"Do you realise that on this same LP is the supreme moment of recorded history – you probably don’t realise this – lets see if I can find it. …its at the end of this sax solo when the sax goes away and Duane comes in with his bass - its coming up any minute now … right that’s it – the supreme achievement of the 20th century…" (JP 09 February 1981 )
"I often say, when people say to me, as they do, when you've got a job like mine, "What's the best record ever made?", and I still say, and I still believe it to be true, Teenage Kicks by the Undertones, although it's like sixteen, seventeen years old, but still every time I hear it, I get that same feeling all the way through it, this is as good as anything has ever been in the whole of recorded history, and I'll stick with that, I think, by and large. But a second favourite (obviously, I've got about 150 second favourites), but one of them is Duane Eddy's Peter Gunn, and mainly because of the bit which I regard as being one of the great moments in all of recorded music (we're talking in extremes here), is the bit where the sax stops and Duane comes twanging in on his own."
(JP, 13 January 1996 (BFBS))
Duane Eddy Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn by Duane Eddy
Before the release of Teenage Kicks, Peter Gunn by Duane Eddy was long touted by Peel as his favourite record and he continued to play it down the decades, although perhaps surprisingly no copy was found in John Peel's Record Box. It did, though, feature among his choices for the 1984 programme My Top Ten and was a Peelenium selection for 1959. On 09 February 1981 he went so far as to claim it to be the supreme achievement of the 20th century.
The song itself was written by Henry Mancini as the theme for a US private detective TV show created by Blake Edwards that aired 1958-61.[1] Duane Eddy's version was a worldwide hit that reached #6 in the UK charts in summer 1959[2]. In 1986, a cover by Art Of Noise featuring Eddy would also make it to the British top ten[3] (and be played by Peel).
Plays[]
(Duane Eddy version unless otherwise indicated. Please add further information if known.)
- 24 April 1968
- 16 October 1973
- 26 April 1976 (1 of 3 tracks played for his birthday)
- 01 January 1979
(JP: "And I will say this: If I were to compile a list of me own top 20 rock singles of all time, which would include things like the Stones' "Satisfaction" and Peter Gunn's "Duane...", er, I mean Peter Gunn's "Duane Eddy" or Duane Eddy's "Peter Gunn" even…") - 13 February 1979 - played at both regular speed and half speed
- 30 August 1979 – 40th birthday
- John Peel - Bow Wow Wow - 81 - played only part of it claiming it to be the supreme achievement of the 20th century.
- 19 May 1981 - plays versions by both Alley Orkestra and Duane Eddy
- John Peel Summer 1981 to Summer 1982
- 05 March 1986 - plays version by Art Of Noise featuring Duane Eddy
- 10 March 1986 (BBC World Service): plays version by Art Of Noise featuring Duane Eddy
- 18 March 1986 - plays versions by both Art Of Noise featuring Duane Eddy and the original Eddy single from 1959
- 12 February 1988 (BFBS) (Peel 080 (BFBS))
- 16 February 1988
- 20 February 1988 (BFBS)
- 15 July 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 110 (BFBS))
- 22 July 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 110 (BFBS)) Plays Henry Mancini and Duane Eddy versions
- 30 April 1990
- 20 April 1991
- 13 July 1991
- 21 January 1994 - plays version by Trashwomen
- 17 June 1994 - played to mark passing of Henry Mancini
- 25 June 1994 (BFBS) - tribute to Henry Mancini
- 13 January 1996 (BFBS)
- 05 January 1999
- 07 October 1999 - Peelenium 1959
(JP: "...possibly the second-best record ever made after Teenage Kicks.”) - 16 March 2000
(JP: “This is the record that I used to maintain was the best record that have ever been made until ‘Teenage Kicks’ came along.” After the Elastica track that follows, which has a vaguely similar guitar riff, JP then plays again “the most sublime moment in all of recorded popular music, when the sax stops and Duane comes twanging in on his own.” Anita the producer claims to have never heard the record before. William apparently tells his dad to turn it down before he blows the speakers.) - 26 April 2001
(Start of show ... JP: "63 today" (referring to Duane Eddy). Some listeners thought JP was referring to himself and sent in messages of congratulation.) - 11 October 2001: live cover by Pulp, recorded at a special gig to mark Peel's 40th anniversary in broadcasting
- 28 February 2002
- 08 May 2003
- Other
- Peel Late Nov 1983
- Peel 080 (BFBS)
- My Top Ten
(JP: "I think after the Undertones, almost with the Undertones, this is my all-time favourite record. And I saw him at the Liverpool Empire the first time he came over here, with Bobby Darin and Clyde McPhatter ... But the middle bit of this, when the sax stops and Duane comes through twanging away on his own is like for me the supreme moment in recorded popular music.")