Drummer on Donavan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man"

Who is it? Man, what some great drumming! Was noticing this listening to the track yesterday.

 

Clem Cattini - Drummer On 43 Number 1 Hit Singles

 

Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan

Funny I should be asked about "Hurdy Gurdy Man". I spoke to John Paul Jones who played bass on it and was the MD. The guitar player was Alan Parker. American Web sites say that John Bonham and Jimmy Page played on it. This is absolute ******** as JPJ said. This is the e-mail sent BY JPJ.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I have been contacted by Clem Cattini with regard to Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man
I would like to confirm that the musicians on the record were as follows

Donovan Accoustic Guitar
John Paul Jones Arrangement/Musical Director and Bass Guitar
Alan Parker Lead (electric) Guitar
Clem Cattini Drums

No other musicians were involved in this session
The session was produced by Mickie Most and engineered by Eddie Kramer.

John Paul Jones
London 05/2005

 

About time there was a compilation album featuring some of the songs he's played on, some of the big hits and some lesser-known tracks, that would show how good he was.

 

All this time I was thinking that was Jimmy Page

 

I used to think it was Jeff Beck.

 

That was "Barabajagal".

 

Speaking as a drummer, it's really not that difficult

 

The source for this urban myth (that Bonzo was the drummer) seems to be none other than Donovan himself, who said in his autobiog that Bonzo & Page played on the track. He later said the other guitarist was "Alan Hollsworth", leading to me to conclude either a) Don's memory ain't what it was, or b) his book needed a better proofreader.

 

A Vim quote from The Bad News Tour - "I could play "Stairway To Heaven" when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn't actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot."

 

To add to the confusion here's a quote from wikipedia.

"There is some dispute over the musicians who performed on the song. In the booklet that came with Donovan's 1992 double CD, Troubadour: The Definitive Collection 1964–1976, Allan Holdsworth and Jimmy Page are listed as the electric guitar players and John Bonham and Clem Cattini (spelled as "Clem Clatini") as drummers on the recording. John Paul Jones, who arranged and played bass on the track (and also booked the session musicians), was reported to have said by email that Clem Cattini played the drums and Alan Parkerplayed the electric guitar.[11] This line-up was confirmed by Cattini.[12] In Donovan's autobiography, he credits Cattini (spelled as "Catini") and Bonham for the drums.[6] In a published interview circa 2013, Donovan is quoted as primarily crediting Cattini for the drums but saying he wasn't sure whether Bonham was also involved, and said he and Jones both credit Holdsworth for the guitar.[13]

On Jimmy Page's website, he lists this song as one on which he plays.[14] Engineer Eddie Kramer also cites Jimmy Page as playing on the track, but says that John Bonham did not.[15] Donovan said that Page was the guitarist in Hannes Rossacher's 2008 documentary Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan, where he also asserted that the song ushered in the Celtic rock sound which would lead to Page, Jones, and Bonham forming Led Zeppelin soon afterwards. In Donovan's autobiography, he credited both Page and "Allen Hollsworth" as the "guitar wizards" for the song.[6] However, he also says that "Hollsworth" had played with Blue Mink, which was a band that Alan Parker had played in.[6] In the autobiography, Donovan said that perhaps this session inspired the creation of Led Zeppelin.[6]

The tambura that Donovan plays on the track had been given to him in India by George Harrison, who also helped write the lyrics.[16] In his autobiography, Donovan said that with the drone of the tambura, he had created "Celtic Rock".[6]

The session was produced by Mickie Most and engineered by Eddie Kramer.

Donovan had originally hoped Jimi Hendrix would play on the song, but he was unavailable.[6][10] In fact, Donovan said he wanted to give the song to Hendrix for him to record, but that Mickie Most "flipped out" when he heard the song and insisted that Donovan should record it himself as his next single.[6][13]"

 

Same here. This comes as a surprise to me.

 

Incidentally, a Clem Cattini "best of" might have a track listing like this:

Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man
Tornados - Telstar
Hermans Hermits - Silhouettes
Johnny Kidd - Shakin All Over
Tom Jones - Green Green grass of Home
Donovan - Mellow Yellow
Kinks - Till the End of the Day
Joe Cocker - With a little Help....
Lulu - Love loves to love (drums sampled by Norman Cook et al)
Walker Bros - Make it easy on Yourself
Thunderclap Newman - Something in the Air

and that'd just be side 1, with side 2 to include work with the likes of T Rex & Dusty Springfield. The bloke was on 49 number one hits!

 

Clem Cattini was Johnny Kidd and The Pirates drummer from 1960 to 1961. Plays on Shakin' All Over arguably the best pre-Beatles British record and certainly one of the finest British records of all time complete with Clem cocking up his roll going into the solo and getting out right on time. Top drummer.

 

Great drumming does not have to be difficult.

 

Oh. So, I guess that means it's not great drumming. Thanks for the clarification.

 

According to the album credits, Speedy Keen is the drummer on that song.

 

Donovan, Page, Jones, Parker, Cattini…

We need to get all these guys on Judge Judy and get this Hurdy Gurdy urban myth mess figured out once and for all.

 

Then perhaps she can take on the case of "Beck's Bolero".

 

I'd trust JPG's word over anyone else there. He was probably the only one not tripping.

I'm gonna start a rumor that Steve Hillage was the guitarist on the track because YOLO.

 

The style of the drum rolls throughout the song sure sound like Bonham, especially on the first Zep LP. That’s why I was convinced that it WAS Bonham.
I guess I’ll give in on that one though.

 

Page played on "Sunshine Superman," so maybe people got confused and thought he did this one too?

 

...no..but perfect for the record. The guitar solo on it's own isn't anything outstanding, either..but again, for what it is, it's perfection for that recording.

 

I remember Donovan claiming it was Holdsworth in an 80's interview too.

 

I think the liner notesin the Greatest Hits album credit the Zep guys playing. That may have been where some of the confusion started.