"Feud'in Banjos" by Arthur Smith HD

"Dueling Banjos" is an instrumental composition made famous by the 1972 motion picture Deliverance. A scene depicts Billy Redden playing it opposite Ronny Cox, who joins him on guitar. Redden plays "Lonnie" — a mentally retarded, inbred, but extremely gifted banjo player. [The movie shows the banjo player "strumming" when actually the banjo is being played three-finger "Scruggs"-style][citation needed]) A body double actually played the banjo.[1] The song went to #2 for four weeks on the U.S. pop chart in 1973 and topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks the same year.[2] It also led to a successful lawsuit by the song's composer, since it was used in the film without his permission.

"Dueling Banjos" was arranged and performed for the movie by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and was included on the soundtrack album.[3] The song had been composed in 1955 by Arthur Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos". Smith recorded it, playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string bluegrass banjo player Don Reno. When he was not acknowledged as the composer by the filmmakers, Smith sued. He eventually won, receiving songwriting credit as well as royalties. Two young musicians, Ron Brentano and Mike Russo, had originally been signed to play their adaptation for the movie, but instead it was performed by the others.[4]

A cover of the song by Steve Ouimette (using electric guitars, bass, and drums) was released as downloadable content for the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.