Over 50 years after its release, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” is still considered one of the greatest songs in rock and roll history. However, the tune’s legendary status owes much to the iconic musicians who helped pave the way for Zeppelin’s success…including singer-songwriter Donovan.
In a recent interview with MusicRadar, Donovan reflected on the inspiration for his 1968 hit “Hurdy Gurdy Man” — and how the chart-topper went on to influence Zeppelin’s sound in turn.
As Donovan explained, he started writing “Hurdy Gurdy Man” before traveling to India, but ended up completing it there.
Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns
“And one night, just after I got back to my little cottage in Hertfordshire, I was in my bed with a guitar that had strings lowered, and I’m listening to the buzz, but this time I’m not doing Arabic or Indian riffs, which we all love – all guitar players love. I’m doing chords. A to C to G. It’s like a mantra. But also I heard electric sounds in my head,” he recalled.
“As I play it, the strings are buzzing, and I’m working through these lyrics I’ve written in India, and it suddenly flashes in my mind — I’d heard that there was a band called The Hurdy Gurdy Men, and it occurred to me, ‘What is a hurdy gurdy man?’” Donovan continued. “I looked it up, and it was a guy who used to travel with a hurdy gurdy instrument and was telling the news. But that wasn’t what I was writing the song about.”
Donovan went on to say that “really, I was writing the song about what I’d experienced and all the books that The Beatles and I had read about meditation and esoteric studies and the inner world. So this song was going to speak about meditation.”
According to Donovan, he originally wanted Jimi Hendrix to play on the song, but his producer, Mickie Most, didn’t think that was the best idea.
“Mickie said, ‘We can’t make records like that. Hendrix is a wild, freestyle, improvisational guitar player, and we have to control the song, Don – just like we did with JPJ on ‘Mellow Yellow,'” Donovan said, referring to John Paul Jones, who went on to become the bassist for Led Zeppelin. “It has to be verse, chorus, verse, chorus, a break, verse, chorus, chorus, chorus and out. It’s only three minutes. We can’t let a wild boy like Hendrix in there!”
While rumors have swirled over the years about Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and John Bonham also playing on “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” Donovan clarified that Bonham does not appear on the track (there’s still some debate about whether or not Page really played on the track).
“It is officially stamped by JPJ — who played what. Whereas over the years it was, ‘Oh, Bonham played some of the drums.’ And Bonham said, ‘Yeah, I played on that.’ But I think it was all wishful thinking, and it was all mixed up with what Zep would actually do themselves,” Donovan said.
As Donovan tells it, his “sidekick and former hitchhiking companion,” known as Gypsy Dave, was one of the first people who recognized how influential “Hurdy Gurdy Man” would be.
“When Gyp heard the song, he said, ‘Don, I can only describe it as one thing — heavy metal folk.’ The he said, ‘People are going to be in awe of you. They won’t know what the f—k they’re listening to,'” he continued. “People have said that ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ was the actual template for what Page and JPJ would create in a band called Led Zeppelin.”
“Now, I can’t tell you that ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ created Led Zeppelin, but what I can tell you is this: if you play ‘Stairway To Heaven’ from the first needle touch to the end, you will hear acoustic guitar opening, esoteric, trippy, magical lyrics, heavy out-of-this-f—king-world drum patterns and very distorted guitar,” Donovan added.
One thing’s for sure: Both songs are absolute classics.
Related: Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Was Such a Big Fan of This Iconic Songwriter He Bought His Cottage
