Catch the Wind

This was Donovan's debut single - it was released after his third appearance on British TV. In an interview with Dierdre O'Donoghue on KCRW Radio, Los Angeles, Donovan said: "'Catch The Wind,' I wrote it for Linda (Lawrence, who he married in 1970), although I hadn't really met her yet. It is a song of unrequited love, yet I hadn't really met her, so how could I miss her? And I seem to write prophetic songs in the sense of the Celtic poet and I wrote this song before I met Linda, of a love I would like to have had and lost." Donovan had a fleeting love affair with model Linda Lawrence, who was then the girlfriend of the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones soon after writing this song. He bumped into her four years later and they married in 1970. Donovan said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper May 24, 2005: "Linda's in all the songs. 'Sunshine Superman,' 'Hampstead Incident,' 'Young Girl Blues'... Linda's the muse."

Despite having a similar title to Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" and being played on an acoustic guitar with harmonica fills with a similar melody to Dylan's "Chimes Of Freedom," Donovan didn't object and they became friends on his UK tour. Donovan and Dylan also made their UK chart debut in the same week, Donovan with this song and Dylan with "The Times They Are A Changin'." Donovan was often dubbed the British answer to Bob Dylan.

The single version featured Donovan's vocals with echo and a string section. The song was recorded again for Donovan's first album What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid without the vocal echo and strings.