Well, it's been a while since I last did a Donovan video, not since "Season Of the Witch" back on October 10, 2018 when I was still at KZfaq. Two-and-a-half years? Hard to believe!
This is among the more important ones he did, important to me that is, and right up there with "Sunshine Superman." It has taken many years for me to really "dig" what it is about, the song sort of sailed over my head back in the day (an awful lot of music did when I was 13), but loved the music and singing all the same when it was popular here in spring 1967. Jimmy Page played with Donovan on this song as well. The epistle (or letter) is actually an invite from Donovan to a pal named Dippy then stationed in Malaysia about the futility of war and how much better it would be to drop his uniform off at the cleaner's and return home and join in on all the fun he was missing out on (with a good bit of the old psychedelic making an appearance here and there). Lots of vivid imagery. This was a major hit here in the United States and struck me as being something of a cousin to "Sunshine Superman." Both songs were getting a lot of play in the spring.
Released in February 1967 as a single, the song rather quickly reached #10 on Cash Box on March 11, 1967, making it to #5 in Canada. Released outside of the United Kingdom only, and why is a mystery.