Donovan explains how he became a songwriter „mentor” to George Harrison after living in the „shadow” of Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Donovan has revealed that he became a songwriter for George Harrison in the 1960s to escape the „shadow” of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The Scottish singer-songwriter, known for hits like 'Mello Yellow', 'Sunshine Superman' and 'Hurdy Gurdy Man', regularly spent time with The Beatles at the height of their success.

speaks Record Collector Magazine (via Music news), he said: „I became George's mentor in songwriting. Having been in John and Paul's shadow all these years, he said, 'Look, let me show you a few tricks on how to inspire songs.' There's a way to inspire songs.

„You can tease like you're fishing,” he continued. „I told him how to play a chord, then put your ear to the guitar, listen to the open chord and try the tempo.”

“You can hear the melodies, believe it or not. Melodies appear, but you have to be quick to catch them.

Harrison wrote many of The Beatles' best-loved songs, including 'Here Comes the Sun', 'Something', 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and 'Taxman'.

In November, Harrison's widow Olivia shared the „surprisingly magical” story of how The Beatles' 'Now and Then' artwork came to be.

„We were in this store and George saw this clock that was made up of bits and pieces and it had some Scrabble letters on it that said 'Now and Then,'” she said. “He was attracted to it for some reason and he took it off the wall and bought it. [He] He built this little Russian cottage in the garden and hung a clock in it and sat there for 25 years.

He said he cleaned it up and put it on his mantelpiece at the end of last summer.

Then Harrison added: “The phone rings. It's milk [McCartney] And he starts explaining by reminding me of the third song on the cassette tape with 'True Love' and 'Free As A Bird'. I said, 'I remember, it was 'now and then.' I just stand there and look at the clock.

We were so moved and delighted that this object in George's hand seemed somehow magical. I said, 'I think Georgie says it's all right.'

The clock is on the back of the vinyl sleeve for the single release.

The track recently topped the UK charts after 60 years. It was the band's 18th number one single, the last being 1969's 'The Ballad of John and Yoko'.