"Dueling Banjos" is an instrumental

Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1955 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos", which contained riffs from "Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle

"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...

". Smith recorded it playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 banjo player Don Reno

Don Reno

Don Wesley Reno was an American bluegrass and country musician best known as a banjo player in partnership with Red Smiley, and later with guitarist Bill Harrell.-Biography:...

. The version by Eric Weissberg

Eric Weissberg

Eric Weissberg is an American banjo player, best known for the theme from the movie Deliverance.-Biography:Eric Weissberg went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then the Juilliard School of Music. He joined an early version of the Greenbriar Boys , but left before they made any recordings....

 and Steve Mandell went to #2 for four weeks on the Hot 100 in 1973 and topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks the same year.

The song was made famous by the 1972 film Deliverance

Deliverance

Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...

, which also led to a successful lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

 by the song's composer, as it was used in the film without his permission. A cover of the song by Steve Ouimette

Steve Ouimette

Steve Ouimette is a rock guitarist. He is known for performing a cover version of the hit song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, in which the parts played on the fiddle are instead played on an electric guitar...

 (using electric guitars, bass, and drums) was released as downloadable content for the video game Guitar Hero World Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...

.

Use in Deliverance

In Deliverance

Deliverance

Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...

, a scene depicts Billy Redden

Billy Redden

Billy Redden is an American actor best known for his role as Lonnie, the banjo-playing boy, in the 1972 movie Deliverance....

 playing it opposite Ronny Cox

Ronny Cox

Daniel Ronald "Ronny" Cox is an American character actor, singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Personal life:Cox, the third of five children, was born in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, the son of Lounette and Bob P. Cox, a carpenter who also worked at a dairy. He grew up in Portales, New Mexico...

, who joins him on guitar. Redden plays "Lonnie"—a mentally challenged inbred

Inbreeding

Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...

, but extremely gifted banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

player. (Redden could not actually play the banjo. A local musician, Mike Addis, reached around from behind Redden; this was disguised using careful camera angles.)
Two young musicians, Ron Brentano and Mike Russo, had originally been signed to play their adaptation for the film, but instead it was performed by the others.

"Dueling Banjos" was arranged and performed for the film by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and was included on its soundtrack.
When he was not acknowledged as the composer by the filmmakers, Smith sued and eventually won, receiving songwriting credit as well as royalties.

Chart performance

Chart (1973)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Top Singles	2
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	9
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	5