![]() Produced by his longtime producer Mickie Most and engineered by Eddie Kramer, the record features many great musicians, and doesn’t feature others who are often said to have played on it. Spoken in the gentle, lilting Scottish accent that so charmed the multitudes, he said that the Hurdy Gurdy Man is any songwriter in modern times who speaks the timeless truth. ![]() He did confirm, however, that George wrote a verse for “Hurdy Gurdy Man” (included here), and which suggests, though doesn’t prove, that the song was written while in India.īut more helpful to understanding its magic and its meaning is Donovan’s beautiful explanation of who the Hurdy Gurdy Man really is. These days he’s leaning more towards Jamaica, he said, though also mentioned it’s there where there was powerful rum and ganja both, which doesn’t bolster his case. When I interviewed Donovan in his Marina Del Rey apartment in 1988, he admitted some uncertainty about whether he wrote the song in India or Jamaica. A close friend of George Harrison and meditation devotee, Donovan was invited to join The Beatles, their wives and some friends, at Rishikesh, India, to study with the Maharishi in February of 1968. Official accounts of this song’s origins state categorically that Donovan wrote it while he was in India with The Beatles. Have you ever noticed that if you hear one on the radio, like ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man,’ they still sound really good?” It’s there both in the song itself, as well as Donovan’s shimmering performance, and the production by Mickie Most.Įven Randy Newman, who might not give the impression of a Donovan enthusiast, said, “Man, his songs still sound so good. Written, recorded and released in 1968, “Hurdy Gurdy Man” resounds with a timeless, slow-simmering power even now. It’s one of those magical, beloved songs which both defines an artist and an era.
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