The Osbournes dug up a blast from the past on the latest episode of their podcast, playing and discussing Sharon Osbourne’s forgotten disco song “You Can Strike Oil in Hollywood.” The 1978 tune was recorded under the group name The Sheikettes.
The latest episode of The Osbournes Podcast features the family answering fan questions, with the first being whether they had “found Sharon’s secret disco band song yet.” An excited Jack and Kelly both exclaimed, “Yes, we have!”
Jack then quipped to Ozzy, “You are not the only singer in this family. Who knew Kelly and I came from such greatness when it comes to music?” He then played the song from his phone, revealing a cheesy tune that begins with the classic “Arabian riff” (also known as the “snake charmer song”) before settling into a disco meets doo-wop vibe.
Afterward, Sharon explained, “This is why we did it. … There is a house on Sunset Boulevard, and it’s an ugly white house now … It used to be a beautiful white classic home … I went into the house several times and it had an unbelievable speakeasy.”
She continued, “Anyway, the house was up for sale, and a young Arab couple bought it, and the wife filled the garden … with plastic flowers. … It was so ridiculous that it made the news … and people used to come down on the weekend to [see the house] … and this young Arab couple loved it, so then they got statues of women naked … so that the traffic would keep looking at their house. And then, they fell out and the chauffeur set fire to the house and it burned down.”
That inspired her to write and record the tune with Carol Connors, who co-wrote the Rocky theme song “Gonna Fly Now,” and another woman by the name of Avril Giacobbi. The track was released as a vinyl single via Sharon’s father Don Arden’s label, Jet Records.
For your listening pleasure, we found the song on YouTube (with just 250 listens as of this posting), and embedded it below along with the aforementioned podcast episode in which the Osbournes discuss the song.
