The Hurdy Gurdy Man

If you have absolutely no clue who or what the "hurdy gurdy man" is,
this is what it boils down to:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki...

"A hurdy gurdy (also "wheel fiddle") is a stringed musical instrument in which the strings are sounded by means of a rosined wheel which the strings of the instrument pass over. This wheel, turned with a crank, functions much like a violin bow. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents (small wedges, usually made of wood) against one or more of these strings to change their vibrating length, and therefore pitch."


Conclusively a "hurdy-gurdy man" should be a person more or less capable of "fiddling the wheel", right?

Now, that doesn't sound all too creepy. But Donovan's song of the same name sure does. And for everyone who is still fascinated by this piece of music in the end-titles of "Zodiac", head on this way for a special presentation: I found the music video for this, and some rather interesting trivia along with it!

Apparently Donovan wrote the song while hanging out with the Beatles in some kind of guided meditation camp -- and of course while he was high on some obscure substances!

The song has been used for it's creepy atmosphere before in the 2001 pedophile-drama "L.I.E." (link) and to top things off, Donovan's daughter Ione Skye (Imdb) turns out to be an actress, who once played an uncredited side-character named Kathleen Johns ... -- in a nice little movie called "Zodiac".

Watch the creepy video already:
dailymotion.com

Disclaimer: The video may have been posted by a user with no official right to do so.

4 comments:

  1. Hurdy Gurdy Man has scared me since it came out and even more so if you were "High" it was just one major "Head Rush" Hey it was the late 60's and 70's! My Friend had a Tape with it on and I had a Led Zep Tape with Kashmir on it which had the same effect on him we just made a pact to listen to something more tame like Kansas or Styx even Boston. I was watching Zodiac for the first time the other night Home alone in the middle of a woods nearest house OH 1/4 mile across the Lake then at the end Hurdy Gurdy comes on I it was actually more freaky when I wasn't under the influence of anything creepy creepy creepy song.

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  2. Oh why wasn't Donovan's Daughter credited the part of K. Johns was a substantial role at least a few mins. and quite a bit of dialog much more then an extra .

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  3. Oh why wasn't Donovan's Daughter credited the part of K. Johns was a substantial role at least a few mins. and quite a bit of dialog much more then an extra .

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hurdy Gurdy Man has scared me since it came out and even more so if you were "High" it was just one major "Head Rush" Hey it was the late 60's and 70's! My Friend had a Tape with it on and I had a Led Zep Tape with Kashmir on it which had the same effect on him we just made a pact to listen to something more tame like Kansas or Styx even Boston. I was watching Zodiac for the first time the other night Home alone in the middle of a woods nearest house OH 1/4 mile across the Lake then at the end Hurdy Gurdy comes on I it was actually more freaky when I wasn't under the influence of anything creepy creepy creepy song.

    ReplyDelete