Codine and stuff

I performed my untitled song of beauty last night at a private party. I was using a 12-string guitar sound on my keyboard to play the chords I had envisioned, which duplicated the guitar arrangement of Donovan's take on "Codine."

Then I went home and strummed out those chords on the guitar for the first time, accompanying myself on guitar. I have trouble with the A major chord. I can play an A power chord, but getting that C# to sound and make it an A major is what I have trouble with.

I also got my buddy Chris on the phone to talk about early Donovan. Chris has been watching Donovan's performance at the 1966 Monterey Pop Festival. I've been listening to the opening tracks of his two-CD collection Troubadour a lot lately. Until this morning, what I didn't realize -- and what Chris may not either -- is that two of those songs, "Codine" and "Universal Soldier," are originally by Buffy Sainte-Marie. They're on her album It's My Way! and also on her best-of collection.

• "Codine" was also covered by a group called the Charlatans, their version making it to Rhino's four-CD box set Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968. I have had this set for years and never realized, until today, it is the same song.
• Another group from that era, Quicksilver Messenger Service, also made a cover version. I haven't heard this one, but it's on the compilation Sons of Mercury (1968-1975), along with their take on "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," which is of course originally by Anne Briggs and covered by Joan Baez before it was famously reinterpreted by Led Zeppelin.