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Donald Where's Your Troosers?
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Donald Where's Your Troosers? |
| cover | Donald Where's Your Troosers cover.jpg |
| caption | Cover of the 2011 Best Of album |
| which included the song | |
| type | single |
| artist | Andy Stewart |
| album | A Scottish Soldier |
| released | 1960, 1989 (reissue) |
| genre | Comic song, Music of Scotland |
| length | 3:17 |
| label | EMI Top Rank |
| writer | Andy Stewart, Neil Grant |
| producer | Robert Wilson |
which included the song
"Donald Where's Your Troosers?" is a comic song about a Scotsman who wears no trousers (underpants) under his kilt. It was written by Andy Stewart with music by Neil Grant. When performed by Andy Stewart and the White Heather Group, it was a hit in 1960, reaching number 37 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 1 in the Canadian CHUM Charts. When re-released in 1989, it became an even bigger hit, reaching number 4 in the UK.
Stewart wrote the song in 10 minutes while he sat, trouserless, in the lavatory of a recording studio. The song tells of a rustic Scotsman who wears the kilt in defiance of the shock this causes to polite society such as well-spoken ladies on the London Underground. The music supports the theme in its chord progression, which shifts from the double tonic of Scottish music to a V-i cadence more typical of highbrow music. As performed by Andy Stewart, a verse is also performed in the style of Elvis Presley to provide yet another amusing clash of cultures.
The re-release happened when BBC DJ Simon Mayo played the song on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show in November 1989 and then responded to listeners' requests for replays, "We were in the mood for novelty nonsense, so we kept playing it". Sonet Records then quickly arranged a deal with EMI to release the song on the Stone label as a Christmas single – a market in which novelty songs often did well. Mayo continued to give it much airplay and the song was number 4 in the UK Singles Chart at Christmas behind Jason Donovan's "When You Come Back to Me", Jive Bunny's "Let's Party" and Band Aid II's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Stewart was not expecting this renewed success:
The song was ranked 17th in a poll of the UK's favourite comic songs in 2009. It was performed as part of the opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
In popular culture
- One headline about the furore over allegations of Donald Duck being banned in Finland for not wearing trousers was "Donald, Where Are Your Trousers?"
- The song appeared as one of the options in a detour which contestants in The Amazing Race 33 were invited to perform.
- A slow and somber cover of the song is performed by the characters of John Henry (Garret Dillahunt) and Savannah Weaver (Mackenzie Brooke Smith) in the ending of the penultimate episode of the second season to the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
References
References
- "donald, where's your troosers? | full Official Chart History".
- "CHUM Hit Parade - March 6, 1961".
- Jackson, Russell. (13 February 2017). "15 famous songs every Scot will know".
- Gordon Irving. (13 October 1993). "Andy Stewart". [[The Independent]].
- Moore, Allan F.. (2012). "Song Means: analysing and interpreting recorded popular song". Ashgate.
- Kevin Maguire. (8 May 2012). "Can I have a P please, Simon? New Blockbusters host Simon Mayo on taking over from Bob Holness". [[Daily Mirror]].
- Stephen Harris. (2015). "Donald, Where's Your Troosers?".
- Mathew Clayton. (2010). "The Nation's Favourite: The UK's Best-loved Things".
- Auslan Cramb. (24 July 2014). "Commonwealth Games: Message of hope comes from the heart". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
- (26 February 1999). "Donald Duck Banned in Finland".
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