| "Disco Duck" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byRick Dees & His Cast of Idiots | ||||
| from the albumThe Original Disco Duck | ||||
| A-side | "Disco Duck (Part One)" | |||
| B-side | "Disco Duck (Part Two)" | |||
| Released | September 4, 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 1973 inMemphis, Tennessee, U.S. | |||
| Genre | Disco,novelty | |||
| Length | 3:17 | |||
| Label |
| |||
| Songwriter(s) | Rick Dees | |||
| Producer(s) | Bobby Manuel | |||
| Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Audio video | ||||
| "Disco Duck (Part One)" onYouTube | ||||
"Disco Duck" is asatiricaldisconovelty song performed byRick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. At the time, Dees was aMemphis disc jockey. It became a number-one hit on theBillboard Hot 100 for one week in October 1976 (and ranked #97 out of the 100 most popular songs of the year according toBillboard magazine). It also made the top 20 on theBillboardHot Soul Singles chart, peaking at number 15. "Disco Duck" was initially released in the south byEstelle Axton's Fretone label, but it was later released byRSO Records for national and international distribution. The song earned a 1977 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Song.[1]
Written by Dees, "Disco Duck" was inspired by a 1960s novelty dance song called "The Duck", recorded by Jackie Lee (Earl Lee Nelson) in 1965.[2][3] According to Dees, it took one day to write the song, but three months to convince anyone to perform it.[4]
Combiningorchestral disco styles with aDonald Duck–esque voice (actually that ofYakky Doodle) as the main plot point, the story within "Disco Duck" centers on a man at a dance party who is overcome by the urge to get up and "get down" in a duck-like manner. When the music stops, he sits down, but when he decides to get up and dance again, he finds that everyone in the room is now doing his dance.
"Disco Duck" became a nationwide hit in the United States by September 1976. On theBillboard Hot 100 singles chart, it peaked at number one on October 16, 1976, for one week, held the number-two spot for the following four weeks and remained in the Top 10 for a total of 10 weeks.[5] The single sold over 4 million copies and won aPeople's Choice Award.[6]
For all its success, "Disco Duck" got very little airplay in Memphis, including atWMPS, the station Dees worked for at the time; Dees was forbidden by station management to play the record on his own show, and rival stations refused to play it for fear of promoting the competition. When Dees merely mentioned the song on his show one morning, WMPS management fired him citingconflict of interest. After a brief mandatory hiatus, Dees was hired on at WMPS' primary competition,WHBQ, who gave him permission to play his song.[4]
By the time "Disco Duck" had become a hit, Dees and his "Idiots" started making the rounds of the popular TV music shows to promote the record. OnAmerican Bandstand (and similar shows), Dees lip-synched to the recording, alone on stage with puppeteer Rickey Provow animating a duck puppet that he had made. This appearance was never seen in the Memphis area due to then-ABC affiliateWHBQ-TV pre-emptingBandstand for wrestling[clarification needed] at the time and for the aforementioned Memphis radio avoidance reasons. But when Dees appeared onThe Midnight Special and went on a live tour along theEast Coast, he hired a band, backing singers and a commercial artist, Michael Chesney, to perform the duck vocals, and they did everything live.
"Disco Duck" made an appearance in the filmSaturday Night Fever, in a dance club scene in which a group of students were learning to dance disco-style. It was also featured in a deleted scene added to the PG-rated version. As it stands, Dees could have made an even more substantial amount of money from the song. According to Dees, his manager at the time made the extremely unwise decision to deny use of the song on the film's soundtrack album because of fears that it would compete with sales of Dees's own record.[7] TheSaturday Night Fever soundtrack has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and is the second best-selling soundtrack of all time.
Irwin the Disco Duck, also called Irwin the Dynamic Duck, a fictional character who was featured on a series of children'srecords fromPeter Pan Records, was inspired by this record.[8]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
All-time charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[33] | Platinum | 150,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[34] | Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
