“After that came Black Sabbath, and after that came Deep Purple”: Donovan believes his track Hurdy Gurdy Man was the original inspiration for both metal and the formation of Led Zeppelin

Through the “similarities” between Glasgow and Liverpool – as well as his perceived connection to the divine, Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan developed a fraternity with The Beatles in the 1960s.

Donovan – full name Donovan Phillips Leitch – would later join the Fab Four on their visit to India in 1968 to practice transcendental meditation; both Donovan and George Harrison shared a fascination with Eastern spirituality, as the story goes.

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Their respective experiences on the trip led to the Beatles landmark White Album, and Donovan’s The Hurdy Gurdy Man, which were released in November and October that year.

His album’s title track is a brooding yet groovy mid-tempo song, with counterplay between electric guitar and sitar. And in a new interview with The Telegraph, Donovan details how the track may have paved the way for heavy metal, and even inspired Led Zeppelin.

“Is it possible that this anticipated heavy metal? After that came Black Sabbath, and after that came Deep Purple,” he says.

As he explains, the track featured a performance by John Paul Jones, who would later go on to form Led Zeppelin with Jimmy Page. 

“John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were very strong session guys for me,” says 79-year-old Donovan. “At that period when Hurdy Gurdy Man was released, that’s when those two guys put the band together. 

Donovan explains how he doesn’t “want to say I created Led Zeppelin,” but “Let’s say John Paul Jones saw the possibilities.

Whether Hurdy Gurdy Man was a precursor to heavy metal is debatable; its distorted guitar lines certainly suggest it may have had some influence, and it’s worth noting that it predates The Beatles’ Helter Skelter, often regarded as the track which paved the way for the metal genre.