# What instrument was Sting playing?  (76th Oscar awards)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 1, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873 "2004-03-01T06:08:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873/1 "2004-03-01T06:08:18Z")

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On tonight’s Academy Awards, when Sting was performing “You Will Be My Ain True Love” he played this weird looking instrument that resembled a lute crossed with a giant violin. On the side of the instrument was a crank handle that he turned with his left hand, and that seemed to be all he did with the thing (and I couldn’t hear what kind of music was coming out of it, either.) What the hell was that instrument?

And what kind of word is “Ain”??

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873/2 "2004-03-01T06:16:44Z")

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It’s called a **hurdy gurdy**.

Here are some pictures:

[http://www.backunmusical.com/images/hurdy%20gurdy.jpg](http://www.backunmusical.com/images/hurdy%20gurdy.jpg)

[![](http://www.peterpringle.com/pppix/gurdy.jpeg) ](http://www.peterpringle.com/pppix/gurdy.jpeg)

[sub][sup]P.S. I learned this from the GQ thread asking the same question![/sup][/sub]

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**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873/3 "2004-03-01T06:19:03Z")

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Made famous, to people who didn’t know what it was,by Donovan’s 1968 hit (and later remake by the Butthole Surfers) _Hurdy Gurdy Man_

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873/4 "2004-03-01T08:28:08Z")

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[How a Hurdy Gurdy works.](http://www.hotpipes.com/hgdemo.html)

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873/5 "2004-03-01T08:45:02Z")

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My high school European History teacher was a hurdy gurdy player. Did Renaissance Fairs a lot. Perhaps Sting playing it will make the instrument cool again. 😉

After perusing the lyrics quickly, I’m betting “ain” is Old(e) or Middle(e) English or Scottish or something similar.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-was-sting-playing-76th-oscar-awards/231873/6 "2004-03-01T08:55:11Z")

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_ain_ is Scottish dialect for _own_. Robert Burns wrote a song, _[This Is No My Ain Lassie](http://www.robertburns.org/works/535.shtml)_.