Mac MacLeod

Keith MacLeod (known as Mac MacLeod) is a British musician. An important part of the Hertfordshire Folk and Blues scene from 1959 onwards. He played in St Albans along side Mick Softley, Maddy Prior and toured with John Renbourn.

Hurdy Gurdy

MacLeod is known for being the inspiration for the Donovan song Hurdy Gurdy Man. MacLeod was in a power trio style group in Denmark (inspired by Cream) he named Hurdy Gurdy. The group sound was heading in a similar direction to The Jimi Hendrix Experience who had also started at the same time. After a run in with the law MacLeod had written to Donovan in December 1967 and asked him to pen them a song, Hurdy Gurdy Man was the result. Donovan changed his mind on the song and recorded it himself. Donovan explained the story to Keith Altham of Hit Parader in December 1968.

Related Topics:
Cream - Hurdy Gurdy - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

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'Hurdy Gurdy Man,' was originally written for a Danish group by that name,' Don told me. 'There is a friend of mine in the group - Mac MacLeod ? whom I looked to in the early days to learn how to pick the guitar. I wrote the song especially for them but then we got into a disagreement over how it was to be produced. I wanted to do it one way and they another.

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So I said, `Right then - I'll do it myself because I think it's good enough for a single. So I did it. And it's out. And doing very nicely, thank you.?

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Donovan had originally wanted the song to be gentle and angelic, what Hurdy Gurdy played was more like Heavy Metal. In the end Donovan's recording was more in keeping with the arrangement of MacLeod's Hurdy Gurdy version.

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Donovan had written most of the song before going to India with The Beatles, and handed a demo tape to MacLeod to work from. It was during Donovan's time in India he taught John Lennon the finger pick styles he had learned from MacLeod which resulted in songs like Julia and Dear Prudence on the White album (The Beatles) . http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/db112068.int.html.Donovan has also stated that whilst in India an extra verse was added to the song by George Harrison. MacLeod encountered problems with work permits for the Danish members of the group whilst in England so the other members went back to Denmark still under the name Hurdy Gurdy and recorded an album for CBS.

Related Topics:
The Beatles - John Lennon - The Beatles - Hurdy Gurdy - CBS

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