SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY - DONOVAN: 'MCCARTNEY AND I WERE SONGWRITING RIVALS'

Hippie icon DONOVAN frequently clashed with his pal SIR PAUL McCARTNEY when they attempted to write songs together, as he insists they had both trouble keeping up with each other.

The MELLOW YELLOW star, who considers himself in the same songwriting league as the former BEATLES star, admits life was not always easy for artists of such stature.

He says,"We were kindred spirits, but we found it hard to write songs together as we were both too prolific.

"Any ideas that I had, he would immediately riff off into an idea of his own, and vice versa."