I had to take Robbie to the vet today for checkup, blood work, etc. She hates to be in the cat carrier and yowls and cries all the way there. So I tried singing to her, and this was the song I sung: Donovan’s Epistle to Derrol, from 1967.
How about that? It worked!
I’m tired out just now, and have decided to go back to bed for a nap. But it’s pleasant for me to revisit this song… and I hope it’s pleasant for you. Nobody I know of is writing songs like this one anymore.
I just had to take my boy to the vet–twice in a week. He yowls on the way there, and I try to sing to him too. But he’s almost always quiet on the way back. He knows we’re headed home. We don’t give them enough credit, I think.
Definitely Robbie’s quieter on the way back. I agree–they know.
Donovan was the hippies’ hippie! Loved that guy! When Lizzie, my cat, would be in hiding and was to the point of worrying on my part, I’d discovered that if popped in one of Enya’s cds to play, Lizzie would appear!
Another Donovan favorite that I still sing: “The Alamo.”
A Donovan song I have never heard of.
Robbie knows you love him!
Him’s a her. She’s 17 now, and has overcome more than her share of serious medical problems. Sort of like a Timex.
I took my cat in for her annual checkup recently, and did the same thing; singing to her to calm her down. Indeed, she was much more calm on the way home. GPS, without the satellites. 🙂
My dog Leo loved to go for rides. But when we headed for the vet, and got within three blocks, he knew. He was well-trained, but that was the only time he forgot all of his training, and I had to drag that 75 lb mutt through the door of the vets office. We would sit in the waiting room, all the while he was shaking like a leaf, with his tail tucked up tight, between his legs.
The only songs of Donovan I remember are “Sunshine Superman,” “There Is a Mountain,” “Jennifer Juniper,” “Wear Your Love Like Heaven,” “Mellow Yellow,” “Hurdy Gurdy Man” and “Atlantis.” I had “Atlantis” and “Mellow Yellow” on 45’s.
Never heard “Epistle to Derrol” before. But it’s a very nice song.
It’s on an album, “Gift from a Flower to a Garden.”