The Duck Song

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About

"The Duck Song" is a children’s song written by Bryant Oden about a duck that repeatedly annoys a lemonade stand owner by asking him if he has any grapes. The song rose to fame online after an animated music video was uploaded to YouTube in March of 2009, garnering over 600 million views over the next 15 years and becoming widely known as a classic YouTube video. Following the song's success, Oden released several sequels to "The Duck Song," with the most recent, "The Duck Song 4," releasing in March 2024.

Origin

On January 21st, 2009, an animated music video titled “The Duck Song" by Bryant Oden was uploaded to the Songdrops^[1] YouTube channel, which featured the song with the lyrics displayed in a sequence of slides. On March 23rd, YouTuber Forrest Whaley uploaded an animated music video for the song, which received over 88 million views within three years. On April 21st, the song was released for sale on the iTunes^[2] music store for $.99.

Expand Lyrics

(Bum bum bum, ba-dum ba-dum)
A duck walked up to a lemonade stand
And he said to the man, running the stand
"Hey! (Bum bum bum) Got any grapes?"
The man said,
"No we just sell lemonade. But it’s cold
And it's fresh
And it’s all home-made. Can I get you
glass?"
The duck said,
“I’ll pass”.

Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle)
'Til the very next day.
(Bum bum bum bum Bum ba-dum)

When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand,
"Hey! (Bum bum bum) Got any grapes?
The man said,
"No, like I said yesterday
We just sell lemonade OK?
Why not give it a try?"
The duck said,
"Goodbye."

Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away
(Waddle waddle)
'Til the very next day.
(Bum bum bum bum bum ba-dum)

When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand,
"Hey! (bum bum bum) Got any grapes?
The man said,
Look, this is getting old.
I mean, lemonade’s all we’ve ever sold.
Why not give it a go?"
The duck said,
“How 'bout, no.”

Then he waddled away
(Waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away
(Waddle waddle)
'Til the very next day.
(Bum bum bum bum bum ba-dum)

When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand,
"Hey! (Bum bum bum) Got any grapes?"
The man said,
"THAT’S IT!
If you don’t stay away, Duck,
I’ll glue you to a tree and leave you there all day, stuck.
So don’t get to close!"
The duck said,
"Adios."

Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away
(Waddle waddle)
'Til the very next day.
(Bum bum bum bum bum ba-dum)

When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand,
"Hey! (Bum bum bum) got any glue?"
"What?"
"Got any glue?"
"No, why would I– oh!"
And one more question for you;
"Got any grapes?"
(Bum bum bum, bum bum bum)

And the man just stopped.
Then he started to smile.
He started to laugh.
He laughed for a while.
He said,
“Come on duck, let’s walk to the store.
I’ll buy you some grapes
So you won’t have to ask anymore.”
So they walked to the store
And the man bought some grapes.
He gave one to the duck and the duck said,
“Hmm… No thanks. But you know what sounds good?
It would make my day.
Do you think this store…
Do you think this store…
Do you think this store…has any… lemonade?”

(Fading)
Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle waddle)
Then he waddled away
(Waddle waddle)

Spread

On March 31st, 2009, the animation was collected by the video sharing website Vodpod.^[12] On April 25th, Oden created a page on the online retailer site Zazzle^[4], selling t-shirts featuring Whaley's cartoon version of the duck.

On August 22nd, Whaley uploaded an animated video for another song by Oden called "Honey Bear" to his YouTube channel. The video featured a brown bear wearing underwear talking to a small boy about keeping a positive attitude when dealing with frustrations and adversity.

On October 14th, SongDrops^[5] acknowledged that the children’s song had become popular among teenagers in high school in a press release titled “Viral YouTube Sensation ‘Duck Song’ Waddling into Hearts of Teens." On November 13th, Whaley uploaded a sequel video titled “The Duck Song 2”, in which the anthropomorphic duck from the original animation repeatedly asks a woman running a corner store for grapes (shown left). On April 2nd, 2010, Whaley uploaded “The Duck Song 3” to his YouTube channel, in which the duck tricks the lemonade stand man into taking the corner store woman’s duck tape (shown right).

On September 1st, 2010, the Flinders Press published a children's book by Oden and Whaley titled The Duck Song, which mirrored the original Whaley animated video. Within two years, the book had received a five-star rating out of over 60 reviews on the online retail store Amazon.^[6]

On October 8th, 2011, the Christian inspirational blog All in a Day^[9] published a post deconstructing the song, which claimed that the grapes represented different aspects of our lives that must be consumed in moderation. Whaley's videos have continued to spread on sites like Tumblr^[10] under the tag “#duck song.” As of May 23rd, 2012, the song is the #1 children’s song on iTunes^[3] in the United Kingdom and a Facebook^[8] page for “The Duck Song” has received over 18,500 likes.

Notable Examples / Fan Art

Several YouTubers created parody versions of the video with dubbed portions of the song in which the duck interacts with the lemonade stand owner. Many of the parodies end with the duck character being viciously attacked and murdered by the lemonade stand owner. As of May 23rd, 2012, there are over 7,200 results for keywords "the duck song" on YouTube.^[7]

Many fan created illustrations referencing the duck song can be found on the art sharing website DeviantArt.^[11]

Continue Spread ("Duck Song IRL," "The Christmas Duck Song," "The Duck Song 4")

On March 23rd, 2022, YouTuber^[13] forrestfire101 published a remake of "The Duck Song" filmed with real actors and a CGI duck, garnering over 15 million views in two years (shown below, left). On November 23rd, 2023, the YouTuber^[14] released a Christmas special of "The Duck Song," garnering over 4.3 million views in four months (shown below, right).

On March 23rd, 2024, the YouTuber^[15] released "The Duck Song 4," garnering over 1.6 million views in a week (shown below).

The release of "The Duck Song 4" inspired memes on social media. On the day it released, X^[16] user @CallMeCarsonYT posted, "i was wrong. 2024 is the year of the return of the duck song," garnering over 2,000 likes in a week. On March 26th, X^[17] user @Awesomemay_ made a post joking that actor Michael Cera would be in a non-existent Duck Song movie, garnering over 72,000 likes in three days (shown below).