He was present in the studio during the sessions and both Donovan and ‘Macca’ himself are certain that he contributed something, but it is hard to decipher what that was exactly. His presence, however, is almost like some mystical lingering ghost of the 1960s as it is not immediately apparent how exactly he features. Part of that iconography involved none other than Paul McCartney himself. So, it’s about being cool, laid-back, and also the electrical bananas that were appearing on the scene – which were ladies vibrators.”

As he adds: “They call me Mellow Yellow, I’m the guy who can calm you down.’ Lennon and I used to look in the back of newspapers and pull out funny things and they’d end up in songs. Being mellow, laid-back, chilled out.” So far so obvious, but there is a lot more frivolity in the welter of the track. When Donovan was asked what the song was about by NME back in 2011, the folk star reflected and mused: “Quite a few things. No song depicts the changing swinging style in the realm of dogeared acoustics and gingham quite like Donovan’s ‘Mellow Yellow’. There was a three-year period after that where the drug was legal and, although it seems very un-sixties-like to mention admin, it was this logistical oversight that defined an era as the kaleidoscopic headwind of acid blurred the zeitgeist in a tie-die hue of peace, love and utter psychedelic mayhem. By 1966, even the ancient genre of folk was beginning to feel the heady effects.

They call me mellow yellow song