Donovan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Roger Cook Songwriters' Circle

# Yellow is the colour of my true love's hair

# In the morning when we rise... #

Are we in a row or a circle?

They call it in the round,

even when you're lined up.

-Round-robin style song swapping?

-I do them all the time in Nashville.

They have a place called the Bluebird Cafe.

I get down at least once every couple of weeks or so, sit down with

two or three songwriters and we just pass songs around.

# Once I was lost but now I'm found

# Was blind but now I see

# It's the real thing. #

-So, just you and that one bit?

-No, sing with me.

-OK, me and Buffy.

One of us is bound to get it right.

I lived in Nashville for a long time.

-I was in love with my producer.

-That's where I met you.

I met Buffy many years before that.

We met at a concert here in London, was it Royal Festival Hall?

-Yes, of course.

-I still have a picture of you there.

# I'm gonna be a country girl again... #

You were singing, "boy" sometimes and I was singing "girl" sometimes.

I'm going to sing girl, but I don't care if you sing boy.

The genius is gathering today. Three amazing songwriters.

APPLAUSE

# Sunshine came softly through my window today

# Could have tripped out easy But I've changed my ways

# It'll take time, I know it But in a while

# Gonna be mine, I know it We'll do it in style

# When you make your mind up you're going to be mine

# I tell you right now

# Any trick in the book, now, baby That I can find

# Everybody's hustling me just to Have a little scene

# When I say we'll be cool I think that you know what I mean

# We stood on a beach at sunset Do you remember when?

# I know a beach where, baby It never ends

# When you make your mind up you're going to be mine

# I pick up your hand, pick up your hand and slowly blow your little mind

# When you've made your mind up completely to be mine

# I'll tell you right now

# Any trick in the book now, baby That I can find

# When you've made your mind up you're going to be mine

# I'll tell you right now

# Any trick in the book now, baby That I can find

# That I can find

# That I can find Yeah, yeah

# Yeah. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you. Thank you.

I got one for ya.

This is a love song that I wrote in the '60s, but you might have heard it by somebody else,

like Bobby Darren, "Splish-splash I was takin' a bath" Bobby Darren.

Or Sonny and Cher or Roberta Flack or Neil Diamond or Vera Lynn

or Barbra Streisand or Elvis Presley or somebody.

LAUGHTER

So, with many thanks to all of their fans,

who made me enough money so I could remain in the music business and see you today.

It's just a love song.

# You're not a dream You're not an angel

# You're a man

# And I'm not a queen, I'm a woman

# Take my hand

# We'll make a space in the lives that we planned

# And here we'll stay until it's time for you to go

# Yes, we're different, worlds apart We're not the same

# We laughed and played at the start like in a game

# You could have stayed outside my heart but in you came

# And here you'll stay until it's time for you to go

# Don't ask why

# Don't ask how

# Don't ask forever

# Love me now

# This love of mine had no beginning It has no end

# I was an oak, now I'm a willow Now I can bend

# And I will never in my life see you again

# Still I'll stay until it's time for you to go

# Don't ask why of me

# Don't ask how of me

# Don't ask forever of me

# Love me, love me now

# You're not a dream You're not an angel

# You're a man, yeah

# I'm not a queen, I'm a woman Take my hand

# We'll make a space in the lives that we planned

# And here we'll stay until it's time for you to go

# And here we'll stay until it's time for you to go

# Mmmmmmm. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That is a tough act to follow.

I'm going to start with a song I wrote in 1967 with my friend Roger Greenaway,

and it was a nice big hit for us. A man called Gene Pitney cut this song.

And in 1967 it was great to have a Gene Pitney cut.

# Something's gotten hold of my heart

# Keeping my soul and my senses apart

# Something's gotten hold of my life

# Cutting its way through my dreams like a knife

# Turning me up, turning me down

# Making me smile, making me frown

# In a world that was small

# I once lived in a time that was peace with no troubles at all

# But then you came my way

# And a feeling unknown shook my heart, made me want you to stay

# All of my nights and all of my days

# Something's gotten hold of my hands

# Dragging my soul to a beautiful land

# Something has invaded my nights

# Painting my sleep with a colour so bright

# Changing the grey Changing the blue

# Scarlet for me, scarlet for you

HE WHISTLES

# I've got to know if this is the real thing

# I've got to know what's making my heart sing

# Whoa, yeah

# You smile and I am lost for a lifetime

# Each minute spent with you is the right time

# Every night, every day

# You touch me and my mind goes astray

# And, baby

# And, baby

# Something's gotten hold of my hands. #

That's about all I can do. Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That's such a fine song, Roger. I didn't know you wrote that.

I spent the money, so I hope I did!

LAUGHTER

Well, I grew up in Glasgow with Irish and Scottish parents,

so there were ballads, always.

So I heard the ballad form from a very early age and my first song that I recorded...

..for release was this.

# In the chilly hours and minutes

# Of uncertainty I want to be

# In the warm hold of your loving mind

# For to feel you all around me

# And to take your hand Along the sand

# But I may as well try and catch the wind

# When sundown pales the sky

# I want to hide awhile Behind your smile

# And everywhere I'd look Your eyes I'd find

# For me to love you now

# Would be the sweetest thing T'would make me sing

# Ah, but I may as well try to catch the wind

# Dee-dee-dee-dee Dee-dee-dee-dee

# Dee-dee-dee dee-dee-dee Dee-dee

# When rain has hung the leaves with tears

# I want you near For to kill my fears

# For to help me to leave all my blues behind

# For standing in your heart

# Is where I want to be And I long to be

# Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

# Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I want to do you a song that Janis Joplin used to sing,

Courtney Love sings it

and our friend Donovan also recorded it - thank you very much.

Opiates have always been something that you don't want to mess with

and here's a song about that.

# And my belly is craving

I got a shaking in my head

# Feel like I'm dying and I wish I was dead

# If I live till tomorrow That'll be a long time

# But I'll reel and I'll fall And I'll rise on cod'ine

# And it's real, and it's real One more time

# Well, when I was a young girl I learned not to care

# For whisky and from it I often did swear

# My mother and father said whisky's a curse

# But the fate of their baby was many times worse

# And it's real, and it's real One more time

# Stay away from the cities Stay away from the towns

# Stay away from the men passing cod'ine around

# Stay away from the stores where the remedy is found

# For better your pain than be caught on cod'ine

# And it's real, and it's real One more time

# You'll forget you're a woman You'll forget about men

# Try it just once and you'll try it again

# You'll forget about life You'll forget about time

# And you'll live out your days as a slave to cod'ine

# And it's real, and it's real One more time

# But if I die tomorrow Still one thing I've done

# I've heeded a warning that I heard when I was young

# My one satisfaction It comes when I think

# That I'm living my life without dying to drink

# And it's real, and it's real One more time

# And my belly is craving I've got a shaking in my head

# I feel like I'm dying and I wish I was dead

# If I live till tomorrow That'll be a long time

# But I'll reel and I'll fall And I'll die on cod'ine

# And it' real, and it's real One more time. #

APPLAUSE

That's pretty heavy.

This next song I wrote in 1964 with Roger Greenaway,

it was the first song we ever wrote together. Amazing, really.

George Martin got to hear of it and he was producing The Beatles

at the time, big man, and George said, "I really like the song.

"I like the way you sing, I'd like to produce you."

Unfortunately a band called The Fortunes had gotten

a hold of the song and got it out two months before we possibly could.

So, they had the big hit.

# I see that worried look upon your face

# You've got your troubles

# I got mine

# She's found somebody else to take your place

# You've got your troubles I've got mine

# I too have lost my love today

# All of my dreams have flown away

# Now just like you I sit and wonder why

# You've got your troubles I've got mine

# You need some sympathy Well, so do I

# You've got your troubles I've got mine

# She used to love me, this I know

# And it don't seem so long ago

# That we were walking

# And we were talking

# The way that lovers do

# So forgive me if I seem unkind

# It would seem to you my friend that I ain't got no pity for you

# You've got your troubles I've got mine

# I lost, I lost I lost my little girl too

# I'd help another place another time

# You've got your troubles I've got mine

# You've got your troubles I've got mine

# Mm-hm-hm-hmm

# You've got your troubles I've got

# Mine... #

Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well, it's not every week you get to sing backup

on a Roger Cook hit single.

-Thank you, Roger.

-Don't get used to it.

-They say I'm very expensive, though.

-Oh, I believe that!

# Yellow is the colour of my true love's hair

# In the mornin' when we rise

# In the mornin' when we rise

# That's the time, that's the time

# That's the time, that's the time

# I love the best... #

Oh, I love the best!

And then blue.

# Blue is the colour of the sky

# In the mornin' when we rise

# In the mornin' when we rise

# That's the time, that's the time

# I love the best... #

Green.

# Green's the colour of the sparklin' corn

# In the mornin' when we rise

# In the mornin' when we rise... #

Let me hear you.

# That's the time, that's the time

# I love the best

# Freedom is a word I rarely use

# Without thinkin', uh-huh

# Without thinkin', uh-huh

# Of the time, of the time

# Of the time, of the time

# When I've been loved... #

What about "yellow is the colour," are you ready?

# Yellow is the colour of my true love's hair

# In the mornin' when we rise

# In the mornin' when we rise

# That's the time, that's the time

# I love the best... #

One more time.

# Yellow is the colour of my true love's hair

# In the mornin' when we rise

# In the mornin' when we rise

# That's the time, that's the time

# I love the best

# I love the best

# I love the best

# I love the best. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you.

This is one I recorded on my third album and, you know,

some songs you just wish didn't still make sense,

but some do and so this also is on my latest album.

# Mmm...

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Merry Christmas jingle bells

# Christ is born and the Devil's in Hell

# Hearts they shrink, pockets swell

# Everybody know and nobody tell

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Oh the sins of Caesar's men

# Cry the pious citizens

# Who petty thieve the 5 and 10s

# And the big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Blame the angels, blame the fates

# Blame the Jews or your sister Kate

# Teach your children how to hate

# And the big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Turn your back on weeds you've hoed

# Silly sinful seeds you've sowed

# Add your straw to the camel's load

# Pray like Hell when your world explode

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Swing your girl, fiddler say

# Later on the piper pay

# Do-si-do, swing and sway

# Dead will dance on Judgment Day

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around

# Little wheels spin and spin Big wheels turn around and around. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Is that you over there about your piano?

Yes, and I don't play piano.

LAUGHTER

I went over to Nashville, I got there in '75 and made an album there

and fell in love with the place

and decided to stay and took my family there.

I thought, "I'm going to go over there

"and write me a big old country hit."

Two years later, I'm thinking to myself,

"This ain't going to be easy, Roger."

Somebody who became a friend said, "You know what?

"If you leave all the little English bits out,

"I think you could have a hit."

I said, "Like what?" He said, "Just your language, they don't get it over here."

So, I sat down one day, with a friend of mine called

Bobby Wood, a wonderful musician, and we came up with this song.

# Three o'clock in the mornin'

# And it looks like it's gonna be another sleepless night

# I've been listening to your dreams and gettin' very low

# Wonderin' what I can do

# Maybe I'm bein' foolish

# Cos I haven't heard you mention anybody's name at all

# How I wish I could be sure it's me that turns you on

# Each time you close your eyes

# I've heard it said that dreamers never lie

# You've been talkin' in your sleep

# Sleeping in your dreams

# With some sweet lover

# Holdin' on so tight

# Lovin' her the way

# You used to love me

# Talking in your sleep

# With lovin' on your mind

# Maybe I'm bein' foolish

# Cos I haven't heard you mention anybody's name at all

# How I wish I could be sure it's me that turns you on

# Each time you close your eyes

# I've heard it said that dreamers never lie

# You've been talkin' in your sleep

# Sleeping in your dreams

# With some sweet lover

# Holdin' on so tight

# Lovin' her the way

# You used to love me

# Talkin' in your sleep

# With lovin' on your mind

# You've been talkin' in your sleep. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This one was not about someone I knew but I was watching this movie

and a German actress, Lotte Lenya,

was performing the part in The Threepenny Opera

and she was a street girl and it occurred to me that I would like to

be like Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and make a song like a cabaret song.

# When the sun goes to bed

# That's the time your raise your head

# That's your lot in life, Lalena

# Can't blame you, Lalena

# Arty tart

# Oh so, la-di-da

# Can your part get much sadder?

# That's your lot in life, Lalena

# I can't blame you, Lalena

# Run your hand through your hair

# Paint your face with despair

# That's your lot in life, Lalena

# Can't blame you, Lalena

# La-di-da

# La, la, la, la...

# Arty tart

# La-di-da

# Can your part

# Get much sadder?

# That's your lot in life, Lalena

# Can't blame you, Lalena

# Oh, Lalena

# La, la, la-di-da

# La-da

# La-da-da... #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So I'd like to do you a song

that I did on Sesame Street with a cow and a horse.

Things have improved greatly.

Don't ever give up.

APPLAUSE

# The rain is falling lightly on your buildings and your cars

# I've said goodbye to city friends Department stores and bars

# The lights of town are at my back My heart is full of stars

# And I'm gonna be a country girl again

# Oh, I'm gonna be a country girl again

# With an old brown dog and a big front porch

# And rabbits in the pen And I tell you

# All the lights on Broadway Don't amount to an acre of green

# And I'm gonna be a country girl again

# I spent some time in study Oh, I've taken my degrees

# And memorised my formulae My As and Bs and Cs

# But what I know came long ago and not from such as these

# Oh, and I'm gonna be a country girl again

# Oh, I'm gonna be a country girl again

# With an old brown dog and a big front porch

# And rabbits in the pen And I tell you

# All the lights on Broadway Don't amount to an acre of green

# And I'm gonna be a country girl again... #

Uklele solo, come on, Roger!

Thank you.

# ..I've wandered in the hearts of friends looking for to find

# Somebody who'd show me happiness Where I'd find peace of mind

# And the one who taught my lesson was a south wind through the pines

# And I'm gonna be a country girl again

# Oh, I'm gonna be a country girl again

# With an old brown dog and a big front porch

# And rabbits in the pen And I tell you

# All the lights on Broadway Don't amount to an acre of green

# And I'm gonna be a country girl again

# Oh, I'm gonna be a country girl again

# With an old brown dog and a big front porch

# And rabbits in the pen And I tell you

# All the lights on Broadway Don't amount to an acre of green

# And I'm gonna be a country girl again. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you.

Now that's a famous song.

When I got to Nashville in '75,

the big artists around in those days were like Dolly Parton,

George Jones especially, Waylon Jennings,

and Don Williams.

Well, I ended up getting some cuts with Don Williams.

He cut this one song of mine that became the biggest hit he ever had.

I was very lucky and very fortunate, and I thank Don for that forever.

And this is the song.

# I don't believe in superstars Organic food and foreign cars

# I don't believe the price of gold The certainty of growing old

# That right is right and left is wrong

# That north and south can't get along

# That east is east and west is west

# And being first is always best

# But I believe in love

# I believe in babies

# I believe in Mom and Dad

# And I believe in you

# I don't believe that Heaven waits For only those who congregate

# I like to think of God as love He's down below, He's up above

# He's watching people everywhere

# He knows who does and doesn't care

# And I'm an ordinary man Sometimes I don't give a damn

# But I believe in love

# I believe in children

# I believe in old folks

# And I believe in you

# I know with almost certainty What's goin' on with you and me

# Is a good thing

# It's true

# I believe in you

# Now, I don't believe virginity is as common as it used to be

# In working days and sleeping nights

# That black is black and white is white

# That Superman and Robin Hood Are still alive in Hollywood

# That gasoline's in short supply The rising cost of getting by

# But I believed in love

# I believed in angels

# I believe in miracles

# And I believe in you

# I believe in love

# I believe in babies

# I believe in Mom and Dad

# And I believe in y'all. #

Don didn't sing that. Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It all goes back, does it not, in many ways,

to New Orleans and jazz and blues

for many of us who loved to make our songs from the roots,

and one day I was in New Orleans and I went down to Preservation Hall,

where some of the old boys were still there,

and I couldn't believe it. I sat on the wooden benches

in that little funky little room, down there,

and these boys were blowin' Dixie Jazz.

And I came back to London and I had this song in my head,

and I started doing this vamp from New Orleans.

HE STRUMS

HE BEATBOXES

# I'm just mad about Saffron

# Saffron's mad about me

# I'm just mad about Saffron

# She's just mad about me What's my name?

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# I'm just mad about 14

# 14's mad about me

# I'm just mad about 14

# She's just mad about me

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# Born high, forever to fly

# Wind velocity nil

# Born high, forever to fly

# If you want Your cup I will fill

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# Oh yeah

# Mellow yellow

# Ba ba ba-da-da ba ba

# Yeah

# Ba ba ba ba-da-da da

# Woo-hoo-hoo

# Ba ba ba-do-da do-da-da... #

This is the jazz clap.

# ..Ba ba ba-da-da ba

# Ba ba ba-da

# They call me mellow yellow

# What's my name?

# They call me mellow yellow

# Oh yeah... #

Yeah, keep that up.

# ..Electrical banana

# Is gonna be a sudden craze

# Electrical banana

# Is gonna be the very next phase

# They called it mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# They call me mellow yellow

# He's so mellow

# They call me mellow yellow

# Quite rightly

# They call me mellow yellow

# Yeah, man!

# They call me mellow yellow

# Mellow, fellow. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Oh, this is such a pleasure!

I just so love the art of the three-minute song,

it's fun when you hear it and it's sure fun when you write it.

And I got real lucky at my piano one day.

I live in Hawaii.

And, er, I was messing around with this little melody,

and bridge, and, er... I can't play it!

But I'll play you the beginning, OK, and then I'll do a real song. OK? OK.

So anyway, er, this was a song that went out and won me an Academy Award.

I didn't even have to sing it, so many thanks to Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.

This is the beginning of a song that they sang.

It's called Up Where We Belong.

SHE PLAYS PIANO

# Who knows what tomorrow brings?

# In a world where few hearts survive

# All I know is the way I feel

# If it's real I keep it alive

# The road is long

# There are mountains on the way

# But we climb a step every day

# Love lift us up where we belong

# Where the eagles cry

# On a mountain high

# Love lift us up where we belong

# Far from the worlds we know

# Up where the clear winds blow-oh-oh. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you, Joe, thank you, Jennifer!

Then there's this other song that I wrote back in the '60s, right?

And like I said, there are some songs that you wish didn't keep on making sense.

Here's one that got me an awful lot of trouble in the US.

It's about individual responsibility for the world we live in.

It's called Universal Soldier.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# He's five foot two and he's six feet four

# He fights with missiles and with spears

He's all of 31 and he's only 17

# He's been a soldier for a thousand years

# He's a Catholic, a Hindu An atheist, a Jain

# A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew

# And he knows he shouldn't kill And he knows he always will

# Kill you for me, my friend and me for you

# And he's fighting for Canada He's fighting for France

# He's fighting for the USA

# And he's fighting for the Russians And he's fighting for Japan

# And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way

# And he's fighting for democracy and fighting for the Reds

# He says it's for the peace of all

# He's the one who must decide Who's to live and who's to die

# And he never sees the writing on the walls

# But without him, how would Hitler have condemned them at Dachau?

# Without him Caesar would have stood alone

# He's the one who gives his body As a weapon to the war

# And without him all this killing can't go on

# He is the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame

# But his orders come from far away no more

# They come from him and you and me And brothers can't you see

# This is not the way we put the end to war. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And thank you to Donovan for bringing it to so many of you.

You're not going to believe what I'm going to follow that with.

In 1971, Roger Greenaway and I

sat down with the people from McCann Erickson,

that's a jingle company, over there in the United States, to write a song.

They'd come up with a new little hooky thing for Coca-Cola.

They asked us if we could work on the melody and the song with them.

So we did, and the thing was written. Took about a day.

And we got paid, and that was the end of that.

It was a nice little job.

Well, a year later, that wasn't the end of that.

It became a jingle and a well-known commercial on TV,

and then proceeded to be a hit song.

So...you never know what's going to happen in this business.

This isn't a protest song, like I say.

LAUGHTER

I actually went to Washington and I got to sing this song

for the President of the United Dairy Farmers. And he loved it.

He really liked it a lot.

I hope you do.

# I'd like to buy the world a home

# And furnish it with love

# Grow apple trees and honey bees

# And snow-white turtle doves

# I would like to see the world for once

# All standing hand in hand

# And hear them echo through the hills

# For peace throughout the land

# And I would like to teach the world to sing

# In perfect harmony

# I'd like to hold it in my arms

# And keep it company

# It's the real thing

# In the back of your mind

# What you're hoping to find

# Oh, yeah, it's the real thing... #

This song has a particular life all of its own in the United States.

They love this song there.

In different ways. In fact, in some of the local churches around Nashville,

they have different words they sing to it. But you know the words.

# Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

# That saved a wretch like me

# Once I was lost, but now I'm found

# Was blind, but now I see

# It's the real thing

# The real thing

# In the back of your mind What you're hoping to find

# Is the real thing... #

Sing it with me, one time.

# I'd like to teach the world to sing

# In perfect harmony

# I'd like to hold it in my arms

# And keep it company. #

And there you go.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

Email [email protected]