(The story of the song told by Donovan in his live presentation at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on January 21, 2007.
BTW, Ben and Miki Shapiro's place in Yelapa = Casa de Los Sueños.
"Of course fame followed me. It was 1966. We were here in Hollywod, up
at Ben Shapiro's place. Ben was bringing in Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar
Khan. Ben was one of the old bohemians. He saw that Gypsy and I were
tired. He said, "Why don't you go down to Mexico?" He said, "Go down to
Puerto Vallarta, down to Rosa's Cantina." We did. Rosa was there. She
took us to a fast boat, it sped us down the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Down to Yelapa, a small fishing village. No roads went to this village.
We curved around. Young boys in dug-out canoes took us off to a long,
sandy beach, the jungle behind. We slept in grass huts, the stars
twinkling above us. Down the river, we could hear the jaguars calling to
each other in the jungle. And I wrote this song…"
The sun was going down behind a tattooed tree
The simple act of an oar's stroke put diamonds in the sea
All because of the phosphorus there in quantity
I dug you diggin' me in Mexico
There in the valley of Scorpio, beneath a cross of jade
Smoking on the seashell pipe the Gypsy had made
We sat and dreamed a while of smugglers bringing wine
In that crystal thought time in Mexico
Sitting in a chair of bamboo, sipping grenadine
Straining my eyes for a surfacing submarine
Kingdoms of ants walk across my feet
I'm a-shakin' in my seat in Mexico
Grasshoppers creaking in the velvet jungle night
Microscopic circles in the fluid of my sight
Watching a dark-eyed native girl cut and trim the lamp
A Valentino vamp in Mexico
The sun was going down behind a tattooed tree
The simple act of an oar's stroke put diamonds in the sea
And all because of the phosphorus there in quantity
I dug you diggin' me in Mexico
The sun was going down behind a tattooed tree
The simple act of an oar's stroke put diamonds in the sea
All because of the phosphorus there in quantity
I dug you diggin' me in Mexico
There in the valley of Scorpio, beneath a cross of jade
Smoking on the seashell pipe the Gypsy had made
We sat and dreamed a while of smugglers bringing wine
In that crystal thought time in Mexico
Sitting in a chair of bamboo, sipping grenadine
Straining my eyes for a surfacing submarine
Kingdoms of ants walk across my feet
I'm a-shakin' in my seat in Mexico
Grasshoppers creaking in the velvet jungle night
Microscopic circles in the fluid of my sight
Watching a dark-eyed native girl cut and trim the lamp
A Valentino vamp in Mexico
The sun was going down behind a tattooed tree
The simple act of an oar's stroke put diamonds in the sea
And all because of the phosphorus there in quantity
I dug you diggin' me in Mexico
*taken from Cheryl Harleston's post on FB.
