The Newcastle Song by Bob Hudson

Every New Zealand #1 single…

Bob Hudson

Sydney’s Bob Hudson trained as a geography teacher, then became a psychiatric nurse. He also began a side career as a folk singer/comedian.

In 1974, Hudson recorded the in-concert album The Newcastle Song. In 1975, the title track was edited down from ten minutes and released as a single. It topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand.

The Newcastle Song

Newcastle was known for its industries in the 1970s, especially coal. The working-class vibe made it a natural target for some condescending humour from Sydney.

‘The Newcastle Song’ tells the story of a young man named Norm trying to pick up girls in his “hot FJ Holden”. He’s confronted by a Hell’s Angel gang member, the boyfriend of an attractive woman he’s trying to chat up. When he’s about to get into a fight, he slips away through a gap in traffic.

The song is performed by Hudson with his guitar, an unusually bare-bones number one.

My Verdict

The past is a foreign country – it’s hard to imagine a solo comedy record making a dent in the charts now. New Zealand’s John Clarke released the comedy record Fred Dagg’s Greatest Hits in 1975, and it became one of New Zealand’s best-selling albums.

‘The Newcastle Song’ has a few great lines. “Up in Newcastle, they have very strange mating habits” is a fascinating opening, while the description of cars (“their hot FJ Holdens with chrome-plated grease nipples and double reverse overhead twin cam door handles, sitting eight abreast in the front seat”) is also excellent.

But overall, it’s a curiosity, a time capsule that you probably won’t want to hear more than once.

The Aftermath

Hudson wrote his own response song to ‘The Newcastle Song’. ‘Rak off Normie’ continues the story of the sheila who spurned Norm’s advances, and her unhappy life with the Hell’s Angel.

Hudson’s enjoyed a fascinating career since. He earned a PhD in archaeology from the University of Sydney and researched ancient Myanmar. He also worked as a radio DJ and news presenter.

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