Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXLIII--Dr. Hook: The Cover of "Rolling Stone"

A novelty song, such as this week's featured tune, always runs the risk of having a one way ticket to Dorkville, but I think our song of the week keeps its coolness quotient for three main reasons: (1) It was written by Shel Silverstein of Where the Sidewalk Ends fame (among many others, including writing the hit "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash) (2) It's a tongue-in-cheek look at the lives of rock stars (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), and (3) It was featured in one of the best, if not the best, movies about rock and roll, Almost Famous.  As for my coolness quotient, that ship sailed some time ago....

It was a good week for my half-assed research--not only did I not know Shel Silverstein wrote this week's song, I had no idea Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (shortened to just plain old Dr. Hook in 1975) was from New Jersey (for some odd ass reason I thought they were a Southern band).  They began their career in 1968 in Union City and developed a reputation as a good live band.  It led eventually to their being signed by the great (or not) Clive Davis who was then at CBS.  While the band had a number of hit singles, they were not able to sell albums, and coupled with their inability to manage money, the band filed for bankruptcy in 1974.  A few more hit singles helped the band get back on its feet, but by 1983 they had run the course of their most success.  Dr. Hook broke up in 1985, reunited in 1988, broke up again in 2015, and reunited for the last time in 2019 and continue to pay their bills playing on the Never-Ending Nostalgia Tour.  For their career, they released twelve studio albums (the last in 1983), twenty-three (!!!) compilation albums, and thirty singles (six of which hit the top ten).

"The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" was the second single from the group's second studio album, the rather crudely titled Sloppy Seconds.  The song would hit #6 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would peak at #41, the highest charting album of their career.

Fun Fact:  Dr. Hook did make the cover of Rolling Stone, in March of 1973.  Sadly for the band, it was just a caricature of three of its members.  You'd think Rolling Stone would have enough class to give the entire band a photo shoot just for the free advertising....

While I'm sure that someone somewhere has written a dissertation on a novelty song, this post isn't going to attempt to wax poetic about a song that's more or less just a lot of fun.  The song is catchy as all hell, Silverstein's lyrics have some nice word play, there's a knowing wink at the life of a rock star, and the band engages in a lot of banter (apparently a part of their live show).  "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" hearkens back to an era when rock stars were troubadors who played music for the love of the music, and not so their brand could sell perfume and condoms.  If nothing else, it's a nice reminder that once upon a time Corporate America didn't rule the airwaves, and people made music to make other people smile.

Lyric Sheet:  "(Rolling Stone) Wanna see my picture on the cover/(Stone) Wanna buy five copies for my mother/(Stone) Wanna see my smilin' face/On the cover of the Rolling Stone..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee