Duke of Earl
| "Duke of Earl" | |
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| Song |
"Duke of Earl" is a 1962 hit song, originally written and performed by Gene Chandler. This is the best known of Chandler's songs, and so he dubbed himself 'The Duke of Earl'.
The word "Duke" is mentioned exactly 132 times during the entire song.
Covers
Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders released a cover version in 1964.
A cover version was recorded by the UK based doo-wop outfit Darts in 1979. It reached number six in the UK singles chart.
The band Red Hot Chili Peppers have also taken to playing this song whilst on tour. Notably John Frusciante plays it solo and stops at the chorus because it is "Too high" for him.
The band Cypress Hill has Duke of Earl sampled in to one of their hit songs, Hand on the Pump off the their 1991 self-titled album.
The acapella group The Alley Cats performs an acapella version of the song, and has recorded their cover on their album Cat's Meow from 2000.
The song is a favorite of Frank Black and aside from being played in concert was included on his Hello Recording Club CD from November 1993.
Pop culture references
In his song "Keeping The Faith", Billy Joel sings "I thought I was the Duke of Earl / When I made it with a red-haired girl in the Chevrolet".
In the Hall & Oates' song "Diddy Doo Wopp (I Hear the Voices)" from the album Voices, Daryl Hall sings, "Charlie liked the Beatles / Sam, he liked "Rich Girl" / I'm still hung up on the Duke of Earl".
In the film Carry on Behind, Ernie (played by Jack Douglas) can be seen wearing a Duke of Earl T-Shirt.
In the film The Man with Two Brains a beautiful prostitute (Randi Brooks) sings the song (described it as her "favorite") revealing her unexpectedly unpleasant and squeaky voice (she pronounces it "Dook, Dook, Dook, Dook of Oil...").
In the film King Ralph the titular character played by John Goodman sings this song as the end credits roll.
The song was performed by the rock and roll comedy group Sha Na Na as part of their set at Woodstock festival in 1969.
The song was also sung by men's group The Nylons.
The Duke of Earl is mentioned in the Men Without Hats song "Pop Goes The World".
Datamation humor columnist Chris Miksanek titled his "Over the Edge" online weblinks companion "The Duke of URL" which ran from 1998 until 2001.
In the Don Henley song 'They're Not Here, They're Not Coming', he sings "No place for sentiment, no room for romance Bring back the Duke of Earl".
In the episode "Kelly Does Hollywood" of the show Married... With Children, Al Bundy attempts to get on Kelly's show by performing a dramatic reading of the song.
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