“Disco Duck” Becomes Last Novelty Song To Waddle To #1

Disc jockey Rick Dees hits #1 in the US with “Disco Duck,” a goofy number that envisions Donald Duck enjoying the spoils of the disco era. It is the last novelty song to top the Hot 100.

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Disco Duck -Rick Dees

Disco Duck TOTP 1976

Dees established himself as a popular comic DJ while working at WMPS AM 680 (“The Great 68”) in Memphis, Tennessee. Responding to the disco craze, he wrote and recorded the novelty song “Disco Duck,” featuring a Donald-like duck voice done by a guy Dees met at the gym.

Released on the local label Fretone, the song got enough attention in the South to earn a distribution deal with RSO, which promoted it nationally. Dees, though, couldn’t play it on the air because management considered it a conflict of interest. On October 11, 1976, he was fired for merely talking about it on his show. Five days later, the song goes to #1.

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Combining funky-style disco beats with rhythmic quacking, “Disco Duck” tells the story of a man at a disco who tries his luck with a duck dance – it catches on and soon everyone is doing it. Breaks in the song have Donald Duck’s voice jabbering encouragement.