| "Gerdundula" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Lakky Lady" |
"Gerdundula" is a single by the British Rock band Status Quo from their fourth studio album Dog of Two Head.[1] Like previous single "Mean Girl", it was released by the band's previous label Pye to capitalise on their current success on a new label. The single did not chart, but Gerdundula became a concert staple: in fact, it was played live more than thousand times.[2] It's also pretty popular on streaming services, such as Spotify: the main version almost has 3 million listeners.[3]
The song originally appeared as the B-side to the band's 1970 single "In My Chair", and was then re-recorded for the Dog of Two Head album. Although it is credited to having been written by two individuals named John Manston and Colin James, it was revealed that it was actually written by Francis Rossi and songwriting partner Bob Young somewhere in Germany. The origin of the title is unknown: however, Rossi has told many stories regarding this, one of them being that it came from combining the names of two people whom he and Young met in Germany named Gerd and Ulla (Gerd und Ulla, put together to form "Gerdundula"). This story seems very plausible. Why Rossi and Young wrote the song under pseudonyms is unknown, as is where they got the names Manston and James. However, it may have had something to do with the fact that the song was published by Birchwood Music, rather than Valley Music, their usual publishing house. When a live version was included on the B-side of the 2005 single "The Party Ain't Over Yet", it was correctly credited to Rossi-Young.[4] The song's B-side was "Lakky Lady", taken from the band's previous album Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon.