Daisy's Song

Title screen

Season 1, Episode 2
Original Air Date: February 2, 1979
Directed by: Bob Kelljan
Written by: Gy Waldron
Created by: Gy Waldron

Plot Summary

Daisy’s dreams of musical stardom are dimmed when the song she wrote is heard on the radio being sung not by Jessi Colter, but by a sound-a-like. Bo and Luke head to Atlanta to get to the bottom of the scam, only to find out that Boss Hogg is tied in and that recording studio is a front for a music piracy operation which Boss is trying to use to build connections to the Syndicate. A motorhome full of “working girls”, and two dynamite arrows later the operation is destroyed, but Daisy is still out her fifty dollars. Until the boys tell her that Jessi Colter would be recording her song for real.

Commentary

Ahh... nothing like seeing General Lee heading into the big City of Atlanta. What a sight! Same with Bo in that red shirt, huh? The nice thing about the early episodes that were filmed on location, good use of the locales were done and the stories focused more on character development and plot, rather than car jumps and wrecks. General Lee never left the ground in this episode, but the chase through the junkyard is just as good.

Daisy’s aspirations to be a country music singer or songwriter was an angle that seemed to fade as the series continued on, which was unfortunate. Her shuck and jive to Lester Starr is brilliant, despite having to fight him off every moment afterwards. “Thank you for asking about my virtue,” she yells at the boys after pulling off her jive, “which you didn't, being intact, which it is.” The boys, however, haven’t a clue what she’s talking about.

This is the second and last episode to make references to the “portable prostitution.” Smokey and the Bandit enthusiasts will remember “Foxy Lady” and her girls with their RV... in Hazzard it was Mabel The Mobile Madam.

Rosco’s unease with Boss’s orders (the law is out to lunch!) with the FBI standing right behind him is palpable. It would be one of only a few times where the inner turmoil of Rosco’s crooked duty to Boss versus his duty to uphold the law is shown.

Trivia

• Luke's famous 'hood slide' appears in this episode, and gets added to the opening credits. Tom Wopat would later say that all he did was “trip.” What a trip!
• Daisy’s song, True Blue Hearts, heard briefly at the end of the episode is actually That's the Way a Cowboy Rocks n' Rolls by Jessi Coulter, from her 1978 album of the same name.

Regular Cast

• Tom Wopat as Luke Duke
• John Schneider as Bo Duke
• Catherine Bach as Daisy Duke
• Denver Pyle as Uncle Jesse
• James Best as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
• Sorrell Booke as Boss Hogg
• Waylon Jennings as The Balladeer (voice)
• Ben Jones as Cooter Davenport
• Sonny Shroyer as Enos Strate

Guest Cast

• Ronnie Schell as Lester Starr
• Ginny Parker as Mabel
• Clayton Landey as Max
• Terry Browning as Ruby
• Candy Bleick as Dodie
• Wallace Merck as Jojo
• Bill Gribble as Carson
• Roy Tatum (as J. Roy Tatum) as FBI #3
• Wallace Wilkinson as FBI #1
• Bob Cleveland as FBI #2

Stunts

• Stunts: Desiree Ayres (as Desiree Kerns)
• Stunt Driver: Craig R. Baxley
• Stunt Coordinator: Paul Baxley
• Stunt Driver: Jack Gill (uncredited)
• Stunt Driver: Bob Orrison (uncredited)

Crew

• Supervising Producer: Joseph Gantman
• Co-Produced by: Gy Waldron
• Co-Produced by: William Kelley (as Bill Kelley)
• Executive Producer: Paul R. Picard
• Executive Producer: Philip Mandelker
• Associate Producer: Skip Ward
• Director of Photography: Robert Jessup A.S.C.
• Art Director: Charles L. Hughes (as Charles Hughes)
• Title Song Composed and Sung by: Waylon Jennings
• Music Performed by: The Waylors
• Music Produced by: Richie Albright
• Unit Production Manager: Albert J. Salzer
• First Assistant Director: Peter Gries
• Second Assistant Director: Fred Wardell
• Second Unit Director: Paul Baxley
• Second Unit Director of Photography: Allen Facemire (as Alan Facemire)
• Second Unit First Assistant Director: Scott U. Adam (as Scott U. Adams)
• Film Editor: Albert P. Wilson, A.C.E.
• Music Editor: Donald Harris (as Don Harris)
• Sound Editors: Angel Editorial, Inc.
• Sound: Don Sanders
• ADR Editor: Jerry Jacobson (uncredited)
• Set Decorator: Francis Lombardo
• Property: Ernie Sawyers
• Prop Maker: Marco A. Compos (uncredited)
• Special Effects: Charles Spurgeon (as Charlie Spurgeon)
• Atlanta Casting: Stratton Leopold (as Stratton P. Leopold)
• Makeup: Guy Del Russo
• Hair Stylist: Irene Aparicio
• Wardrobe: Paula Lynn Kaatz (as Paula Kaatz)
• Additional Music by: Fred Werner
• Harmonica: Tommy Morgan (uncredited)
• Archery Equipment and Program Consideration Furnished by: Martin Archery
• Consultant: Fred Weintraub
• Casting: Linda Otto Associates
• Los Angeles Casting: Vivian McRae
• Lighting Technician: James Kibbe (uncredited)
• Key Grip: Dan Reilly (uncredited)
• Electrician: Michael J. Shwartz (uncredited)
• Location Facilities Provided by: The Burbank Studios
• Paul R. Picard Productions and Piggy Productions, Inc.
  in Association with Warner Bros Television