Atlantis (Donovan song)

"Atlantis"
Single by Donovan
from the album Barabajagal
B-side	"To Susan on the West Coast Waiting"
Released	November 1968
Recorded	May 1968
Genre	Folk rock[1] psychedelic pop[2]
Length	4:58
Songwriter(s)	Donovan Leitch
Producer(s)	Mickie Most
Donovan singles chronology
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" (1968) "Atlantis" (1968) "Barabajagal" (1969)

"Atlantis" is a song written and performed by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. Produced by Mickie Most for Donovan's seventh studio album Barabajagal (1969), the song tells of a mythological antediluvian civilization based on the fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias, with much of the verses spoken as a quiet monologue.

The song was first released by Pye Records as a single in 1968 and became a worldwide success. It reached number one in the Netherlands and in Switzerland in 1969, while also reaching the top five in the Austria, New Zealand, and West Germany. In the United States, it was initially released as the B-side to "To Susan on the West Coast, Waiting", but was promoted to the A-side after receiving significant airplay, eventually reaching number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100. In the singer's native country, the single managed only a modest number 23 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Atlantis" has since been recorded by several artists, including Austrian singer Georg Danzer, German musical project U96 and German actor Thorsten Feller. In 2001, Donovan and German pop band No Angels re-recorded the track for the closing credits of the Walt Disney Feature Animation picture Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). Included on a concomitant album for the German-speaking music market,^[3] it was once more released as a single and re-entered the top five in Austria and Germany.