Duncan (Slim Dusty song)#Later uses
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Duncan
| cover = Slim Dusty Duncan 7" label.jpg
| caption = Australian 7" label (no picture sleeve)
| artist = Slim Dusty
| type = single
| album = No. 50: The Golden Anniversary Album
| B-side = "Duncan" (Version Two)
| released = {{Start date|1980|11}}
| genre = Country
| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=34}}
| label = EMI Columbia
| writer = John Patrick Alexander
}}
"Duncan" is an Australian single recorded in 1980 by Slim Dusty which reached No. 1 on the Kent Music Report charts for two weeks in early 1981. The song was Dusty's second-most successful single after "A Pub with No Beer".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/sep/20/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Obituaries: Slim Dusty|work=The Guardian|date=20 September 2003|first=Dave|last=Laing|access-date=29 May 2016}} It is also known as "Beer with Duncan", "Have a Beer with Duncan" and "I Love to Have a Beer with Duncan". It was written by Pat Alexander.
Genesis
File:St Peters pub.jpg, in 2006. "Duncan"'s writer Pat Alexander had met Duncan Urquhart here in 1976 for drinks, attempting to sell him life insurance.]]
"Duncan"'s music and lyrics were written by Pat Alexander,{{cite news|url=http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/739055/wagga-songwriter-pat-alexander-back-with-second-hit/|title=Wagga songwriter Pat Alexander back with second hit|last=Glover|first=Ben|date=6 January 2011|newspaper=The Daily Advertiser|access-date=30 May 2016}} who started writing its main verse in 1976. Alexander had been selling life insurance and spent some time talking and drinking with a prospective customer, factory owner Duncan Urquhart, at the Town and Country Hotel in St Peters, New South Wales.{{cite book | title=On Tap: A Cavalcade of Trivia and Tall Stories Celebrating 200 Years of the Australian Pub | author=McKay, Mark | date=1999 | publisher=Wakefield Press | page=76 | isbn=9781862544734 }} He failed to make the sale, but realised Urquhart merely enjoyed having a drink with him.{{cite web|title=Pat Alexander|publisher=Mushroom Music|url=https://mushroommusic.com/songwriters/pat-alexander/|access-date=29 May 2016}} Note: The source has "I had written in the pits – in 1974" but also has "Five years earlier, the song had come straight out of an experience" implying that it was written in 1976.
Slim Dusty recording
In June 1980, Bob Hawke was making his first bid to become Prime Minister of Australia. Alexander, who was working in the ABC TV mail room, recorded a novelty song, "The Bob Hawke Song", which was broadcast on ABC News. Alexander pressed two hundred 7" vinyl records of "The Bob Hawke Song", with "Duncan" on the B-side, and sent them out to radio stations and performers.
Dusty was recording The Slim Dusty Family in September 1980 and recalled his wife Joy McKean playing the demo 7" to him saying "This is a bit different, put it on and have a listen."{{cite book | title=Slim: Another Day, Another Town | first1=Slim | last1=Dusty | author1-link=Slim Dusty | first2=Joy | last2=McKean | author2-link=Joy McKean | chapter=Chapter Sixteen: He Did What He Could | isbn=978-0733633423 | date=1996 | publisher=Hachette}} McKean recalled telling Dusty "You could adapt it to suit all different names and it's really catchy!"{{cite book | title=Riding this Road: My life – making music and travelling this wide land with Slim Dusty | author=McKean, Joy | author-link=Joy McKean | publisher=Hachette | date=2014 | pages=254–255 | isbn=978-0733632884 }}
The song was recorded by Dusty in October 1980, with arrangement by Garry Marks.{{cite web | author1 = Alexander, Pat | author2 = Marks, Garry | title = Duncan | publication-date = 1980 | publisher = Private Practise | url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12848649 | access-date=1 June 2016 | via = National Library of Australia }} McKean recalled "we had the Saltbush bass player... and it is Paul Pyle's voice that calls out 'One more!' at the end." The score was published by Private Practise and became a "good seller".{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125651497 | title = Clancy | newspaper = The Canberra Times | volume = 55 | issue = 16,571 | date = 8 February 1981 | access-date = 1 June 2016 | page = 10 | via = National Library of Australia }} Dusty's version is scored for piano and guitar in the key of E♭ major, with a voice range of B♭3–B♭4.{{cite web | url = http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0121176#ProductDetails | title = Slim Dusty 'Duncan' Sheet Music in E♭ Major | publisher = Music Notes | access-date = 2 June 2016 }}
The single was released on EMI's Columbia label in November 1980 and was played by John Laws on radio station 2UE eleven times the first morning. In order to assist in promoting the song Dusty provided special recordings which included the radio announcers' names. The official video for the song was filmed at the Town and Country Hotel and starts with Duncan Urquhart sitting to Dusty's left and Pat Alexander to Dusty's right.
The song climbed the Australian charts, hitting No. 1 on the Kent Music Report singles chart for 16 February 1981 and 23 February 1981.{{cite book | title = Australian Chart Book 1970 – 1992 | author = David Kent | isbn = 0-646-11917-6 | year = 1993 | publisher = Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. | author-link = David Kent (historian)}} It charted for 23 weeks, and became the No. 16 biggest selling single in Australia in 1981{{cite web|url=http://www.australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=27135 |title=Number One Singles – Australia 1981 |publisher=Australian-charts.com |author=Bulion |work=ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1981 |date=18 April 2009 |access-date=5 June 2016 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209072035/http://www.australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=27135 |archive-date=9 December 2015 |df=dmy }} and was certified gold.{{cite news | url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/21/1063625259334.html | title=Slim Dusty: The boy who lived his dream | newspaper=The Age | last=Bowers |first=Peter |date= 21 September 2013 | access-date=30 May 2016}} In New Zealand, it entered the RIANZ chart at No. 7 on 5 April 1981, remaining in the top 50 for 10 weeks.{{cite web|url=https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Slim+Dusty&titel=Duncan&cat=s|title=Slim Dusty – Duncan|publisher=charts.nz|access-date=30 May 2016}} It did not chart elsewhere, although it did receive considerable airplay on the BBC in the UK.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music|first=Colin|last=Larkin|page=132|date=1998|publisher=Virgin Books|isbn=0753502364}}
"Duncan" was first included on Dusty's 1981 album, No. 50: The Golden Anniversary Album{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=K4ZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=n-YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3563%2C3112700 | title=Duncan gives Slim's Career a Charge | newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald | page=17 | last=Shelley | first=Garry | date=11 June 1981 | access-date=30 May 2016}} and appeared on eight subsequent releases: Beer Drinking Songs of Australia (1986), 91 Over 50 (1996), The Very Best of Slim Dusty (1998), The Man Who Is Australia (2000), A Piece of Australia (2001), Slim Dusty Live (2006), Pubs, Trucks & Plains (2008) and The Very Best of Slim Dusty (2013).
Track listing
{{Track listing
| headline = Duncan
| total_length = 5:08
| title1 = Duncan
| writer1 = John Patrick Alexander{{cite web|title=Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Search Engine |publisher=Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) |url=http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt |access-date=30 May 2016 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517150759/http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt |archive-date=17 May 2007 |df=dmy }} Note: requires user to input song title e.g. Duncan
| note1 = Version One
| length1 = 2:34
| title2 = Duncan
| writer2 = John Patrick Alexander
| note2 = Version Two
| length2 = 2:34
}}
Charts
=Weekly charts=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! Chart (1981) ! Peak |
| scope="row"| Australia (Kent Music Report)
| 1 |
|---|
| scope="row"| New Zealand (RIANZ)
| 7 |
=Year-end charts=
=Certifications=
{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Duncan"}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=single|region=Australia|artist=Slim Dusty|title=Duncan|award=Platinum|relyear=1981|certyear=2024|certref={{cite web|url=https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/orr9fphn3kyhykimwm11l/AMPH66r7jahjKL4nComjUdQ?dl=0&e=1&preview=May+2024+Single+Accreds.pdf&rlkey=b5et6u9n5p7f3gkxgmqhivbyf|title= Singles Accreditations Report - May 2024|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association|access-date= 30 June 2024}}}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
Later uses
When Australian Labor Party politician Duncan Kerr was running for the Division of Denison in Tasmania in 1987, his advertising campaign was based on the song "Duncan".{{cite web|url=https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lawcouncil/images/LCA-PDF/speeches/WelcomeSittingforDuncanKerr.pdf|title=Welcome sitting for Duncan Kerr, AAT President|publisher=Law Council of Australia|access-date=30 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328220856/https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lawcouncil/images/LCA-PDF/speeches/WelcomeSittingforDuncanKerr.pdf|archive-date=28 March 2016|url-status = dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedJSchol/2012/22.html|title=Administrative Appeals Tribunal: Ceremonial Sitting of the Tribunal for the Swearing in and Welcome of the Honourable Justice Kerr as President|work=[2012] Federal Judicial Scholarship 22|date=16 May 2012|access-date=29 May 2016}}{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118306287 | title = ALP aims to win seven marginal 'buffer' seats | newspaper = The Canberra Times | volume = 61 | issue = 18,862 | date = 26 May 1987 | access-date = 1 June 2016 | page = 7 | via = National Library of Australia}} Kerr won the seat and remained the local member until 2010.{{cite news | url = http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26053696-5013871,00.html | title = Duncan Kerr to retire from politics | work = The Australian | date = 10 September 2009 | access-date = 1 June 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090911184602/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26053696-5013871,00.html | archive-date = 11 September 2009 |url-status = dead}}
Dusty re-recorded the song with Rolf Harris in 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com.au/Hands/Dusty_Slim.html|title=Slim Dusty MBE(C) OAM(1977) |publisher=Australian Country Music Hall of Fame |access-date=30 May 2016}} Dusty also recorded a version of the song in 2000, "I Love to Have a Dance with Dorothy", with The Wiggles, which appeared on the Wiggles' tenth album, It's a Wiggly Wiggly World.{{cite web | url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wiggly-wiggly-world-mw0000695514 | title=The Wiggles – Wiggly Wiggly World | publisher=Allmusic | last=Zupp | first=Adrian | access-date=30 May 2016}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{YouTube|id=hOML9zwoZn0|title=Slim Dusty – Duncan}} (official Slim Dusty channel)
{{Slim Dusty}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Number-one singles in Australia