Why ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ is the first Led Zeppelin song, according to Donovan
Donovan tracks can usually be categorised into two camps. There is the sweet and sentimental folk camp, home to pieces like the tender ‘Catch The Wind’ or ‘Colours’. On the other side, there is his more psychedelic streak as he experimented further on ‘Sunshine Superman’ or ‘Season Of The Witch’. But when it comes to one of his biggest works, it falls into the in-between. Instead, Donovan himself would categorise ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ into the camp of a Led Zeppelin song, not his own.
To clarify immediately, ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ isn’t a Led Zeppelin track. The 1968 song was written by the Scottish star Donovan, but in sound, style, and content, it feels ruled over by several external muses.
First, there’s The Beatles. The track was penned while Donovan was in India studying meditation alongside the Fab Four. Just as they were expanding and experimenting into a more psychedelic space, the folk singer was right there with them, influenced by the same teachings and trips. George Harrison especially played a role as he helped out with lyrics and gifted the musician a tambura, an Indian instrument that massively shaped the sound of the piece.
Then there are the Small Faces, a band that Donovan had also recently befriended. The similarities between ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ and their track ‘Green Circles’ prove just how influential they were on the artist.
But if you ask Donovan, the most instrumental input came in the form of Led Zeppelin, so much so that it could be said that it really stands as the first track from the band. Take a look at the personnel playing on the piece, and you’ll see that, really, that’s a fact. Before their own first release, the lineup of the iconic rock band acted as session musicians to create the sound of the song.
“Many people have said over the years how important that session of John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and me — and maybe [John] Bonham, who said he was there — doing ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ was,” Donovan remembered. ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ was released the year before Led Zeppelin shared their debut album, so the track feels like a prophetic look into the band’s future, hearing them begin to carve out their own sound through the song of another.
Jimmy Page’s style was already starting to be known as word of mouth about the group and their star power spread. Page’s distinctive playing, merging heavier rock with a psychedelic edge, is what got him this job playing for Donovan. “I was developing a story-telling thing, and I wanted power chords because I’d obviously heard Dave Davies and [Jimi] Hendrix and knew Pete Townshend,” he said. At first, though, he was aiming even higher than Page as he added, “Originally, I wanted to give ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ to Hendrix, but he couldn’t come in. So [producer] Mickie Most suggested Jimmy.”
However, it wasn’t just a one-way exchange of the band coming in and playing heavier and harder as they’d been told. As the group figured themselves out around Donovan’s unique mix of folk and rock, they certainly learnt a thing or two that you then hear translated into Led Zeppelin’s own stuff.
“[Musical director] John Cameron told him, ‘All you’ve got to do is listen to Donovan’s guitar. Although it’s acoustic, the way he’s hitting it is the way the power-chords would go,’” Donovan remembered of the session and the pointers given to the band. “Rather than plug-in, I was hitting driving chords on the acoustic in such a way that they buzz,” he added. His own technique that day seemed to teach the group something. “So I guess Page listened,” he said. “Jimmy added power and pagan rock.”
The unique mix of folk, rock and psychedelic that is heard on ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ feels like a blueprint for what Led Zeppelin would become. “To this day, everyone wants that sound,” Donovan said, but it’s not really his sound. It’s an early Led Zeppelin’s as the singer admits it was all at the hands of the band’s bassist. “John Paul Jones arranged it,” he said, “He gave the shapes to those sounds.”
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