Sylvia's Mother

"Sylvia's Mother"
Single by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
from the album Dr. Hook
B-side"Makin' It Natural"
ReleasedMarch 1972
GenreCountry rock, pop
Length3:50
LabelColumbia Records
Songwriter(s)Shel Silverstein
Producer(s)Ron Haffkine
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show singles chronology
"Last Morning"
(1971) 		"Sylvia's Mother"
(1972) 		"Carry Me, Carrie"
(1972)

"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, produced by Ron Haffkine and was highly successful in the United States, reaching #5 on the Billboard singles chart (tied with "Sexy Eyes" from the album Sometimes You Win for the band's best performing song),[1] as well as #2 in the United Kingdom. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Australian music charts,[2] 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, and in New Zealand. The song spent 7 consecutive weeks at #1 in Ireland on the Irish Singles Chart.[3] It appeared on the group's first album, Doctor Hook.

  1. ^ Fread Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (New York, Billboard, 2003), p. 312
  2. ^ "Go-Set Australian charts - 22 July 1972". Poparchives.com.au. 1972-07-22. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  3. ^ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2023-07-07.