Hello all,
I have vague recollections from my dim past of someone, possibly my grandmother, mentioning the Hurdy Gurdy. I was left with the impression that it was some sort of a ride that went round and round till you were sick. The song about the Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-5WVvWHDyE left me none the wiser.
A couple of Australian sites I’ve seen refer to getting off the Hurdy Gurdy in the same way you might talk about getting off the Merry go Round if you’re life’s in a bit of a rut. An American site gave the name to one of those small carts that go on the railway lines and people pedal, pump levers, or maybe wind a handle to get moving.
But according to
www.hurdygurdy.com a Hurdy Gurdy is a Musical instrument and they even have instructions on how to make one. But what would they know. The only musical instrument in the Donovan clip is a Guitar.
This person
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlIbMA6VFA thinks she’s playing the Hurdy Gurdy whereas, in fact, there’s a very small Scotsman inside that contraption playing the Bagpipes.
I wouldn’t necessarily believe all of the above but the Hurdy Gurdy was certainly a portable, hand operated, music machine of uncertain specification, used by street musicians and the like, much maligned, and capable of making a horrible din in all but the hands of experts, of which there were few.
The term Hurdy Gurdy was also probably casually applied to a great range of other, not necessarily musical, devices kept in motion by some sort of repetitive grinding, peddling or similar action by its operator.
That’s my opinion,
Alan
