Second Banana Forever: Lou Waxman on Donovan

Donovan is the consummate second banana. He is the first banana of second
bananas. He is most famous for not being Bob Dylan, although he tried. Unfortunately,
he got caught grasping at Dylan on film. In Don’t Look Back, the D.A. Pennebaker
documentary about Dylan’s tour of England in 1965, Donovan attempts to stake his
territory as the lead dog in the singer/songwriter scene by performing one of his songs
amongst a gathering including Dylan and Joan Baez. Donovan does his thing and then
in what is one of the greatest “Hold My Beer” moments in all of recorded history, Dylan
takes up the guitar and performs one of his new compositions “It’s All Over Now, Baby
Blue.” Dylan absolutely kills and to this day Donovan has not recovered. From that
moment on, Donovan was known as the second banana to Dylan.
Watching the scene, Lou is reminded of two other iconic movies scenes. The first is
from Goodfellas. Sidebar: Goodfellas is overrated. Scorsese could make movies like
this in his sleep. This was not a challenge for him but more like a greatest hits record.
His best movie was Taxi Driver, which still hits hard today and is far more relevant than
Goodfellas ever was. Goodfellas is for kids and Taxi Driver is for adults. Goodfellas
paved the way for The Sopranos, also overrated. The Sopranos is just a drawn out
Goodfellas. The Wire is far superior, and the greatest prestige TV program ever made.
If you are from New Jersey nobody asks you if it is like The Sopranos. People ask if
Baltimore is like The Wire all the time. Like Utz Crab Chips, Natty Boh, and John
Waters, The Wire is a part of Baltimore’s unique culture. If Lou was going to list the
best Scorsese movies in no particular order (except Taxi Driver as number one):

Taxi Driver
After Hours
The King of Comedy
The Last Waltz
Mean Streets

Lou acknowledges the mastery of Raging Bull, a true masterpiece, but Lou does not
find himself returning to that movie again and again, like he does the movies above. It
is like Kerouac’s Visions of Cody. You read it once recognizing it as Kerouac at the
peak of his powers and as a true innovator, but you don’t re-read it like On the Road.
Taxi Driver, like On the Road, should be considered in the Great American category. It
attempts to get to the dark, disturbed heart of the American psyche like Moby Dick or
Invisible Man, the only two possible contenders for the Great American Novel. For what
it is worth, the Great American Novel has been written it is Moby Dick.
Back to Goodfellas and Don’t Look Back. The scene between Dylan and Donovan is
like when Tommy thinks he is about to be a made man and is instead murdered. In the
moments after Donovan finished his song (does anyone ever remember what that song
was, everybody knows Dylan sang “Baby Blue”), he must have felt like Tommy just
before he walked into the empty room prepped for his execution. This is it. I have

made it. Life is good. But when Dylan finishes his song, Donovan is basically lying on
the hotel room floor bleeding out with a shot to the head. The second movie Lou thinks
of is Animal House, when Bluto takes offense at the folk singer on the stairs of the frat
house and breaks his guitar into a million pieces. Dylan performing Baby Blue is one of
the biggest bully moves ever in music. He literally destroys Donovan and shatters his
confidence.
Completely humiliated by Dylan, Donovan had to leave folk-rock and go psychedelic.
And once again he was a second banana. Lou likes “Mellow Yellow” just fine, but as a
drug song it is rather weak when compared to “Purple Haze”, “Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds”, or “White Rabbit”. The song generated the myth that you could get high
from smoking banana peels, a joke perpetrated by the hip on the straights. Unlike the
songs above, “Mellow Yellow” was psychedelia for the straights. “Purple Haze” is head
music. In terms of LSD, Lou suspects that on the streets of the Haight Purple Haze was
much more potent than Mellow Yellow by far.
Turns out Mellow Yellow was not about drugs at all, but a dildo. Later Donovan would
claim this was obvious from the line “electric banana.” Even here, Donovan does not
measure up. The most famous banana as cock in rock history is the Andy Warhol cover
of the Velvet Underground’s debut album. That cover is far more interesting and
transgressive than Donovan’s mellow song. A second banana even when it comes to
bananas. Poor Donovan.
One thing Donovan did well was sell out. Little about his career seems authentic. He
seems eager to capitalize on the treads of the moment, be it folk music or psychedelia.
And he did. Donovan was not afraid to go corporate. Mello Yello (this is how it is
spelled by the way, not Mellow Yellow, or Mellow Yello, or Mello Yellow) became the
name for a soda in 1979 and a part of its advertising campaign. Again, Mello Yello soda
was Coca-Cola’s response to the success of Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. Lou has to admit
that as a kid he was a Mello Yello man. It was always a treat when he could get a hold
of a can. Mello Yello is probably most famous for being the corporate sponsor for Cole
Trickle (nothing in common with Travis Bickle) in Days of Thunder. A second-tier racing
movie. Some might love Talladega Nights and Ricky Bobby, but Lou is a Stroker Ace
guy. There is Donovan always bringing up the rear.
For what it is worth the Vogue has a few Donovan records. Lou recommends you go
with the Greatest Hits. Donovan is one of those artists, like The Mamas and the Papas
or The Animals, where you do not need to fuck with the albums. Donovan’s greatest
hits have all that you need if you actually really need them in the first place.
Suggested Sites and Sounds:
Dylan Destroys Donovan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sqAhF6i9H4

The best scene in Taxi Driver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdBe7tHddQs
Dylan Destroys Donovan via Goodfellas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veg0cHBspNY
Dylan Destroys Donovan via Animal House:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_hCqO6UQs
Ernest Likes Mello Yello: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuC0S39LGt0
Rubbing Is Racing, It’s Cash Their Chasing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk9enz6ux9w
Bands Where the Greatest Hits Is All You Need: Bands Where The Greatest Hits
Compilation is Probably All You Need

--Lou Waxman