Funny how memory works. For a brief moment I allowed my mind to be calm, a flat plain of sand. But then a tiny and almost overlooked little bubble of air popped up through the serenity. And the Geoduck Song came back. Not the TESC song. No. This one predates it. It was a 45 single maybe 37-40 years ago and was a big hit here on Puget Sound radio stations.

The Geoduck Fight Song was written in 1971 by the greatest librarian who ever walked the earth, Malcolm Stilson (and he used his vast power for good, not evil). The lyrics go like this:

Go, Geoducks go,
Through the mud and the sand,
let's go.
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.

Go, Geoducks go,
Stretch your necks when the tide
is low
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.

Easily the greatest of all the college morale-building songs. But, as I said, this is not the song that came to mind. My brain dug deeper into my memory. And I'm sure, given the subject matter that resulted, Freud would've had a field day. But then, like him, I smoke cigars too. Sometimes a geoduck is just a geoduck.

The Gooey Duck Song was written by Ron Konzak, Jerry and Judy Elfendahl and performed, I guess, by Konzak. It is a true Washington State tune celebrating our special creature and apparently has become a fave song for summer camps. The lyrics have varied over time. Here is one version:

You can hear the diggers say, as they're headed for the bay,
Oh I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day,
'Cause I get a buck a duck, if I dig a duck a day,
So I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day.

Chorus:
Dig a duck, dig a duck,
Dig a gooey duck
Dig a duck, dig a gooey duck,
Dig a duck a day.

Oh it takes a lotta of luck, and a certain kinda pluck
For to dig around the muck, for to get a gooey duck.
For he doesn't have a front and he doesn't have a back,
And he doesn't know Donald, and he doesn't go quack!

As they walk across the sand, nearly half a mile from land,
For to dig a gooey duck, for to dig them out by hand,
Oh it isn't any trouble and it doesn't take a shovel,
To find a gooey duck by looking for the bubble.

Now if only someone would write a song for our slugs, mountain beavers, Sasquatch, and other creatures unique to Washington.