Duncan (Slim Dusty song)

"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".[1] 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.

"Duncan"
Australian 7" label (no picture sleeve)
Single by Slim Dusty
from the album No. 50: The Golden Anniversary Album
B-side"Duncan" (Version Two)
ReleasedNovember 1980 (1980-11)
GenreCountry
Length2:34
LabelEMI Columbia
Songwriter(s)John Patrick Alexander

Genesis
The Town and Country Hotel, Unwins Bridge Road, St Peters, in 2006. "Duncan"'s writer Pat Alexander had met Duncan Urquhart here in 1976 for drinks, attempting to sell him life insurance.[2]

"Duncan"'s music and lyrics were written by Pat Alexander,[3][4] who started writing its main verse in 1976.[5] 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.[2] He failed to make the sale, but realised Urquhart merely enjoyed having a drink with him.[5]

"Duncan" was Alexander's only commercially successful song.[4]

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.[5]

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."[6] McKean recalled telling Dusty "You could adapt it to suit all different names and it's really catchy!"[7]

The song was recorded by Dusty in October 1980, with arrangement by Garry Marks.[3] McKean recalled "we had the Saltbush bass player... and it is Paul Pyle's voice that calls out 'One more!' at the end."[7] The score was published by Private Practise[3] and became a "good seller".[8] Dusty's version is scored for piano and guitar in the key of E♭ major, with a voice range of B♭3–B♭4.[9]

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.[5] 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.[6]

The song climbed the Australian charts, hitting No. 1 on the Kent Music Report singles chart for 16 February 1981 and 23 February 1981.[10] It charted for 23 weeks, and became the No. 16 biggest selling single in Australia in 1981[11] and was certified gold.[12] In New Zealand, it entered the RIANZ chart at No. 7 on 5 April 1981, remaining in the top 50 for 10 weeks.[13] It did not chart elsewhere, although it did receive considerable airplay on the BBC in the UK.[14]

"Duncan" was first included on Dusty's 1981 album, No. 50: The Golden Anniversary Album[15] 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
Duncan
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Duncan" (Version One)John Patrick Alexander[16]2:34
2."Duncan" (Version Two)John Patrick Alexander2:34
Total length:5:08

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1981) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[17][10] 1
New Zealand (RIANZ)[13] 7

Year-end charts
Chart (1981) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[17][18] 16

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".[19][20][21] Kerr won the seat and remained the local member until 2010.[22]

Dusty re-recorded the song with Rolf Harris in 1996.[1][23] 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.[24]

References
  1. Laing, Dave (20 September 2003). "Obituaries: Slim Dusty". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  2. McKay, Mark (1999). On Tap: A Cavalcade of Trivia and Tall Stories Celebrating 200 Years of the Australian Pub. Wakefield Press. p. 76. ISBN 9781862544734.
  3. Alexander, Pat; Marks, Garry (1980). "Duncan". Private Practise. Retrieved 1 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Glover, Ben (6 January 2011). "Wagga songwriter Pat Alexander back with second hit". The Daily Advertiser. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  5. "Pat Alexander". Mushroom Music. Retrieved 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.
  6. Dusty, Slim; McKean, Joy (1996). "Chapter Sixteen: He Did What He Could". Slim: Another Day, Another Town. Hachette. ISBN 978-0733633423.
  7. McKean, Joy (2014). Riding this Road: My life – making music and travelling this wide land with Slim Dusty. Hachette. pp. 254–255. ISBN 978-0733632884.
  8. "Clancy". The Canberra Times. Vol. 55, no. 16, 571. 8 February 1981. p. 10. Retrieved 1 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Slim Dusty 'Duncan' Sheet Music in E♭ Major". Music Notes. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  10. David Kent (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970 – 1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. Bulion (18 April 2009). "Number One Singles – Australia 1981". ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1981. Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  12. Bowers, Peter (21 September 2013). "Slim Dusty: The boy who lived his dream". The Age. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  13. "Slim Dusty – Duncan". charts.nz. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  14. Larkin, Colin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music. Virgin Books. p. 132. ISBN 0753502364.
  15. Shelley, Garry (11 June 1981). "Duncan gives Slim's Career a Charge". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  16. "Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Search Engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2016. Note: requires user to input song title e.g. Duncan
  17. "National Top 100 Singles for 1981". Kent Music Report. 4 January 1982. p. 7. Retrieved 11 January 2022 – via Imgur.
  18. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 433. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  19. "Welcome sitting for Duncan Kerr, AAT President" (PDF). Law Council of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  20. "Administrative Appeals Tribunal: Ceremonial Sitting of the Tribunal for the Swearing in and Welcome of the Honourable Justice Kerr as President". [2012] Federal Judicial Scholarship 22. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  21. "ALP aims to win seven marginal 'buffer' seats". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 862. 26 May 1987. p. 7. Retrieved 1 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "Duncan Kerr to retire from politics". The Australian. 10 September 2009. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  23. "Slim Dusty MBE(C) OAM(1977)". Australian Country Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  24. Zupp, Adrian. "The Wiggles – Wiggly Wiggly World". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
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