"Sylvia's Mother" is a 1972 single by
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show and the group's first hit song. It was written by
Shel Silverstein
Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...
, produced by
Ron Haffkine
Ron Haffkine (born December 13 in New York City, New York) is an American record producer, composer and music manager most recognized for his work as a producer and manager of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, an American rock band, producing hi ...
and was highly successful in the United States, reaching #5 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' singles chart (tied with "
Sexy Eyes" from the album ''
Sometimes You Win
''Sometimes You Win'' is the eighth studio album by Dr. Hook.
The album contains three of the band's most commercially successful singles: " When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (also included on their previous album ''Pleasure and Pain'' ...
'' for the band's best performing song), as well as #1 in Ireland and #2 in the United Kingdom. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Australian music charts, making it the 15th ranked single in Australia for 1972; and also reached #1 in South Africa, where it was the 3rd ranked song for the year. It appeared on the group's first album, ''Dr. Hook.''
Song background
"Sylvia's Mother" is autobiographical, with songwriter
Shel Silverstein
Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...
drawing upon his unsuccessful attempt to revive a failed relationship. Silverstein had been in love with a woman named Sylvia Pandolfi, but she would later become engaged to another man and end up as a museum curator at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City. Desperate to continue the relationship, Silverstein called Pandolfi's mother, Louisa, but she told him that the love had ended.
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The lyrics tell the story in much the same way: A man, despondent after learning that Sylvia, with whom he had an earlier relationship, is leaving town, tries to telephone her to say one last goodbye. However, Sylvia's mother (Mrs. Avery) tells him that Sylvia is engaged to be married, and is trying to start a new life in Galveston, Texas. She asks the man not to say anything to her because she might start crying and want to stay. She tells the man Sylvia is hurrying to catch a 9 o'clock train. She then returns to the phone conversation, thanks the (unnamed) narrator for calling. The pathos lies in the singer's awareness that Sylvia is right there with her mother, Sylvia being unaware that he is the man on the phone. Throughout the phone conversation, an operator interrupts to ask for more money ("40 cents more for the next three minutes") to continue the call.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Bobby Bare cover
In 1972, about the same time the Dr. Hook version was on the chart, country singer
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician.
Early ca ...
recorded a cover version. Bare's version became a hit, reaching No. 12 on the ''Billboard''
Hot Country Singles
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
chart that October. One of his last hit records during his stay at
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
, "Sylvia's Mother" became the first of many Silverstein-penned songs Bare had success with, and would foreshadow both an entire album dedicated to Silverstein-penned songs (1973's ''Bobby Bare Sings Lullabys, Legends and Lies'') and hit records written by Silverstein, including "
Marie Laveau
Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881)''Marie Laveau The Mysterious Voodoo Queen: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans'' by Ina Johanna Fandrich was a Louisiana Creole people, Louisiana ...
," "The Winner," "Rosalie's Good Eats Café", "The Mermaid", "Warm and Free" and others.
References
External links
The real story of Sylvia's Mother*
Sylvia's mother at FindAGrave.com
{{Authority control
1972 singles
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show songs
Song recordings produced by Ron Haffkine
Songs written by Shel Silverstein
Songs about telephone calls
Songs about mothers
Cashbox number-one singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in South Africa
Columbia Records singles
1971 songs