"Wildwood Weed" is a 1964
country-western
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old ...
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
song written by
Don Bowman. It was the first track on Side 1 of Bowman's debut
LP, ''Our Man in Trouble..."It Only Hurts When I Laugh"'' (
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
catalog numbers LSP-2831 (stereo) and LPM-2831 (monaural)). Its most famous version was recorded in 1974 by
Jim Stafford
James Wayne Stafford (born January 16, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and comedian. While prominent in the 1970s for his recordings " Spiders & Snakes", "Swamp Witch", "Under the Scotsman's Kilt", " My Girl Bill", and " Wildw ...
and became the fourth of four U.S.
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
from his
eponymous debut album. Musically, the song takes its inspiration from
the Carter Family
Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s.
...
's instrumental recording "
Wildwood Flower
"Wildwood Flower" (or "The Wildwood Flower") is an American song, best known through performances and recordings by the Carter Family. It is a folk song, cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 757.
History
"Wildwood Flower" is a variant of the ...
". In both versions, the lyrics in the verses are spoken rather than sung.
Background
The song is a story about farmers, two brothers, who take a sudden interest in a common wildflower on their farm and discover, after one of them begins chewing a piece, its enjoyable hallucinogenic and mind-altering properties. They begin to cultivate the plant in earnest; however, federal agents raid their farm and destroy their crop. Nevertheless, the men are unfazed because they have saved a supply of seeds, overlooked by the agents. Despite the song's popularity, some AM radio stations banned it because of the references to
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
.
Chart performance
"Wildwood Weed" reached number seven on the U.S.
''Billboard'' Hot 100, number five on ''Cash Box''
and number three on the Canadian pop singles chart.
It was a crossover hit onto the Adult Contemporary charts of both nations (reaching number two in Canada),
as well as the U.S. Country chart.
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
External links
*
1974 singles
1974 songs
MGM Records singles
Jim Stafford songs
Songs about cannabis
Songs written by Don Bowman (singer)
{{1970s-song-stub