The Newcastle Song

Infobox Single
Name = The Newcastle Song


Artist = Bob Hudson
from Album = The Newcastle Song
B-side = "Ventriloquist Love"
Released =
Format = 7" single
Recorded =
Genre =
Length =
Label = M7 Records
Writer = Bob Hudson
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position =

#1 Australia
Last single =
This single = The Newcastle Song
(1974)
Next single =

"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.

A 'reply hit' to "The Newcastle Song" called "Rak Off Normie", sung from the woman's point of view, was released by Maureen Elkner later in 1975 and was a top ten hit.

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.

The Newcastle song spent 4 weeks at number one in early 1975 in the Australian charts.