{"id":400744,"date":"2026-01-31T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400744\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T14:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:40:10","slug":"why-donovan-believes-he-was-closer-to-the-beatles-than-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400744\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Donovan believes he was closer to The Beatles than anyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Donovan<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ CBS Television \/ Apple Corps)<\/p>\n

Sat 31 January 2026 8:00, UK <\/p>\n

If the sheer number of people who stake a claim to the title \u2018the fifth Beatle\u2019 is anything to go by, then The Beatles<\/a> weren\u2019t quite the closed camp they are often made out to be. <\/p>\n

From the very earliest days of the legendary outfit, in the dingy clubs of Hamburg, it was never just John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Whether it was Tony Sheridan launching the band\u2019s recording career, Brian Epstein scoring them a deal with EMI, or George Martin carving out the basis of their entire sound from the studios of Abbey Road, the title of the Fab Four never really did justice to the essential group of influences which surrounded the group throughout their tenure. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, those influences rarely made it into the studio in a physical sense. Aside from a few notable exceptions in the form of Billy Preston<\/a> or Eric Clapton, The Beatles tended not to rely on session musicians or hired help \u2013 at least not to the extent of some of their contemporaries in 1960s London. Even if he never made it onto one of their LPs, though, the influence of somebody like Donovan is still unavoidable on the band\u2019s discography.<\/p>\n

Having been introduced to the band via Bob Dylan<\/a>, the young songwriter ended up fostering a particularly close relationship with The Beatles, even teaching John Lennon the distinctive finger-picking guitar style that went on to inspire tracks like \u2018Dear Prudence\u2019. According to Donovan himself, though, his influence stretched far beyond those few finger-picking tracks. <\/p>\n

During a 2009 chat with Classic Rock<\/a>, Donovan reflected on that enduring connection between himself and the band. \u201cMartin Lewis, the legendary Beatleographer, told me: \u2018You don\u2019t know this, Don, but you had more social, musical and spiritual contact with these four guys than anyone of your generation,\u2019\u201d the songwriter claimed. \u201cAt the time, of course, we were young and crazy, and we didn\u2019t know how long it was going to last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not that description is entirely accurate, The Beatles\u2019 spiritual awakening is undeniably linked to Donovan and his own spirituality. \u201cGeorge and I were closest because of our spiritual paths and the books we were both reading,\u201d he affirmed, with the pair sharing a deep interest in the kind of Eastern philosophy and spirituality which went on to have a colossal impact on the counterculture era. <\/p>\n

\u201cJohn was fascinating to be around; he didn\u2019t suffer fools gladly,\u201d he continued in his assessment of the group. \u201cPaul was full of light and energy and jokes, and we would constantly be jiving each other. We tried to write songs together, but it was impossible, because every idea I had sparked him off and every idea he had sparked me off.\u201d He didn\u2019t mention Ringo Starr. <\/p>\n

It was during The Beatles\u2019 infamous trip to India that they grew ever closer to Donovan, who was also there studying the ways of the Maharishi. As a result, perhaps unsurprisingly, Donovan\u2019s spiritual and songwriting impact is palpable on the projects which arose from that fateful trip. \u201cGeorge said later that you can hear me all over the White Album,\u201d he shared. \u201cWe only had the acoustic guitars, and that\u2019s when we really got to know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beatles came into contact with countless musicians and external influences during their tenure, but few had the same tangible impact as Donovan, changing the sonic direction of the band and, particularly in the case of George Harrison, changing the course of his life entirely. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n

The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ CBS Television \/ Apple Corps) Sat 31 January 2026 8:00, UK If the sheer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[83075,96,128,10447,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-400744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-donovan","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-the-beatles","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}