"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, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The song was recorded in front of a live audience in 1974. It became a number-one single in both Australia and New Zealand. At the 1975 Australian Record Awards, the song won Record of the Year.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Theme

The story-line concerns a young man called Norm who goes out with his mates looking to pick up women in Newcastle's main street, Hunter Street, in their "hot FJ Holden". They encounter a young lady and her Hells Angel date outside the "Parthenon Milk Bar". There is a verbal exchange between Norm and the Hells Angel before Norm slips away during a break in the traffic.

Historical Inaccuracies

Disappointed tourists soon discovered that the Parthenon didn't exist on Hunter Street in 1974, Originally located in Pacific St, Newcastle East. It was a generic name used to cover all the Greek Milk Bars that were extremely popular in Newcastle at the time of the song. However, before long, an entrepreneur sensed an opportunity and the Parthenon Milk Bar opened for business in Hunter Street west, near the Cambridge Hotel. That Parthenon Milk Bar did become very popular with late night revellers in Newcastle and survived in Hunter Street west into the 1990s as a local business.

In popular culture

In 1975 the singer

Maureen Elkner Maureen is a female given name. In Gaelic, it is Máirín, a pet form of ''Máire'' (the Irish cognate of Mary), which is derived from the Hebrew Miriam. The name has sometimes been regarded as corresponding to the male given name Maurice. Some ...

(performing as "Maureen Elkner and Normie") released the single "Rak Off, Normie!" which told of the encounter from the young lady's point of view and her later life of regret with the Hells Angel after spurning Norm's advances.

References

1975 singles Novelty songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Songs written by Bob Hudson (singer) 1975 songs Songs about Australia {{1970s-single-stub