Opening up side two of Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" album, "Season of the Witch" was something of a shock: more mysterious and ominous than anything he'd put out until that point. It was the flipside of Donovan's trippy optimism. a forecast of dark clouds.It never came out as a single, but it quickly became the one Donovan song that artists of every musical stripe were drawn to. It was the dawn of the age of 'the long version,' when bands started to stretch out, and the compelling riff of "Season of the Witch' proved irresistible. Vanilla Fudge, who could even slow "Ticket To Ride" down to a draggy crawl, made it a proto-"Thriller," complete with spooky narration, Julie Driscoll, with Brian Auger & The Trinity, made it cool and haunting, and on maybe the first rock "jam session" album, "Super Session," Al Kooper and Stephen Stills wah-wah'd for 11+ minutes on the theme (live, with Mike Bloomfield taking lead, it could go on even longer). Terry Reid also broke the 10 minute barrier, while Lou Rawls's soul version clocked in at a relatively snappy clip (just under six minutes)."Season of the Witch" has never really left the rock canon. Film directors (like Gus Van Zant in "To Die For") have used the original Donovan track; Richard Thompson, on the "Crossing Jordan" soundtrack, uncorked a brilliant version; Dr, John did his Dr. John thing on it for the second "Blues Brothers" movie; even Courtney Love took a stab at it when Hole unplugged for MTV (you can skip that one). The best modern-era takes come from LA's Dream Syndicate, playing it live on KPFK, and from Luna. With Halloween approaching, here's a link to the Lunaclip:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Ti7uc9x60Trick, or Treat?