SONG OF THE DAY
“Cover Of The Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (Sloppy Seconds, Columbia Records, 1973). Written by Shel Silverstein.
WHY TODAY?
Todd and I couldn’t stop singing this song this morning while he was making eggs, so, obviously, it was a pretty fun morning. This song brings me right back to middle school, and will forever remind me of my sister, Birdie. She had a 70’s compilation CD with a smiley face on it that had this song, and we rocked to it up in our Beatles bedroom during those glory days of the 1990’s.
Ummm, Shel Silverstein wrote this song, for reals. Weird.
LYRICS
Well we’re big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we’re loved everywhere we go
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show
We take all kinda pills
That give us all kinda thrills
But the thrill we’ve never known
Is the thrill that’ll getcha
When you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
I got a freaky old lady
Name a Cocaine Katie
Who embroideries on my jeans
I got my poor ol’ grey haired Daddy
Drivin’ my limousine
Now it’s all designed
To blow our minds
But our minds won’t really be blown
Like the blow that’ll getcha
When you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
Wanna see my pictures on the cover
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Wanna see my smiling face
On the cover the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
We gotta lotta little teenage blue-eyed groupies
Who’ll do anything we say
We got a genuine Indian guru
Who’s teachin’ us a better way
We got all the friends that money can buy
So we never have to be alone
And we keep gettin’ richer, but we can’t get our picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
Gonna see my picture on the cover
Gonna buy five copies for my mother
Gonna see my smiling face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– Sloppy Seconds was the second album from the country rock band Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. It featured some of their most popular songs, including “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball” and “The Cover of the Rolling Stone.” It was noted for its “crude sense of humor.”
– All songs on the album were written by Shel Silverstein.
- “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” is a song by Shel Silverstein satirizing success in the music business. Its narrator laments that his band has not been featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine despite having the superficial attributes of a successful rock star, including drug usage, “teenage groupies, who’ll do anything we say” and a frenetic guitar solo.
– The song was first recorded by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, reaching #6 on the U.S. pop chart. It was the band’s second single.
– The band did get on the cover of Rolling Stone — albeit in caricature rather than a photograph and with the caption “What’s-Their-Names Make The Cover”.
- BBC Radio refused to play the song, as it contained the name of a commercial publication (Rolling Stone) and could therefore be considered advertising. The song was re-recorded and rush released in the UK as “The Cover of the Radio Times” (Radio Times being the name given to the weekly television and radio guide published by the BBC), which did find its way onto playlists.
- Buck Owens and the Buckaroos On the Cover of the Music City News on Best of Buck Owens, Volume 6 (1976)
– The film was featured in the soundtrack of the 2000 film Almost Famous.