Duelling Banjos (Live 1973) Eric Weissberg And Deliverance

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

Duelling Banjos is an instrumental composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith made famous by the 1972 motion picture Deliverance. The song was composed in 1955 by 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.

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. It also led to a successful lawsuit by the song's composer, since it was used in the film without his permission.