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Epistle To Dippy Lyrics

Artist: Donovan

EPISTLE TO DIPPY
Donovan

Look on yonder misty mountain
See the young monk meditating rhododendron forest
Over dusty years, I ask you
What's it been like being you ?
Through all levels you've been changing
Getting a little bit better no doubt,
The doctor bit was so far out.
Looking through crystal spectacles,
I can see I had your fun.
Doing us paperback reader
Made the teacher suspicious about insanity,
Fingers always touching girl.
Through all levels you've been changing
Getting a little bit better no doubt,
The doctor bit was so far out.
Looking through all kinds of windows
I can see I had your fun.
Looking through all kinds of windows
I can see I had your fun.
Looking through crystal spectacles
I can see I had your fun.
Looking through crystal spectacles
I can see I had your fun.
Rebelling against society,
Such a tiny speculating whether to be a hip or
Skip along quite merrily.
Through all levels you've been changing
Elevator in the brain hotel
Broken down a-just as well-a
Looking through crystal spectacles,
Ah, I can see I had your fun.
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum

Comments/Interpretations

by Confused individual on 12/1/2008 9:43am
What are all these songs about??

by answer man on 1/23/2009 12:29pm
Written in the form of an open letter to an old school friend, the song had a strong pacifist message in addition to its florid psychedelic imagery. The real "Dippy" was at the time serving in the British Army in Malaysia. According to Brian Hogg, who wrote the liner notes for the Donovan boxed set, Troubadour, Dippy heard the song, contacted Donovan and left the army as a result.

by big donovan fan on 1/23/2009 1:06pm
donovan is a classic. it makes no difference what the songs are about if actually about anything at all. it was the '60's, donovan had his own unique music and lyrics
and he was great.

by dbhewitt on 2/11/2010 3:19am
Donovan holds no relevance to me besides the fact he is a quintessential artifact of the folk/psyche 60's.

The incense, the flavor of the decade.

by Bast Hotep on 2/28/2010 6:25pm
Anyone who can see "a strong pacifist message" in the above lyrics had better check in to the nearest psych ward...their weekend pass is about to expire.

by Observer on 7/31/2010 12:16am
geeze...

It's "..I can see ya (as in "you") had your fun...". "I had your fun" doesn't make any sense.

by Tod on 11/10/2010 4:32pm
Just because you cant see it means it doesnt exist? What a jackass!

by batteredup on 5/10/2011 6:05pm
Correction: the song goes, "broken down BUT just as well, ah, ...
Just because you do not understand Donovan's meaning doesn't mean that no meaning exists. The hippie minstrel was into transendental thought, provoking pacifism and sending good vibes out in his music. You are one of my all-time favorites, Mr. Leitch. Thanks for your wonderful contributions to music, art and society.

by Stephanie on 6/22/2011 10:42am
This is a joke, right? I mean . . .

by John-David on 7/12/2011 4:12am
Songwriters use words for what they actually mean, as musical sounds and like a painter uses different colors to communicate feelings. Sometimes lyrics are literal, sometimes not. And sometimes a blend of both. Donovan's work is a good example of all those forms.

by Carlos on 8/24/2011 4:02pm
Have always loved this song, along with so many of Donovan's. Very nice to finally read the lyrics - wow! One cannot appreciate the poetry without hearing the really insane way in which he makes them work rhythmically in the song. Weird accents to the syllables: CrysTAL specTAcles. And Jimmy Page on guitar!

by jdn on 6/13/2012 8:25pm
Great song, great memories..60'S AND MY SS 396 CHEVY

by Dana on 4/18/2013 10:03am
geeze - you're a Jerkwad!

by StarCovenantMan on 1/15/2014 12:21pm
Answer man got it right. I remember playing the 45 of this one summer night before sneaking out the window to go swimming. All through the late sixties I bought all his albums. Learned to play many of his songs. He was great.

by Navonod on 4/21/2014 1:44am
I always took it literally. Seems to be a letter (epistle) to a friend who was a doctor(Dippy: maybe this is what people thought of him as) who was a "seeker" and went to the Himalayas to find "the truth". He's old now, wears glasses but otherwise is still ok.
Sounds a little like me. Da da da da daa da da da da

by Damien on 5/17/2015 3:49am
The correct lyrics from the songbook are: Line 9: "I can see you had your fun." Line 10: "During hours paperback reader." Line 12: "Fingers always touching, girl." (The comma changes the meaning).

by Travis on 7/9/2016 5:59pm
I heard that this was about Paul McCartney's double. DIP stands for Duplicate In Paul.

Paul's double allegedly underwent plastic surgery before playing his role.

Read the lyrics again with this in mind.