In 1976 dance music, Disco music, was moving toward big popularity. Memphis Disc Jockey Rick Dees came up with a crazy parody on the craze featuring the Disco Duck.

Dees has said that the song was completed in a day, but took months until someone would join with him to record it. It was a minor hit in the south east by Fretone it was a national and international release by RSO Records, The song reached the top spot and remained a Top 10 hit for over 2 months in the fall of 1976.

Although the voice of Disco Duck sounds similar to Disney’s Donald Duck it was not recorded as sometimes noted by the voice of Donald, Clarence Nash. It was done by Ken Pruitt.

The song may have been a hit, but Dees didn’t quit his day job as a Memphis DJ. And he still is a DJ today although not in memphis, but in LA. He was in KIIS-AM/FM until relplaced by Ryan Seacrest in 2004 and is currently heard on KHHT, “Hot 92.3″.

The song was rarely played on the radio stations of Memphis. Dees station forbid him to play it or to even mention the song on his program. Other stations in Memphis refused to play it since it could have been seen as promoting the competition.

Peter Pan Records, the children record company, began in 1977 releasing a series of records using Irwin the Disco Duck as the DJ introducing The Wibble Wabble Singers and Orchestra version’s of popular songs. After the Disco Era ended Irwin was renamed Irwin the Dynamic Duck.

It was the summer of 1976 and Elton john recorded this duet with Kiki Dee. This version is him singing it alone in one of his concerts during the same time period. While Elton John had enjoyed quite a few number ones in the US, and this one reach it as well, this song was his first Number one in the UK.

From the Carol Brunett Show. 1976 with Vicki Lawrence

from their show mid-1970s

By 1976 Johnny Cash had already been performing for 20 years and for many of those years he was at the top of the Charts.

it was in 1976 that he did the story song One Piece at a Time. It’s the story of an auto assembly line worker built a car with one stolen piece sneaked out of the factory. The song was composed by Wayne Kemp.

There was a car built for the song by Bruce Fitzpatrick, owner of Abernathy Auto Parts and Hilltop Auto Salvage in Nashville, TN. He had all the different models of Cadillacs mentioned in the song when it was released, and built a Cadillac using the song as a model.

The song reach the Number 1 spot on the County charts on May 29, 1976.

Posting this in tribute to Ellie Greenwich who passed away on August 26, 2009.

Not everyone may know her name, but we do know the music that she and her writing partner Jeff Barry wrote in the early 1960s.

Among some of her songs were this one Da Do Ron Ron first done in 1963 by the Crystals and again by Shaun Cassidy in 1976,reaching Number 1. There are also Be My Baby and Baby, I Love You by the The Ronettes, Then He Kissed Me by the Crystals.

We lost a great one. May she Rest in Peace

By 1975 Pete Townsend and The Who was pushing the bubble on what could be played on the radio. This song from their 1975 Album The Who By The Numbers. A squeeze box is a slang term for accordion. Although it was also a term for a sex toy. The words could be taken in a couple of different ways.

The song released as a single in 1976 reached Number 10 in the U.K. charts and Number 16 in the U.S. It was the single that stayed on the chart the longest for the group.

I know whenever I hear the song and the words, “Mama got a Squeeze Box, she wears on her chest” and “mama’s got a squeeze box daddy never sleeps at night.” It brings a thought to my mine that has nothing to do with playing an accordion.

Gary Wright was the keyboard player of the Progressive Rock band Spooky Tooth when they broke up for the second time in 1974. He went solo and recorded the album Dream Weaver which featured just himself on synthesiser/keyboard and Jim Keltner on drums.

Wright has said that he was inspired to write the song after receiving a book on Hinduism and India from George Harrison.

Ever wondered who played the piano on Nilsson’s 1972 hit Without You. Yes, it was none other than Gary Wright.

The song peaked at the Number 2 spot on the US charts.

Advertising man Bill Fries created the character C.W. McCall for Old Home Bread brand of the Metz Baking Company in 1972. C.W. McCall was the trucker who, along with his dog Sloan and his adventures at the Old Home Cafe.

From those commercials came the first songs and an Album in 1975. During the height of the CB craze he recorded what is known as the most popular CB song ever, Convoy. The song was so popular that a movie was made about it in 1978 starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali McGraw.

Bill Fries wrote the lyrics for most of the songs recorded as C.W. McCall, including Convoy. Chip Davis wrote the music. After the decline of C.W. McCall, Chip Davis created a “New Age” of music with his group Mannheim Steamroller.