It was a big day for artists just beginning to make themselves known in 1972.
About five years after they got started (and also five years after singer Ray Sawyer lost an eye in an accident, resulting in his trademark eyepatch), Dr. Hook – then known as Doctor Hook & The Medicine Show – hit the U.S. top 40 for the first time with one of their biggest hits, “Sylvia’s Mother.” The sad, country-tinged single came off their self-titled debut LP. It was written for them by Shel Silverstein, a successful comic book creator who moonlighted as a songwriter. Besides this one, he also wrote their later hit “The Cover of The Rolling Stone”, “The Unicorn” for the Irish Rovers and even Johnny Cash’s smash “A Boy Named Sue.” Silverstein said this one came easily to him… it was autobiographical, about a failed romance he had with a girl named Sylvia who moved to Mexico.
The girl, Sylvia Pandolfi apparently did marry the other guy “down Galveston way” – Mexico actually! – who was, a bullfighter and painter. Years later Dutch TV tracked her down, working in a museum in Mexico City, and her mother, still up in Illinois and recalling Shel. “I changed the name not to protect the innocent,” he says, “but because (Pandolfi) didn’t fit.” Dr. Hook propelled the oddball song up to #5 at home, #2 in Canada and the UK and all the way to #1 in Australia. It remained one of their most popular tunes for years, and Sawyer is probably lucky he didn’t lose another eye as a result. Seems when he sang the line “forty cents more for the next three minutes” people had a habit of throwing coins at him, “Which could hurt!”. They’d go on to have 5 more top 10 hits in the States..
The same day, Jackson Browne hit a peak of #8 with his first single, “Doctor My Eyes.” Jackson had been a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the ’60s and written songs for them, Joan Baez and others; Rolling Stone had even featured him as a “new face to watch” on the strength of his writing. But by 1971 he wanted to record as well; manager David Geffen had trouble finding him a good contract so ended up starting Asylum Records (in conjunction with Atlantic who would distribute the copies) just to get a Browne record out. Soon after, Jackson was in the top 10 and the label would also have Linda Rondstadt, Joni Mitchell and most importantly, the Eagles. Speaking of them, another song co-written by Jackson would soon hit the U.S. top 10 – “Take it Easy“, by the Eagles. Jackson took the late Glenn Frey’s place with the Eagles in the 2016 Grammy Awards show & was rumored to take Frey’s place, but eventually Vince Gill took the permanent position. Not that he needs to rely on those friends for success however; his debut album was the first of seven-straight to go platinum in the U.S. and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 (along with Bob Seger, today’s birthday birthday boy, coincidentally. Seger turns 79!)