Hurdy-gurdy Hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a hand crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses "tangents"—small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible. Most hurdy-gurdies have multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment
Hurdy Gurdy Man "singing songs of love". The song invokes "histories of ages past" with "unenlightened shadows cast" and the "crying of humanity" through "all eternity", and says tis then when the hurdy gurdy man comes singing songs of love". On his 1990 live album "The Classics Live" and in his autobiography, Donovan has said that there is also an additional verse that had been written by George Harrison that was not included on the radio single: When performing the song in concert, Donovan often relates to his audience the story of how this final verse came about. He played the song for