H.M.S. Donovan

H.M.S. Donovan is the ninth studio album and tenth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It marks the second album of Donovan's children's music, after the For Little Ones portion of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden. H.M.S. Donovan is also the second double album of Donovan's career. H.M.S. Donovan was only released in the United Kingdom in July 1971 (Dawn Records DNLD 4001 (stereo)).

Donovan married his longtime affection Linda Lawrence (once girlfriend of Brian Jones) in October 1970. When Linda became pregnant with their first child, he began working to complete a children's album that would eventually contain recordings spanning from July 1968 to 1971. Paul McCartney was present for some of the 1968 recordings ("Mr Wind", "The Walrus and the Carpenter", "The Unicorn"), and there are bootleg recordings where Donovan plays these songs with Paul present.

H.M.S. Donovan was chiefly produced by Donovan, although one track called "Homesickness" was produced by Mickie Most. "Homesickness" is the sole electric rocker on this album of acoustic songs and the original recording date is the subject of debate. It is widely reported that Donovan and Mickie Most stopped working together after the Barabajagal sessions.

For the majority of the songs on H.M.S. Donovan, Donovan wrote music for poems that were originally written by others. Many of the poems were from One Hundred Poems for Children compiled by Herbert Strang (Clarendon Press, Oxford – 1925). Other poems come from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Track Listing

Side 1

1. "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (words by Lewis Carroll, music by Donovan Leitch) – 8:36
2. "Jabberwocky" (words by Lewis Carroll, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:37
3. "The Seller of Stars" (words by Thora Stowell, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:52
4. "Lost Time" (words by Ffrida Wolfe, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:29
5. "The Little White Road" (words by Thora Stowell, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:05
6. "The Star" (traditional, arranged by Donovan Leitch) – 1:45

Side 2

1. "Coulter's Candy" (traditional, arranged by Donovan Leitch) – 1:44
2. "The Road" (words by Lucy Diamond, music by Donovan Leitch) – 1:08
3. "Things to Wear" (words by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, music by Donovan Leitch) – 1:06
4. "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" (words by Edward Lear, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:24
5. "Homesickness" (Donovan Leitch) – 2:31
6. "Fishes in Love" (Donovan Leitch) – 1:04
7. "Wynken Blynken and Nod" (words by Eugene Field, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:38

Side 3

1. "Celia of the Seals" (Donovan Leitch) – 3:02
2. "The Pee Song" (Donovan Leitch) – 2:06
3. "The Voyage of the Moon" (Donovan Leitch) – 5:18
4. "The Unicorn" (Donovan Leitch) – 0:55
5. "Lord of the Dance" (Sydney Carter) – 2:31
6. "Little Ben" (Donovan Leitch) – 1:44
7. "Can Ye Dance" (Donovan Leitch) – 1:32

Side 4

1. "In an Old Fashioned Picture Book" (Donovan Leitch) – 3:11
2. "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" (words by William Butler Yeats, music by Donovan Leitch) – 3:56
3. "A Funny Man" (words by Natalie Joan, music by Donovan Leitch) – 1:51
4. "Lord of the Reedy River" (Donovan Leitch) – 2:38
5. "Henry Martin" (traditional, arranged by Donovan Leitch) – 5:08
6. "Queen Mab" (words by Thomas Hood, music by Donovan Leitch) – 2:18
7. "La Moora" (Donovan Leitch) – 2:21