"Disco Duck" is a satirical disco novelty song performed by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. At the time, Dees was a Memphis disc jockey. It became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in October 1976 (and ranked #97 out of the 100 most popular songs of the year according to Billboard magazine). It also made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at number 15. "Disco Duck" was initially released in the south by Estelle Axton's Fretone label, but it was later released by RSO Records for national and international distribution. The song earned a 1977 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Song.
Origin, composition and lyrics
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. According to Dees, it took one day to write the song, but three months to convince anyone to perform it.
Combining orchestral disco styles with a Donald Duck–esque voice (actually that of Yakky 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.
Response and impact
"Disco Duck" became a nationwide hit in the United States by September 1976. On the Billboard 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. The single sold over 4 million copies and won a People's Choice Award.
For all its success, "Disco Duck" got very little airplay in Memphis, including at WMPS, 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 citing conflict of interest. After a brief mandatory hiatus, Dees was hired on at WMPS' primary competition, WHBQ, who gave him permission to play his song. The Saturday 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's records from Peter Pan Records, was inspired by this record.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (1976–1977)
!Peak<br>position
|-
|Argentina
|align="center"|9
|-
|Australia (Kent Music Report)
| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|-
|-
|Canada Top Singles (RPM)
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)
| style="text-align:center;"|22
|-
|France (IFOP)
|align="center"|63
|-
|Israel (IBA)
| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|Italy (FIMI)
| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|Spain (PROMUSICAE)
|align="center"|25
|-
|-
|UK Singles (OCC)
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|US Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|US Cash Box Top 100
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1976)
!Position
|-
|Australia (Kent Music Report)
|align="center"|61
|-
|Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)
| style="text-align:center;"|57
|-
|Canada Top Singles (RPM)
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
| style="text-align:center;"|61
|-
|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
| style="text-align:center;"|75
|-
|UK Singles (OCC)
| style="text-align:center;"|72
|-
|US Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|97
|-
|US Cash Box
| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|}
All-time charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Chart (1958–2018)
! Position
|-
|US Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|175
|}