or 70 it floored me
a feeling of sacredness pervades the simple chords
donovan starts talking over the gentle strumming
the most beautiful delicate scottish accent imaginable
he rolls his Rs
and the whole thing has an air of the most confidential information
the continent of atlantis was an island
which lay before the great flood
in the area we now call the atlantic ocean…
(well
i was instantly hooked
he goes on to amazingly tell the story of atlantis so succinctly
as a piano chimes in playing the wistful melody)
so great an area of land that those beautiful sailors
journeyed to the north and south americas with ease
in their ships with painted sails
to the east africa was her neighbour across a short strait of sea miles
the great egyptian age is but a remnant of atlantean culture…
(yes it is …ask herodotus !)
the narrative continues:
the ante diluvian kings colonised the world
all the gods who play in the mythological dramas
in all legends from all lands were from fair atlantis
(all spoken so carefully in that wonderful soft accent)
knowing her fate
atlantis sent out ships to the four corners of the world
on board were the 12
the poet the physician the farmer the scientist the magician
and the other so called gods of our legends
tho gods they were
and as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
let us rejoice and lets us sing and dance
and ring in the new
HAIL ATLANTIS!
this is followed by a good old fashioned hey jude ending
with pounding drums and piano and electric guitar
while donovan sings
way down below the ocean where i wanna be she may be
fucking brilliant!
meaningful
longing
great tune
great production
and sending me off into an atlantean obsession
wow
imagine if all the stuff you heard on the radio was like this…
and it was in the charts….!
life changing pop music…whooda thunk it?
now go n download it if ya aint got it
and dig this fairly accurate history of atlantis
in the shape of a 4 minute spell