“Disco Duck” by Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots (1976)

One person’s view:  “This song is to baby boomers what LMFAO’s ‘Sexy and I Know It’ is to millennials – an unholy mixture of shameless trend-hopping and lazy hack comedy that most people would rather just forget ever existed.” – Nic Renshaw @ Pop Goes The Year

The public’s view:  1.74 / 5.00, the worst #1 hit of 1976

It used to be quite common for comedic novelty songs to reach #1 on the Hot 100.  In 1976, there were two that managed this feat:  “Convoy” and “Disco Duck”.  There have been none in the 48 years since, unless you count near-novelties like “I’m Too Sexy” and “Thrift Shop” or unintentionally funny songs such as “Sussudio” and “Kokomo”.  Evidently, “Disco Duck” was the novelty hit that ended all novelty hits.

While doing this project, I’ve been surprised by the amount of unvarnished hatred that is now directed at these novelty singles that once filled our lives with so much mirth.  One of the reviewers I rely most heavily on, dagwood525 @ Rate Your Music, even calls “Disco Duck” the absolute worst #1 of all time.  Given the vitriol that he’s employed against other records, this is quite the statement.  But my view is that novelty songs need to be judged by their own standards.  A man turning into a duck on the dance floor is a stupid idea for a song, but “Disco Duck” is supposed to be stupid.  This record was made by Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots – not Dr. Linus Pauling & His Faculty of Ivy League Professors.

Let’s give the Cast of Idiots credit for how well the backing track to “Disco Duck” turned out.  Dees hired some quality Memphis studio musicians for this effort, and you can hear their work as an instrumental on the flip side, “Disco Duck (Part 2)”.  I think the instrumental version could have been a hit on its own.  Remember, this was the mid 1970s and we had stuff like “Fly, Robin, Fly” floating around.  As long as it was disco, someone would buy it.

Unfortunately, Dees – a radio personality with no apparent musical training – decided to sing the A-side of the single himself.  Remember when I wrote that Ringo Starr is often labeled a terrible singer?  Dees makes Ringo sound like Pavarotti by comparison.  His lead vocals on “Disco Duck” may be the most amateurish of any #1 hit.  This doesn’t mean that the song would necessarily be improved by substituting a world-class performer in his place.  Barbra Streisand would have no idea what to do with a line like “Flapping my arms I began to cluck.”  However, Isaac Hayes or Tom Jones might have been able to elevate the vocal to a new level while maintaining the appropriate demeanor.

The bigger problem with “Disco Duck” is that the lyrics never fully develop the concept and leave too many questions unanswered.  Why does the gentleman periodically turn into a duck?  Was his DNA altered when he was bitten by a radioactive duck?  Is this some kind of ironic cosmic punishment for running over a duck with his car?  Who knows?  And who really cares?  It’s not like anything interesting happens as a result of this transformation.  The guy does the same things he was already going to do – dancing and chasing women – but now does them as a duck.

There’s nothing about waterfowl feeding patterns, biology, or social behavior in “Disco Duck”.  Dees could make a couple superficial changes to this song and turn it into a disco record about any other kind of animal, like an ocelot or an earthworm.  Please, no one tell him how easy this would be for a quick cash-in.  Aw, shit.  Too late.