7 cover versions of Donovan's "Season of the Witch"

boing
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https://youtu.be/wQWJczUaeKM In the latest episode of Gweek, we talked about Peter Begbergal’s upcoming book, Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock ‘n’ Roll. The title is based on the excellent Donovan song of the same name from 1966. Peter recently posted seven cover versions of the song. I think Donovan’s original is still… READ THE REST

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Richard Thompson did my favorite version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQwUnJ_B9fc

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I always vote for the Brian Auger/Julie Driscoll version.

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Right on! Also, their version of Let the Sunshine In from Hair! is a stone cold classic:

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Not the best version Evar - but I retain a fondness for the Masked Marauders version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9npFxUfbgY

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totally love donovan. and his version is, hands down, the best here.

as an aside, it wasn’t until years after first hearing alice cooper’s “billion dollar babies” that i found out that it was was actually a duet with donovan.

it’s made me appreciate the song so much more. even if donovan’s heavy metal yelp is somewhat spinal tapesque.

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my favorite is Luna’s cover, off the I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack, but nobody can top donovan’s original. i am continually surprised that more people don’t cover his stuff… so many groovy songs ripe for re-interpretation.

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I’ve got a few copies of that Super Session album. great SotW version, great album, and a Pharcyde sample on there, to boot.

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While I agree that Donovan’s version is the best, I’ve always had a soft spot for Terry Reid who had such a great voice. I read once that when Jimmy Plant was conceiving and creating Led Zeppelin his first choice for vocalist was Terry Reid, not Robert Plant. At the time, Reid had committed to a tour with a different band and he turned down Jimmy Page out of a sense of loyalty to his band members.
I wonder how often he regretted that?

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My god, I’m not alone. I created a CD years ago with 5 versions after the song was used at the end of “To Die For.” Thank you, internet.

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