• Track: The Cover of the Rolling Stone
• Artist: Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
• Album: Sloppy Seconds
• Year: 1973

Lyrics:

Ha ha ha, I don’t believe it
Da, da, ah, ah don’t touch it
Hey, Ray, hey, Sugar, tell them who we are…

Well, we’re big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we’re loved everywhere we go…(That sounds like us)
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show…(Right)
We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of 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

(Rollin’ Stone…) Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone…) Wanna buy five copies for my mother…(Yes)
(Stone…) Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone…(That’s a very very good idea)

I got a freaky ol’ lady name a cocaine Katy
Who embroiders on my jeans

I got a freaky ol’ lady name a cocaine Katy
Who embroiders on my jeans
I got my poor ol’ gray-haired daddy
Drivin’ my limousine
Now it’s all decided to blow our minds
But our minds won’t really be blown
Like the blow that’ll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone

(Rollin’ Stone…) Wanna see our pictures on the cover
(Stone…) Wanna buy five copies for our mothers…(Yeah)
(Stone…) Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone

Hey, I know how
Rock and roll…

Ah, that’s beautiful

We got a lot of little teenage blue-eyed groupies
Who do anything we say
We got a genu-wine Indian Guru
Who’s teaching 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

(Rollin’ Stone…) Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone…) Wanna buy five copies for my mother…(Wa wa)
(Stone…) Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
On the cover of the Rollin’…
(Stone…) Wanna see my picture on the cover

I don’t know why we ain’t on the cover, baby…

(Stone…) Wanna buy five copies for my mother

We’re beautiful subjects…

(Stone…) Wanna see my smilin’ face

I ain’t kiddin’, we would make a beautiful cover…

On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone…

Fresh shot, right up front, man…
I can see it now, we’ll be up in the front…
Smilin’, man…
Ahh, beautiful…

Get It:

After what can only be characterized as one of the most stressful seven-day stretches of my life, I am feeling as though a little levity is in order. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show were one of my dad’s favorite bands. I can remember riding around in his tricked out, custom painted, full-size van, listening to Ray Sawyer—who sported the iconic black eye patch—and the rest of the Medicine Show sing this song. Even as a kid of just five, I knew parts of this song were dirty, though I couldn’t have told you how or why.

The band shortened its name to just “Dr. Hook” in 1975. In addition to The Cover of the Rolling Stone, this New Jersey-based outfit charted a number of hit singles including,  Sylvia’s Mother, Sharing the Night Together, A Little Bit More, and When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman before disbanding in 1983. Sawyer, who still sports the eye patch to this day, lost his right eye in an automobile accident in 1968.

On March 29, 1973, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show got their wish, gracing the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in caricature form with the caption, “What Their Names Make the Cover.” As a publicity stunt, the members of the band went to Rolling Stone’s New York office and bought five copies each.

Video: 

You can see a live version of the song here:

And because we have the space (we’re free with our electrons around here), we’ve included a bonus of Dr. Hook’s hit ballad Sylvia’s Mother:

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