Who Really Played on Hurdy Gurdy Man?!?!

And of course, IIRC, Harrison bought his first sitar from Mr. Page.

 

Just goes to show how good he was then - don't it!

 

Meanwhile, back at Hurdy Gurdy Man...

I'm sure Parker is/was a fine session player, but whoever plays lead on HGM is channeling Jeff Beck... that sustained drone is his trademark, and sounds very concurrent with his ex-Yardbird tone (Truth timeline notwithstanding).

I'd be surprised if Beck's effort on the wiped taped didn't sound a lot like the finished product.

Speculation is fun.

 

Yes, the sustained tone is right but I don't hear any of Beck's usual phrasing (just as I don't hear any of Jimmy Page's phrasing from that era). Throughout his career, even on the new live at Ronnie Scott's DVD, Beck has always had a sort of quirky way of articulating the notes. I still say Parker on HGM sounds more like Clapton circa '68, as I wrote earlier in the thread.

Regardless of who played it (and I have no doubt it was Alan Parker), I still think that's the nicest fuzz guitar sound on record.

 

Re: "half of Zep" plays on Don's records.
Sure, Page & Jones are together on several Donovan records... But they're also on a LOT of sessions together for a LOT of different artists.

BTW, I'm listening to HGM (the album) as I'm typing... and boy, what a great album!

 

Rick, Rick, Rick... You got this all wrong. Paul wrote the song, with help from Denny. BOTH are duly credited as co-writers of the track. I have several of Paul's solo demos. One is an instrumental, basically the entire melody intact. The other has Paul alone singing most of the lyrics, but not all. Denny must have helped with some lyrics and was credited as he should have been. I've never heard a version with Denny singing lead, certainly not to the released backing track. The song was recorded in the summer of 1977 with Paul, Linda, Denny and drummer Joe English (who soon departed the band). What Denny did in the mid-80's was sell his publishing shares to raise cash. He was dead broke. McCartney didn't buy out anything. He actually did his former friend a favor. Let's not forget most of the royalties for the song accrued well before 1984 or so, so he reaped quite a bounty upon release. Ron

 

Funnily enough I was wondering that too, but I thought it was maybe Donovan himself as it doesn't really sound like a seasoned guitar player's solo.

I think the track was recorded at the end of '65 and Page's stuff is usually pretty recognizable from that time...he seemed obsessed with doing a bowwowwow type thing on his bass strings and 'Superman' is quite twangy.

 

Brainwashed Brainwashed Brainwashed
OK! OK! OK! I made a mistake! But I DID read it somewhere, as I said, probably from Laine's ex! Don't take it so personally! The same article where she talks about having to live in that caravan in Scotland and Linda sneaking out to snort cocaine cos McCartney didn't approve. It was bad info. But it was printed! Excuse me! Somebody here musta read the thing as well!
I've got the same demos. What makes you such an expert?! I'm tired of defending stuff I didn't write but read somewhere! It may have even been in the Tony Bramwell book, "Magical Mystery Tours"... Jeez!
This is my last post on this forum. I've been "run off".
I just deleted SH Forums from my favorites list and will immediately request the moderator to remove me as a member. Happy?

rick "eating more crow" harper

 

Wow...

 

Well, if you haven't run away yet... I wasn't trying to show you up, just letting you know the information you posted (whether you read it somewhere or not) was in error. That's all. If you have the McCartney demos how could you possibly think Denny wrote the song? You shouldn't need to defend something simply because you read it either. To be fair, your original post seemed a slam against Mccartney and in this specific case there was no reason for it. Run off?? Dude, all I was doing was trying to set the record straight, I never chastised you at all. An expert at stuff? Not I, but I know a fair deal. Hope you stick around. Ron

 

Don't go!