Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!

Subject: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 06:42 AM

Picke up a 'Golden Oldies' CD for £1.99 in the local co-op the other day. Most of it is actualy mouldy oldies but there are some crackers on it. Melanie's 'Look what they've done to my song, Ma.' being one and her version of 'Mr Tambourine Man' is another.

Couple of live Donovan songs on are what caught my eye. One is a neat arrangement of 'Catch the Wind' but the one that caught my attention most on listening was 'Hurdy Gurdy Man'. It goes pretty oddly and then Mr Leitch goes into a tale about his involvement with the Maharishi. Towards the end of a quite humorous story he related that George Harrison said he cold write a verse for that song. Donovans impersonation of George's scouse accent is pretty good btw! So, George gave him the verse but Donovan never recorded it. He does however sing it on this live version.

If anyone is interested I can rip an MP3 from it and send it on!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 06:46 AM

Oh - and almost forgot. I had all but forgoten the Bee Gees 'I am the World' is on it as well. What a cracking song:-)

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Callie
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 12:32 AM

I have the same track on a Donovan CD I bought for about the same equivalent in Aus dollars at the local supermarket! he does a nice slow (live) version of "Catch the Wind".

Love it when those bargain CDs turn out to be good uns!

Callie

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 04:31 AM

The 'Catch the wind' on mine must be the same one, Callie. Very nice indeed:-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Dita
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 08:43 AM

These come from a series of 80s live recordings issued on CD as "Donovan Rising" and a second fuller 2CD set "Rising again."

They are legit authorised relases and featue a tight jazzy acc, in addition to Danny Thomson on Bass on some tracks.

The first CD Rising has been subject to many budget releases with titles such as "Donovan in Concert", and sometimes has a couple of tracks removed.
It includes a good cross section of re-recordings of Donovan's writing over the years, and some trad/blues songs. (Lang a-growing/Stealin').

Well worth a listen, IMHO

Cheers, John

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 07:07 PM

So can the general public know what the new verse is?

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: GUEST,Bman
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 08:34 PM

Yes, please do publish the new verse. Donovan's always been a favorite of mine.

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 05:40 AM

OK - Mea Culpa:-( I should have done so before now.

I am in the office at the mo but need to be back home, where the CD is, mid-afternoon, BST. I will post it then unless someone beats me to it.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Peter T.
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 10:37 AM

Anyone know if there is a good bio of Donovan somewhere? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' new verse!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 11:22 AM

OK Here goes -


Georges Verse.
When the truth gets buried deep
Beneath the thousand years of sleep
Time demands a turn around
And once again the truth is found

Back to Donovan who modifies the chorus to fit
Yeh, George...!
Awakening the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Who comes singing songs of love
Continues as normal.

Just listening to Melanie's cover of Tamborine mine while I write this up. Super Version:-)

Cheers

DtG