The Newcastle Song

"The Newcastle Song"
Single by Bob Hudson
from the album The Newcastle Song
B-side "Ventriloquist Love"
Format 7" single
Label M7 Records
Writer(s) Bob Hudson

"The Newcastle Song" was a 1975 hit for musician and comedian Bob Hudson. It poked fun at the working-class youth culture of the City of Newcastle in NSW. The song was recorded in front of a live audience in 1974.

The basic story-line concerns a young man called Normie who goes out with his mates looking to pick up women in Newcastle's main street, Hunter Street, in their "hot - F.J. Holden". They encounter a young lady and her Hells Angel date outside the "Parthenon Milk Bar". Apparently, the Parthenon Milk Bar survived in Hunter Street into the 1990s as a local business. Bob Hudson later went on to work at the ABC's 2JJ radio station in Sydney as a DJ, after it started broadcasting in 1975.

Hudson also wrote Girls in our Town, a more serious look at the position of young women in towns like Newcastle, which was performed by Margret RoadKnight.


Side One

1. J.L. Budgerigar (Jonathan Livingston Budgerigar) - Musical narrative parody of Jonathan Livingston Seagull

2. Living it Up on the Dole - A comedy about living by claiming unemployment benefits under multiple names.

3. R Certified Song - A song about a girl with a well endowed bottom.

4. Clarissa - A song about teenage acne.

5. Motor Car Song - A song about youth and car obsession.

6. Christened My Dog - A song about what a wannna-be does to try to fit in.

7. Librarian Lady - A song stereotyping women by their occupation.

8. Teenage Cremation - Youth, Cars and Road Deaths.

Side 2

1. Who's Your Friend.

2. I Never Was Born Like Mel.

3. The Girls In Our Town - A song about the trials and tribulations of young women.

4. The Newcastle Song - The core of the record; a comedical reflection of teenage growing pains in Newcastle.

5. No More Songs.