Donovan – "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" (1973)

Don’t pour filth into the air

Air is the best thing that we can breathe

Today’s featured song was released in 1973 on Donovan’s 11th studio album, Essence to Essence, which was produced by Andrew Loog Oldham.  (Oldham is better known as the manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until 1967.)

I wasn’t familiar with a single song on Essence to Essence until today, when I heard “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth” for the very first time.

Essence to Essence failed to chart in the UK and peaked at #174 on the U.S. album charts.

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The inspiration for “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth” was a similarly-titled 1969 book by the famed architect and futurist, R. Buckminster Fuller:

Fuller envisions Earth as a spaceship flying through space.  As such, it requires regular maintenance in order to keep functioning.

Engine oil needs to be filtered to do its job properly – if it gets dirty enough, the engine will stop working.  Likewise, the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans will be unable to sustain life if air and water pollution get out of control.

Fuller’s main concern about fossil fuels doesn’t appear to have been about global warming – he was more worried about us running out of energy.

So he encouraged specifically the Sun's radiation and Moon's gravity via wind, solar, and water tools. Fuller stated that humans must wean themselves from their dependence on fossil fuels, and instead rely on the energy generated by the Sun’s radiation and the Moon’s gravitational pull.

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 Donovan’s song is kind of a dumbed-down version of Fuller’s book.  To wit:

Don't pour filth into rivers

Rivers are like the blood in our veins

Don't pour filth into the air

Air is the best thing that we can breathe

Here’s another verse:

Do be kind to your vegetable friends

You are the gardener of Earth garden

Do be kind to your animal friends

You are the keeper of Earth zoo

Let’s face it – these lyrics aren’t anything that the average high-school sophomore couldn’t have written.  

The Essence to Essence album cover

But let’s not be hypercritical.  Today’s featured record is a perfectly pleasant little ditty that is perfectly appropriate for Earth Day (which was first observed on this date in 1970).

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Click here to listen to “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.”