Butthole Surfers - Hurdy Gurdy Man

Just as my youngest son's choice of yesterday's 7" summarized him in a way, my oldest son's choice of this single is indicative of his personality too. This news will terrify my wife if she ever heard this, so I won't announce that around the house. It's not the music, of course; the boy has a knack for cutting through all extraneous crap and getting to the heart of the matter. Somehow, he chose the first 7" record I bought. I'm not sure there'd be any reason for this exercise if I hadn't bought this thing, as it started me down the path of buying these little records. How or why he picked this after flipping through them all, I'll never know. It's not like the cover art (experiments in early photoshop) is all that appealing. Then again, it's possible that he chose it because it has the word "butthole" written on it. I think that's the last time I ask the kids to get involved.

As I mentioned earlier, Sub-Pop started to change the 7" landscape among the indie labels around this time, and this single was a clear sign that the others were feeling the pressure. I remember this being remarkably well-publicized for a single release by a small label (Rough Trade), and it was supposedly a limited release, on "Mellow-Yellow vinyl", because Donovan, who wrote/performed the original Hurdy Gurdy Man, also...aw fuck it. If I have to explain... So, being a sucker for that kind of thing, I went right out and bought one, immediately. Of course, I loved these guys, and have fond memories of driving to high school each morning with my friend Marc blasting his Locust Abortion Technician cassette the whole way there. So I would have eventually gotten my hands on this. After all, these did wind up on the CD release of their next full length album, Pioughed, but you're better off with just the single, really.

As for the music, it's a great cover. They do what you want a good band to do with a cover song; put their stamp on it, but keep the original recognizable. They take Donovan's warbly voice and totally overdo it with Gibby's effects, which mocks the original to some degree, but still works as a good vocal performance in the world of the Surfers' music. I've always liked Paul Leary's razor sharp psychedelic guitar work. He's what really makes this song go. For these guys at this time, this was remarkably accessible, radio friendly, even. Unlike the B-side. Oh boy. Like Locust Abortion Technician, this is not to be listened to right before bed. Jesus. Trust me on this one.

A: Hurdy Gurdy Man
B: Barking Dogs
Enjoy!