“There’s a brand new dance that’s sweepin’ the nation
The Peanut Duck is the new sensation…”
This northern soul single was recorded by an unknown artist at Philadelphia’s Virtue studio in the mid-60s, and was never released. An acetate copy surfaced at Stafford’s Top of the World all-nighters back in the early 80s. A discussion at soulsource.co.uk revealed that John Vincent was the first to play it, but it was the instrumental version. Keb Darge later played the vocal version, naming it “The Dance Track.”
Below is the unofficial 80s bootleg version which was released on the Joker label, which Paul Hallam was known to spin at Sneakers in Shepherd’s Bush, London.
In 2005 the song finally received an official, albeit limited vinyl release on Penniman Records out of Barcelona, Spain.
The song was again credited to Marsha Gee, but contrary to the Joker release the picture sleeve claims it was written by Scott / Hairston.
The name Marsha Gee has appeared before, such as on the 1965 Uptown 704 single, “Baby I Need You,” written by Phillips-Wright. The voice sounds quite different from The Peanut Duck so the singer’s true identity remains a mystery.
The weekend of my birthday I took a trip to my hometown of Rochester, NY and made a pilgrimage to the Bop Shop. I asked Tom (the owner) if he had seen any copies of the Penniman release. He had actually seen it a while back and said that he could track it down for me.
A few weeks later I spoke with him on the phone. I mentioned that I’d seen a few copies on Discogs.com but he pointed out that the disc was long out of print and said that it would disappear from the site in the next year. Tom had talked to a Spanish woman who had connections with Penniman in Spain. It turned out that the label had two copies left! He ordered one for me, and the other for himself.
I’m so excited to finally have this disc. I’ve wanted it ever since Lemon Jelly played it on the Breezeblock in 2002. Though the official single is now sold out from the Penniman label, you can look for it on Discogs or pick the song up as part of the Rhino box set titled
One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds—Lost & Found. A clean copy on Discogs will run you around $70.