SYLVIA’S MOTHER
“Sylvia’s Mother” was a 1972 single by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show and the group’s first hit song. It was written by Shel Silverstein and was highly successful in the United States, reaching #5 on the Billboard singles chart, as well as #1 in Ireland and #2 in the United Kingdom. It also spent 3 weeks at #1 on the Australian music charts, making it the 15th ranked single in Australia for 1972. It appeared on the group’s first album, Doctor Hook. (More from Wikipedia)
Shel Silverstein had a long series of novelty hits as well, but mostly as a songwriter, not a performer (he was also a fine cartoonist). He wrote most of the music for the rock band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, including their hits “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”, “Sylvia’s Mother”, and “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball”; he is also the author of a famous novelty hit by Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue”, and “I Got Stoned and I Missed It” for Jim Stafford.
(March 2013)
