My sixth-grade homeroom teacher let us play records on a record player before bringing the class to order and calling the roll. The idea of having a record player in a class room was astounding to me, and even more astounding was the fact that we were allowed to play records of our own choosing on that record player right up to the moment that the school day officially started.
A couple of kids brought records from home. One that I remember for sure was Mellow Yellow, which was played every day. I thought the word was "Fontine," as in "I'm just made about Fontine," which I assumed was the name of someone Donovan liked, or perhaps of a food.
A little more internet exploration reveals he did in fact say "Fontaine" on the record. I guess that was a change he made to the lyrics he actually intended; the story told by the Portuguese writer cited above happened at a live concert, and would appear to validate your theory!
Still nothing more than a theory.
I only recently learned it wasn’t Fontine, m’self...