Is ‘Peanut Duck’ the most mysterious pop song in history?
Back in the heyday of Northern Soul, it was common practice to get down to a tune that no one had a bloody clue about. The story goes that DJs intentionally mistitled tracks so they could keep them for themselves. Then in the 1980s, one such song came to the attention of many.
The tune was titled ‘Peanut Duck’ and was allegedly recorded by a lady named Marsha Gee. However, Marsha Gee appears to be an elusive figure, to say the least. There is no actual record of her recording the tune — nor any tune, for that matter. So a great mystery has surrounded the origins of ‘Peanut Duck’ ever since.
‘Peanut Duck’ has done the rounds on the blogosphere (although admittedly, it has rarely appeared in a journalistic form of any kind). The Dangerous Minds website mentioned the tune a couple of years back and at least tried to provide a few details about its mystery.
The website read: “‘Peanut Duck’ follows the template of novelty and fad dances like ‘The Loco-Motion’ and ‘The Twist’ – to a point. The unknown female vocalist does explain how to do the goofy dance, but doesn’t go into very much detail, and some of the lyrics are completely unintelligible. It’s also unclear as to what George Washington Carver’s favourite legume has to do with anything. The track really goes off the rails once it passes the 2:00 minute mark, with the singer free-forming it like you won’t believe.”
Indeed, the song lyrics are peculiar. It opens with ‘Gee’ claiming that “there is a brand new dance that’s sweeping the nation: the Peanut Duck is the new sensation”. From there, the lyrics fall into incomprehensibility, although it must be said that whoever the mysterious singer is, is going for it.
In 2005, Rhino Records included ‘Peanut Duck’ on their compilation album Girl Group Sounds: One Kiss Can Lead to Another. The liner notes for the record said of the track: “At Virtue Sound Studio in Philadelphia, a mystery girl singer cut ‘Peanut Duck’, a feverish soul stomper that trailed the Loco-Motion, Mashed Potato, Twist trend. But the track was never released, and Marsha Gee was not the actual singer”. So who exactly is Marsha Gee?
The notes continued to try and demystify the mystery. It read: “The only proof of ‘Peanut Duck’ lay in an acetate discovered by a British Northern Soul DJ who took the disc back to England and released it as a bootleg on Joker Records in the ‘80s. Not wanting his rival DJs to infringe upon his precious find, he christened the unknown singer Marsha Gee (who incidentally had a single out on Uptown Records in 1965). The true voice behind ‘Peanut Duck’ has yet to be revealed. Anyone?”
So, the mystery sadly rolls on. If you’ve any indication of who the mysterious Marsha Gee is (perhaps it’s you) or if she even exists, please report to your local Northern Soul DJ at your earliest convenience.
