Daily Jam - The Hurdy Gurdy Man

For the longest time, I didn’t know what a hurdy-gurdy was. I just assumed it was some sort of nonsense phrase created by The Butthole Surfers for their song “Hurdy Gurdy Man” from 1991’s Piouhgd. I also did not realize (until college!) that it was a cover of a song originally recorded in the 60’s by psych rock troubadour Donovan.

I later found out that a hurdy-gurdy is a musical instrument.

And that’s just boring.

For some reason, I had a really sinister notion as to what a “Hurdy Gurdy Man” was supposed to be. Donovan’s psych classic, from the 1968 album of the same name, has such an undercurrent of menace to me, that I just assumed it was about a stalker, or killer, or monster of some kind or another. That trippy tremolo effect creating this kind of spooky dissonance (an effect The Buttholes went a little wild with on their own version), lyrics about “shadows cast” and “the crying of humanity,” and the all too serene, chilled vibe of the song make for a disarming kind of siren’s call, a luring lullaby before the serial killer stabs you in the belly, or the beast eats you whole.

But no, it’s really just a minstrel of sorts…singing songs of love.

Sigh.

“Hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy gurdy.”

Listen below, our Daily Jam.