Black Sails - Hurdy Gurdy 

The only long ass theme song you really want to hear every time

8 years later and Bear is still killing the hurdy gurdy but at the game awards with Hozier. Absolutely iconic. One of my favorite composers ever.

I love Bear and his creative brain. The music of Black Sails is pure genius.

You sir are a genius, and the creator of the best opening score to a tv show i have ever heard. I'd tip my hat if i were wearing one.

Best theme song! I never skip the opening credits!

You know if it wasn't so ridiculously expensive, I'd buy one so hard.

paused my blacksails ep 8 just to waste 20mins to find out how this instrument was called,totally love the dark dreary sound of it.instant triggers "pirates" in my head.

That opening theme fits that show like a fine glove.

The Hurdy Gurdy is, hands down, the COOLEST instrument ever! I absolutely love the Black Sails theme song. The show is the best!

The Hurdy Gurdy combined wtih that deep electric basss, all the percussion and the shreeking electric guitars make an awfully awesome song.

Seriously one of the best shows and themes. Thank you for your work on yet another piece I'll always remember. Sucks the show is off..

One of the most badass show intro's ever. Really captured the atmosphere of the show.

This guy is a goddamn genius. Best opening music to any tv show I have ever seen.

The main title score so perfectly gets one in the mood for an action-packed pirate drama. Mostly from the sound produced by this instrument!

Just rewatched the show for probably the sixth time, and i don’t think I’ve skipped the theme once. Absolute banger, sir; i commend you

You’ve created a song that is forever burned into my head to fit any mood, it’s a aggressively sad song that is wicked!

THIS IS SO FOOKIN BRILLIANT!!!

9 years later and I still wish someday they'll release the soundtracks to seasons 2, 3 and 4. 🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🏴‍☠

I'd always thought the sound in Black Sails' theme song was from Irish bagpipes, but now that I've become interested in Hurdy Gurdies because they have them in the Sea of Thieves pirate game I found this and it makes SO much sense. I loved your score as much as the show and the opening title graphics. Thanks for being so creative!

Two instruments on my "Must Have" list...viola da gamba and hurdy-gurdy! Great work sir!

I love Black Sails and its theme song! The hurdy gurdy is definitely the most incredibly beautiful sound in that sound track! I just LOOOOVVVEEEE this theme song! It makes me feel incredibly happy when I listen to it! Thank you! 💜

happy to know im not the only one sitting through the opening every episode for the music too

Best show theme song ever. Gets you pumped up and ready for some fun pirate action. :P

Best opening music to the best show ever made!

All of those foreign sounds in the song are what make it great for me. Those sounds are from instruments that you would most likely find on a ship full of thieves and so fourth. All of those instruments combined together make a sound that is both pleasing and different from what most people hear. Overall, a great song and goes along nicely with the theme of the show. Great series and theme song.

Really cool theme song one of the best opening credits Iv seen in a loooong time!

One of the best theme songs ever made. Period. I’m really glad I found this video. Made me appreciate the show even more

Bear, I learn more about music watching your blogs than I did in music appreciation classes in college.

Mind of art you deserve to be proclaimed the king of hurdy gurdy

man i love the theme song just because of that instrument! When i watch Black Sails, I let the beginnig credits play thru its entirety just to hear it again! Everytime!

To this day when I'm in the gym finishing my workout on the rowing machine, I always end it with this theme. It gets me through that last sprint and I can't not get excited hearing that crescendo moment

There are a few TV series that I will rewatch over and over - including Black Sails. Every single one of them - ALL of them have an awesome intro, like the Black Sails intro. And it's always because of the music. So thanks Bear for making such an awesome intro to a TV series I'm going to enjoy many times more.

This ST is very special to me just like this show. Thanks for all your work.

Second time watching Black Sails and still getting hooked by the opening score, find myself humming along every time to this theme. I take a bow to you Sir, you are an artist of the highest order. My friend and neighbour, he does not know this yet but I am going to challenge him, is a carpenter in his free time, making fishing tools with amazing results, knives and generally makes things as crossbows and whatever meets his fancy and amazing stuff in general. With a result that makes me go "ooh" every damn single time. Like myself he is stimulated by challenges and tasks that really make you go hmm and often completes them in a fashion that is truly remarkable, I consider myself a pretty good writer, painter and so on, but just when I get the inspiration just right in my soul. He does it by choice which makes me envy him in some ways and in some ways not. When I find my muse, he is beaten easily most times. The pure inspiration that does not need any thinking, just to get it to form is my strenght. So thanks to you Sir Bear, I am going to challenge him in building a Hurdy Gurdy. I have no doubt that he actually can do it if he is interested in the project, he is very, very good at what he does. And a stubborn bastard XD almost like a pirate smelling a large horde of gold :P My own contribution will be to learn to play the instrument, I really love to make music on this instrument and make it work. Although, I have no chance against you Sir Bear ;) I have little hope of actually making this instrument work, I think he is actually going to make it if he feels really inspired, but I am really making a honest shot at this. Wish me luck ;) Thank you mr McReary for making this exceptional music and inspire me with your music, you are a true master of the musical arts :) With utmost respect // AP

And you did it. I phisically can't skip the intro, it's a sin to skip that masterpiece. And i'm not the only one who thinks this!.

I binged this show, and never - not once - skipped the intro. That has to be a first. Bear is awesome - letting the constraints of the instrument guide him into new territory to conquer. Veni Vidi Vici, mah brudda. Conquer, you have indeed.

Rewatching black sails, again for the 8th time... what a complete shame we don't get to have more of this show..... oh and the hurdy gurdy is AWESOME!!!! And the opening credits are sweet!!!!!!!

This is an amazing instrument. Way ahead of its time. Think about it, first of all it has a completely unique sound - well, multiple sounds. It also is like a hybrid between violin, keyboard, and the distortion flange effect (wooden flap for the drone, when overspeeding the rotation) even gives it an effect like an electric guitar.

Don't know the show, I bought this soundtrack when it was released (signed edition) just because it said "Bear McCreary" on the cover, but I didn't get to listen to it until a few days ago. And, wow, this is a good score. I think I'll watch the show just because of that.

The only opening credit i don't skip after hearing it the first time. It's an absolute masterpiece that represent show's theme so perfectly. And Jon Steinberg's involvement in that stage clearly tells how it was possible. One of the most underrated shows of all time.

I am a sound designer and I used this theme in one of my shows and it really brought the whole show together. Now seeing this video it really helped to explain what all the sounds I was hearing were.

That is awesome. Never would have guessed. Haunting melodies.

Well sir. You nailed it. Cause I was watching a video of someone playing the hurdy gurdy and I immediately thought of the Black Sails theme.

I love the way he loves what he does!

I love watching Black Sails! But watching (listening) to the intro, is what gets me into the show. Awesome Mr. McCreary!

love this show and the theme. very highland sounding.

Years later, he gets a cameo in God of War: Ragnarok as a dwarf with a Hurdy Gurdy, which plays the main leitmotif of the Huldra Brothers Theme (Brok and Sindri). And he also wins the Best Score Award at The 2022 Game Awards. And... he also plays hurdy gurdy during on stage during the performance.

Back in 2014, I had to do a school report on the Hurdy Gurdy. Wish I knew about "Black Sails" back then. I would've used the theme as my example song.

It’s freakin amazing how many instruments this guy can play, and with great skill. And he composes the songs to, Bear McCreary is seriously a legend!

One of the best theme songs ever.

This is amazing!! We watched blacksails and fell in love with the music!!

This video is very interesting and now entices Me to listen more carefully when watching Black Sails.

It made the show so much better and this song so much better. Lovely instrument. Amazing score. My favorite score of any TV Show in fact. My favorite composer too!!!!

This is the BEST theme song for a series. It adds so much to the series.

Best theme song ever !

Very interesting! Loved the music from "Black Sails"!

Black Sails introduced me to the Hurdy-Gurdy, and now I am finding myself obsessed with them. I love the sounds they make and want to learn to play one myself.

I got hooked on the show because of it's music! Okay, the show is pretty good too ... ;D

Yet another reason why Bear is my favorite composer 👏

Awesome series and soundtrack love it

When I watched the first season of Black Sails I was convinced that the instrument creating those incredible sounds was Irish Uilleann Pipes. Great theme for a great series. Back then it was free.

The first time I ever saw Black Sails I narrowed down the sound to either the elbow pipes or the gurdy. Even before Black Sails I loved the gurdy so I was super excited to hear Bear McCreary using it so prominently in Black Sails.

One of the best TV show theme songs in years. Also, one of the best TV shows in years. Gets better and better as it goes on.

I love this show theme song for black sails.. BRAVO!!! you truly evoked "Pirate" into music.. and introduced my string students to a fun and intriguing instrument! The Hurdy Gurdy !! I confess I watched the show to hear your music and the theme song!! and even years later... I still live hearing this!!

This is such a cool instrument. It even has an awesome name.

Black Sails totally turned me onto the hurdy gurdy in a huuuuuge way. SUCH a badass instrument!!!

i love his battlestar galactica soundtrack. there are some pieces in there that just blow minds, especially when you understand from their title what part of the series they refer to.

always loved the opening theme never knew it was a hurdy gurdy

i've never skipped the intro for any episode of Black Sails just to here the theme.

Hurdy Gurdy is the medieval synth. And it is actually a Swedish model, a Grodda Lira, (Vevlira). From the Island Gotland in the Baltic Sea,

I absolutely love the Black Sails theme. Brilliant work!!

I fiiiinally started watching the show, and was immediately in love with the haunting sound of the theme song, and I was like….that’s got to be a hurdy gurdy

That is an AWESOME instrument!!! Hurdy Gurdy is such a different sound & all very pleasing to the ear. Yes you are so are right Gurdy & Sails are so one. Have Sails now I want to learn how to play the Gurdy. ❤❤❤

God, I love this soundtrack and approach. It is all business, purposeful, but so effective. This soundtrack has been evocative and meaningful for me beyond this series. I feel like it taught me something about human experience that was beyond my grasp. That’s really what great soundtracks and great music and composition do.

This man. Genius.

I always thought it was bagpipes and I wondered “since when do bagpipes sound this good”. Now I know it’s a Hurdy Gurdy

Inspired! Genius. Love it.

awesome tune, i didnt even know something like this instrument existed

That one is going to be a really good one I love the sound

Thanks for showing us these fascinating instruments, and for introducing me to Black Sails!

I had no idea the hurdy-gurdy was used to make the theme to”Black Sails”! I love that theme and it was so cool learning about how it was made!

Best theme song ever! I knew what it was and now I want one AGAIN....

The hurdy gurdy is now my hero.

You deffinitely did it man!

Those videos about the music of Black Sails turn out to be even more interesting than expected! The pirate man-child in me wants to thank you, Mr. McCreary. :)

One of the best intros

Well done Mr McCreary , easily one of favorite's theme songs .

the only thing the series is missing shantys

Magnificent creative mind

Best show music I ever heard. I never knew it's that weird instrument but wow mind blowing

I would have liked more seasons but I'm happy with how it was resolved. Thank you for the youtube content, great to hear from you.

I'd kill to have the other season's scores available to listen to. My favorite soundtrack ever

Coolest video I have seen in a long time.

I watched this series a long time ago and I found the hurdy gurdy sound epic. I mean, that was the sound I could easily relate to pirates! It sounds like celts and elves and all that, yes... but it also sounds like people from Europe going savage and run for the Seas! I thought with the time I would find this intro less epic. I was wrong. No matter how many times I see it, or the time passing by, it still makes me feel goosebumps.

the first time I saw the serie, I just get caught on the music, it was fantastic, then I got into the plot

This instrument is just too awesome. If I had the time and money I would totally learn to play it if not to just play this theme only. The sound of this instrument is just amazing,

This is the best theme song ever.

Black Sails and Battlestar Galactica... Bear is a genius! Absolutely adore his work.

Great soundtrack Bear ..fresh but old sounds . I.love it

not only does it sound coolest shit ever, it is the best name for an instrument that can possibly be, it makes me dream that if i ever have a son i’ll call him “hurdy gurdy “