Hurdy Gurdy Man

For other uses, see Hurdy Gurdy Man (disambiguation).
"Hurdy Gurdy Man"
Single by Donovan
from the album The Hurdy Gurdy Man
B-side"Teen Angel"
ReleasedMay 1968
Recorded3 April 1968
StudioCBS, London[1]
Genre
Length3:15
LabelPye
Songwriter(s)Donovan
Producer(s)Mickie Most
Donovan UK singles chronology
"Jennifer Juniper"
(1968) 		"Hurdy Gurdy Man"
(1968) 		"Atlantis"
(1968)
Donovan US singles chronology
"Jennifer Juniper"
(1968) 		"Hurdy Gurdy Man"
(1968) 		"Laléna"
(1968)

"Hurdy Gurdy Man" is a song by the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was recorded in April 1968 and released the following month as a single. The song gave its name to the album The Hurdy Gurdy Man, which was released in October of that year in the United States. The single reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[6]

Donovan wrote "Hurdy Gurdy Man" while in Rishikesh in India, where he was studying Transcendental Meditation with the Beatles.[7] The recording features a harder rock sound than Donovan's usual material, supplying a range of distorted guitars and aggressive drums. It also features an Indian influence with the use of a tambura, a gift to Donovan from George Harrison, who also helped write the lyrics. The song may have been influenced by "Green Circles", a psychedelic 1967 song by Small Faces. The similarity is in the melody of the descending verse, the strange vocal delivery, and the topic of being visited by an enlightened stranger. In 2012, Donovan revealed that he had become friends with Small Faces in 1965.[8]

According to some sources, the song was written for the band Hurdy Gurdy (which included Donovan's old friend and guitar mentor Mac MacLeod[9][10]), with Donovan intending to be the producer, but the collaboration was cancelled due to creative disagreements, leading Donovan to record the song himself.[11] In the chapter dedicated to the song in Donovan's autobiography, he says that he originally wanted it to be recorded by Jimi Hendrix.[7]

  1. ^ "Donovan recording sessions listing". Sabotage.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  2. ^ James E. Perone (2012). The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations. ABC-CLIO. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-313-37906-2. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  3. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Hurdy Gurdy Man" at AllMusic. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  4. ^ Marvin E. Paymer (July 1993). Facts Behind the Songs: A Handbook of American Popular Music from the Nineties to the '90s. Garland Pub. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-8240-5240-9.
  5. ^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1968". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. pp. 173–174. ISBN 9781493064601.
  6. ^ Donovan UK chart history, The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference autobio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Donovan". Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  9. ^ (15 June 1968). Donovan's More Down to Earth Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine, New Musical Express.
  10. ^ Altham, Keith (December 1968). Coming Down From the Clouds Archived 2017-02-14 at the Wayback Machine, Hit Parader.
  11. ^ (6 July 1968). Don Wants to Spin a Film Legend Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Melody Maker.