Australian singles charts:
Sylvia’s Mother entered the Kent charts on 29 May 1972 and was a #1 hit. The song was #12 on the Top 100 of 1972.
Album:
The song is on Dr Hook which entered the Kent album charts on 31 July 1972 and peaked at #22.
Songwriter:
Shel Silverstein
Producer:
Ron Haffkine
Record label of Australian release:
CBS
Wikipedia:
Sylvia’s Mother is autobiographical, with songwriter Shel Silverstein 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, Mexico City. Desperate to continue the relationship, Silverstein called Pandolfi’s mother, Louisa, but she told him that the love had ended.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia’s_Mother
Songfacts:
The band had two lead singers: Ray Sawyer (with the eye patch) and Dennis Locorriere. It was Locorriere, then 20 years old, who sang on this one, delivering the vocal with sincere sorrow. Many of Shel Silverstein’s songs for the band were works of comedy (Roland the Roadie and Gertrude the Groupie, The Cover Of Rolling Stone), and Dr. Hook had a bawdy stage show that wasn’t to be taken seriously, so not everyone picked up that this was a serious song about heartbreak.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/dr-hook-the-medicine-show/sylvias-mother
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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