The Cover Of "Rolling Stone"

This was written by Shel Silverstein, a best-selling author of children's poems who was also a contributor to Playboy magazine and writer of many Country hits, including A Boy Named Sue. His books include Where The Sidewalk Ends, Giraffe and The Giving Tree. Silverstein also wrote Dr. Hook's first hit, "Sylvia's Mother."

This is a parody of the Rock and Roll lifestyle. It pokes fun at all the things that Rock Stars indulge in when they're successful: groupies, shady characters hanging around, limo rides, etc.

The group had a funny side and a serious side, but it was the funny side that came out on stage and framed their image. The pirate theme added to the novelty of the group: originally known as the Chocolate Papers, they took the name Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show after the character in Peter Pan, which also played up the eye patch worn by their singer Ray Sawyer, who many people assumed was "Dr. Hook." Sawyer wore the eye patch as a result of a car accident.

The group made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine on March 29, 1973, 3 months after this song was released. The text next to their picture read: "What's Their Names Make The Cover." The song was great publicity for Rolling Stone magazine, which was only five years old.

For the story, reporter Jim Cahill followed the band on tour, portraying them (accurately) as a ragtag band of misfits who were making it up as they went along. Early stage shows for the band were a bawdy affair, with a lot of improvisation and revelry.

Dr. Hook singer/guitarist Dennis Locorriere never took a stage name, which made it tough on journalists before there was Google. In the Rolling Stone article, they spelled his name wrong.

Mitch Myers, who is Shel Silverstein's nephew and wrote the book Silverstein Around the World, explains: "I think that he was already hanging with Dr. Hook when he did it, but if he didn't, he had been around musicians, and he understood what people wanted. And he understood how every musician's dream was to be a star. To be a big star. To be on the cover of a big magazine, and what magazine epitomized music? And Shel lampooned the whole rock and roll lifestyle in that - groupies and Indian gurus - at the time. The Beatles and everybody, Donovan, and all those people were wearing Indian garb and going to see Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and coming back supposedly enlightened - or not. And everybody was still hustling, was all hustle. I'm not saying that anyone was insincere, I'm just saying that you can see people for what they are. And he did that, and made it funny, too.

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show became such prolific interpreters of Shel's material for some reasons which would completely include their sense of humor. They were just a bar band from New Jersey, as much as Columbia Records tried to make them some crazy Cajun band that came out of the swamps. I mean, Ray Sawyer was from the South, maybe one or two of the other guys. But they were just a bar band, and were blessed with two great singers, both Ray and Dennis had fantastic voices. Dennis' was the one that was a little raspier and rougher, and similar to Shel's in grit, and Ray was a little bit more lascivious and a little bit more playful, and the chemistry between the two of them - although it did not last forever - was a perfect foil for Shel to use. And if it was a sweet love song, you know, Dennis might just do something very straightforward. Like "I Can't Touch The Sun For You" off the first record. And not all their songs were novelty, and not all their songs were humorous, and not all their performances were gimmicky. But they also were not afraid to go over to Europe and perform on stage and get naked. I mean, they were just a bunch of maniacs." (Learn a lot more about Shel Silverstein in our interview with Mitch Myers.)

This was featured in the 2000 movie Almost Famous, about a 15-year-old reporter writing an article for Rolling Stone. The band he is writing about sings this when they find out they made the cover. The director, Cameron Crowe, was once a reporter for Rolling Stone.

The BBC refused to play this because it violated their rule stating that songs could not mention trademarked products by brand name (the Kinks had to change "Coca-Cola" to "Cherry Cola" in their song "Lola" to get around the rule). CBS Records responded by setting up a phone line that would play the song to anyone willing to dial in, which helped build the buzz. The BBC was only able to play the song after some of their DJs edited themselves shouting the words "Radio Times" over "Rolling Stone" (Radio Times was a show on the BBC). Rumor was that Dr. Hook recorded the "Radio Times" version, but they never had to.