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[This is a written adaptation of Pat Alexander’s talk, The Duncan Story. The full 35 minute presentation (which includes three of his songs - Duncan being one of them of course) has proved to be very helpful when encouraging folk towards an authentic relationship with God through the biblical Jesus].
This is the story of a very proud young man who was the fifth of six children born of wealthy parents at Bellevue Hill in Sydney. The wealth had come from my dad’s widowed mother (whose husband died aged 27) and who herself died suddenly (in her sixties) leaving a thriving millinery business in Sydney - which she alone had built.
My dad and his two younger siblings were not interested in the business. They hadn’t done a day’s work in their lives so the business languished, but, there was enough there to give her six grandchildren a very privileged upbringing. There was enough there for Dad to buy a rural property in 1937, the year of my birth, and the family moved from the luxury of Bellevue Hill into an old weatherboard house south of Oberon, New South Wales.
Primary school for me was a remote, one-teacher school and my secondary schooling was at Cranbrook, in Sydney where I boarded for 6 years, finishing with university entrance qualifications.
This very proud young man left Cranbrook School in December 1954 with everything going for him. He made friends easily. He had a jovial nature, good behaviour; good manners, a good appearance; was without guile; the older generation approved of him and he was among the first picked for cricket and rugby. Picture perfect. The kind of son we would all be happy to have. Everything going for him, but, it didn’t stop there.
My domestic life developed beautifully. I have always been cared for by a good woman, with my wife seamlessly taking over from my mother, in 1959. We had two children in quick succession and a third after a nine year gap. Our three children came through the hazards of youth unharmed; all three married young; all three have good and sensible spouses and they have given us eleven grandchildren. We have been spared the relationship pains, and sufferings; the estrangements; the many broken hearts and broken homes that are all around us. Wherever we look, just below the surface, there are lives in a terrible mess. We have been spared - thus far - and we are very grateful.
But the very proud young man’s working life was the problem. The world owed him a living, but the world did not recognize him. In the first 21 years of my working life I had fourteen different employers. It was disappointing. At an all-time low at age 38, I started in the ABC mailroom in Sydney and I remained, for 23 years, in the ABC mailroom in Sydney – to retirement, in 1998, aged 61. Very disappointing - for a very proud young man. It became a very serious problem when in deepening despair he didn’t come home one night in 1974 but after hearing a news report on his car radio next morning, that an unidentified man had jumped to his death off the Harbour Bridge, and knowing that his family would have heard that report, he returned home. This low point came during a disastrous two year period trying to sell life insurance. But the story changes here.
At home we have a cupboard, full of my silly little songs and poems. In February 1981, one of those little songs topped the charts, to become Australia’s number one selling song for 2 weeks. The song is ‘Duncan’. I’d love to have a beer with Duncan, ‘cause Duncan’s me mate. Five years earlier, that song had come straight out of a life assurance selling experience. I was prospecting; knocking on factory office doors, in Sydney’s Southern suburbs, and the owner of a heat-treatment factory invited me in, and I introduced myself to Duncan
Urquhart. About my age, he was free to talk, and suggested we do that, in the pub around the corner. The pub was the Town & Country Hotel, at St. Peters – on Unwin’s Bridge Road - it is still there - you can see it from the train. We yarned about everything except Life Insurance and I went back to see Duncan Urguhart three times before I realised that he had no intention of buying any of my life cover – he was not interested. He just enjoyed the yarn.
Driving home from the last of those sessions I should have been miserable, but I wasn’t. In the car the main verse (music & lyrics) came into being; “I love to have a beer with Duncan, I love to have a beer with
Dunc. We drink in moderation, and we never, never ever get rolling drunk. We drink at the Town and Country where the atmosphere is great. I love to have a beer with Duncan ‘cause Duncan’s me mate.” I jotted down those words and tossed it in the cupboard.
My encounter with Duncan, the first of the two very special men, was the only good thing that came out of those two horrible years trying to sell life insurance. But with all that behind me and five years after the Duncan encounter, Bob Hawke made his move to become Prime Minister. Prompted by this, I sent an audio tape of a song of mine to ABC TV, and they sent a film crew across to the mailroom, and filmed me singing The Bob Hawke Song, in June 1980.
It went on National Television, as a novelty news item, and some bloke rang the ABC switchboard and said, “If he was a horse you’d shoot him”. It wasn’t very good but, it got me going. I arranged with EMI to make 200 seven inch discs of me singing The Bob Hawke Song, (with a band knocked up from the very talented ABC mailroom staff) and we put Duncan on the other side. I sent a disc to every radio station in Sydney. Phil Halderman and Malcolm T Elliot on 2KY were the only ones to play The Bob Hawke Song, to my knowledge, and one of my mates in the mailroom rang in and said to Malcolm, “Why don’t you play the other side. It’s a much better song”. Malcolm Elliot played my version of Duncan in his morning show and it generated enough interest for him to interview me on air. Malcolm then sent out regular calls, each day, for someone to find this Duncan Urquhart fellow, from five years before. Duncan himself happened to hear one of these calls and as he said on air, he very nearly drove off the side of the Gladesville Bridge in shock.
Duncan Urquhart joined in the fun that followed in October 1980 when I got home one Saturday afternoon to the stunning news that Slim Dusty had rung. I had sent one of the discs to a post office box address in Parramatta, where they received truckloads of stuff from hopeful songwriters, like me, but his wife Joy McKean happened to play Duncan and she like it. She asked Slim to listen to it, he didn’t like it at first but she made him listen again; as every good woman should. They were recording at the time, so on Monday morning they took it in, knocked up some chord charts for the band, and the second take was pressed by EMI and released as a single.
On Monday the 10th of November 1980, Radio 2UE listeners heard John Laws play Duncan eleven times on the first morning. He loved it. It put Slim Dusty on Countdown for several weeks in early 1981, it put me into songwriters’ heaven, and the very proud young man was vindicated; he had at last been recognised; he was lifted up in a beautiful way; by Duncan.
From the very beginning Duncan was so closely associated with Slim Dusty, that everyone just assumed, that he wrote it. In fairness to him he was in no way responsible for this; in fact he attempted early on to distance himself from Duncan because it was not his kind of song, and because of that, they really did not want it to become his signature song and I can understand that. Slim Dusty is a monument in our culture – we all know that and I am very much aware that what Slim Dusty did for Duncan is beyond measure but, the song itself somehow, mysteriously captures the character of Australian mateship. God alone knows how that happens. A Baptist minister (Gary Baker) said to me just a few months back “You know, that song’s all about relationships.” Never, ever occurred to me.
We have had so much fun with that song, but do you know, the most amazing thing is, the reaction we get when people find out that I wrote it? In the very early days my kids would come home very upset when their school mates wouldn’t believe that their dad wrote Duncan. “Yer! And my dad wrote Puff the Magic Dragon.” The more involved people are in the music industry, the more animated is their reaction. I met The Wiggles when they toured Wagga Wagga in 2001, (soon after they had recorded ‘I’d love to have a dance with Dorothy’) and they, The Wiggles, were thrilled to meet me; the Wiggles!!
Duncan, the first of the two very special men in my life, remains a wonderful gift to me personally. Coming when he did, the first of the two very special men was an amazing boost, but, great boost though the Duncan phenomenon was, it does not come anywhere near the second encounter just three years later, in 1984?
I am very grateful that twelve years earlier a 10 year-old girl introduced me to the idea of church attendance when she asked me “Dad, can we go to church to thank God for our little baby sister?” I am very grateful for the many church folk who stuck to me for twelve long years after that. I am very grateful that they put up with my rudeness, for twelve years, and continued to invite me to men’s breakfasts. Don’t ever give up on that person who will not come to those things; even when they tell you to go to hell. Don’t give up on him please. I am very grateful for those twelve years of reluctant church attendance (dutifully taking my children to Sunday school) because while I was politely waiting to take them home, I learned a lot about Jesus. Throughout those 12 years, I believed that I was a Christian. Of course I was a Christian. “We’re all Christians” I insisted. I believed also, that I was self-sufficient (and the Duncan phenomenon exaggerated that belief) so the very proud young man scoffed at the notion that he was sinful. God and I both knew, that I was a good person. It was the god bothering people within the church, with all their talk of sin and guilt who had it wrong. Hmmm.
At the end of those 12 years, my precious worldview took a direct hit, and sank. And like my conception, I had nothing to do with it. My conversion happened in the middle of a sermon, with the reading of a bible verse - and Jesus’ statement finishes with these words, “...he has already crossed over from death to life.” In my mind I turned and faced this perfect man Jesus for the very first time, and in my mind, he looked at me. In my mind I crashed to my knees under the weight of guilt.
I was convicted. In my mind I had killed him. The very proud young man’s sin – as much as anybody else’s - was responsible for Jesus’ death. Far from being vindicated as he was with Duncan, the very proud young man died – then and there. In that very moment my life began again. I was - listen to it - I was born again. It does happen. My direct responsibility for Jesus’ death, forgiven. The staggering guilt, gone. It is finished! Finished! According to the scriptures. Like Jesus I was brought back to life. I had crossed over from death to life. According to the scriptures. It’s in the book. John 5:24.
What did it? Immediately, it was the contrast. The contrast between the very proud young man (who really didn’t need God – God needed him); between the very proud young man and this absolutely perfect man Jesus. But what actually did it? It was the bible’s consistent account, Sunday after Sunday for twelve years, of the absolute perfection of the biblical Jesus; (in everything that he did and said). And one verse, shifted me from sceptic to believer – 100%. At age 47, I was snatched from death. I had crossed over, from death to life.
But this Death! What is this death for God’s sake? Thinks. We can see a small boat drifting towards the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara. We can see a man asleep in that boat. Well, he could be dead; it doesn’t make any difference. He is as good as dead anyway. I was asleep in that boat. I was unaware of the danger, directly caused by the very proud young man’s continuing rejection, of God’s claim on his life. Instead of leaving me, to my deserved destiny, Jesus, knowingly, consciously; deliberately; while I was still rejecting him; laid down his life, to cover for me. Now that, is real life cover. That is real life insurance. Very ironically, not long after the song became a hit, Duncan Urquhart died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving a wife and two teenage kids. I do not know whether or not Duncan’s life was insured.
The 1st of the two men, would not buy my life insurance. The 2nd of the two men, fixed me up, with life insurance with a one-off premium, paid by him. Perfect Life Insurance. I do not know whether Duncan knew, that Jesus died for him too. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. The package included a rock-solid belief in the biblical Jesus, and an ongoing personal relationship with him. He said to me then... “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” In a very real sense, I am there with him now. My life is hidden with Christ, in God – according to the scriptures. It’s in the book!
Let me ask this question - for you? What does it actually mean - that the very proud young man died? Thinks! A grain of wheat, dropped in the soil. Given the right conditions; a new plant, a new life begins, and the old grain itself???. It dies. It is a perfect image and I didn’t write that song. For 34 years I have been faithfully taught that the biblical Jesus is God. I believe that. For 22 of those 34 years I have had a personal relationship with him. I know him personally. For God’s sake, why would I, NOT follow this man? There is a story in the bible about a man who was born blind and was healed by Jesus. Like that man, an adult convert like me can truthfully say… “One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see”. Jesus has been first in my life, ever since the spirit of God introduced me to him, in 1984. He is well ahead of my marvellous wife and family, and streeeeeeeeets ahead of me mate Duncan of course.
These days, I am often introduced to people as the bloke who wrote Duncan. The person introducing me enjoys it, and the person I am being introduced to enjoys it. And of course I enjoy it. I love being introduced to people as the bloke who wrote Duncan. It is a truly wonderful experience for me, personally, but listen to this for an introduction. I believe that on the day that I take my last breath; which could be very soon of course, I believe that Jesus has already said...
“Father, this is Pat Alexander, I died for him.”
I would like to give thanks to God the Father if I may, mindful that it is God’s honour that is at stake here; not mine. Jesus’ death and resurrection, to save me and give me a new life, is God’s idea. I did not write that song either. “Heavenly Father we thank you that you have brought us this far; that you have brought us together here today. With our own destiny (and that of our loved ones) very much on our minds at this moment Father, convict every one of us of our unpayable debt to you. Wake us up, to see how the sacrifice of your Son cleared that debt for us, once for all, completely, part of your amazing plan.
To you be the glory and to your Son, Jesus; full of Grace and Truth. Amen.”
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