Digital Tradition Mirror

The Gooey Duck Song

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Gooey Duck Song
(by Ron Konzak and Jerry and Judy Elfendahl)

   You can hear the diggers say, as they're headed for the bay,
   Oh I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day,
   'Cause I get a buck a duck, if I dig a duck a day,
   So I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day.

   Chorus:
   Dig a duck, dig a duck,
   Dig a gooey duck
   Dig a duck, dig a gooey duck,
   Dig a duck a day.

   Oh it takes a lotta of luck, and a certain kinda pluck
   For to dig around the muck, for to get a gooey duck.
   For he doesn't have a front and he doesn't have a back,
   And he doesn't know Donald, and he doesn't go quack!

   As they walk across the sand, nearly half a mile from land,
   For to dig a gooey duck, for to dig them out by hand,
   Oh it isn't any trouble and it doesn't take a shovel,
   To find a gooey duck by looking for the bubble.

   (sing out says repeat first verse, to chorus)

   from  Bob  Walser,  who got it from Martha Burns,  who I heard sing it at
Indian  Neck,
   1983. Third verse comes from them and was not printed in the Sing-Out
version.

   Gooey ducks (Geoduck) are large "obscene" clams found in the
pacific Northwest,  said to
   be 8"-10" across the shell.  martha said the song is from tourist items in
the  Pacific
   NW, with 45rpm record and coloring books.

   it was printed in sing-out magazine with this comments:
   A geoduck (pronounced "gooey-duck") is a giant clam, the
world's largest burrowing bivalve, often attaining a weight of
ten pounds.  The "Gooey Duck" song was written by harpmaker-
storyteller Ron Konzak of Washington State along with Judy and
Jerry Elfendahl.  Jerry is a diver who is part of a new industry
that harvests the geoduck commercially in the Pacific Northwest.
The song has been released as single and is available through
Acme Music (6490 Ada's Will lane NE, Bainbridge Island, WA
98110). By the way, Ron tells us it's a hit in Japan.

Copyright R. Konzak 1972
DC

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!