Disco Duck - Rick Dees

Rick Dees was working as a DJ on the Memphis AM radio station WMPS when he heard a guy doing a duck voice while he was working out at his local gym. Inspired by this duck voice, Dees wrote 'Disco Duck', and he hired the guy from the gym to do the duck voice on the song. The name of the guy was Kenneth Pruitt. He did a lot to help Dees promote 'Disco Duck'. He went on the TV shows 'Midnight Special' and the 'Merv Griffin show'. He did a promotional walk through Times Square with Dees while wearing a duck costume. A few months after 'Disco Duck' hit number 1 in America, Pruitt sued Dees, claiming that he’d only been paid $188 for all of this. WMPS wouldn’t let Dees play the song; they figured it would violate FCC rules about conflict of interest.
In 1977, 'Disco Duck' even made an appearance in the iconic disco film 'Saturday Night Fever' in a scene in which a group of senior citizens were learning to dance disco.

This Japanese single is an interesting curio, since it features a drawing of Donald Duck on the sleeve. You can't help but wonder if Disney knew about this.

My collection: 7" single no. 6201
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 17, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Disco duck' / 'Disco duck (instrumental)'

Disco Duck - Rick Dees

Born Rigdon Osmond Dees III in Jacksonville, Florida on March 14, 1950, Rick Dees recorded the novelty song 'Disco Duck' in 1976, during the disco craze of the late seventies. The story within Disco Duck centers around 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.

The song sold millions of copies worldwide, reaching number 4 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 6 in the UK singles chart. As a child who loved "duckies", this single was one of my favourites at a very young age. I bought it two years ago for nostalgic reasons. It's still a great disco track.

My collection: 7" single no. 3423

Found: Esbjerg (Denmark), June 17, 2006

Cost: 10 Danish crowns

Tracks: 'Disco Duck (part 1)', 'Disco Duck (part 2)'

Download: here