From 1967. I heard this the other day and it reminded me when I was living with the St. Johns folk in the Omega Hotel in downtown Lansing. This song was considered an early gay anthem by my gay roommates. These lyrics inspired this belief:
"Cannot believe what I see
All I have wished for will be
All our race proud and free"
From what I have read, Donovan, while sympathetic to the gay cause, was not gay himself although at the time, some felt he was.
It was the early 70's, Bowie was the rage as well as disco which was beginning to mainstream. The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again" was a huge hit. Gay men (including my roommates) were heading to the baths in Chicago and there was this feeling of liberation and freedom. Sadly, it was short-lived. By the early 80's AIDS was beginning to spread and I remember how it went through the gay population in Lansing like a scythe.
Starting with penicillin for STDs (first widely available to WWII servicemen, I believe) then following up with oral contraceptives in the sixties, there was a time when I think we believed science had solved all the pitfalls surrounding sex, and we could all be as free as Woodstock. turns out once again science can't solve everything for us.
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