• Track: Sweet City Woman
• Artist: The Stampeders
• Album: Against the Grain
• Year: 1971

Lyrics:

Well, I’m on my way, to the city life
To a pretty face that shines her light on the city nights
And I gotta catch a noon train
Gotta be there on time
Oh, it feels so good to know she waits at the end of the line
Sweet, sweet city woman
I can see your face, I can hear your voice, I can almost touch you

Sweet, sweet city woman
I can see your face
I can hear your voice
I can almost touch you

Sweet, sweet city woman
Oh, my banjo and me, we got a feel for singin’, yeah, yeah

Bon c’est bon, bon bon c’est bon, bon
Bon c’est bon, bon, bon, bon, bon
Bon c’est, bon, bon bon c’est bon, bon
Bon c’est bon, bon, bon, bon, bon
So long ma, so long pa, so long
Neighbors and friends

Like a country mornin’, all snuggled in dew
Ah she’s got a way to make a man feel shiny and new
And she sing in the evenin’, oh familiar tunes
And she feeds me love and tenderness and macaroons
Sweeet, sweet city woman
I can see your face, I can hear your voice, I can almost touch you
Sweet, sweet city woman
Oh, my banjo and me, we got a feel for singin’

Da da da da da da …

Sweet, sweet city woman (oh, she’s my)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet city woman
Sweet, sweet city woman (woah my)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet city woman (everybody)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet city woman (ba da da da, ba da da da)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet city woman (ba da da da, ba da da da)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet city woman (ba da da da, ba da da da)
Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet city woman (ba da da da, ba da da da)

Get It:

You can get your copy of The Stampeders’ Against the Grain at Amazon.

If you’re looking for a copy of The Stampeders’ Hit the Road Jack, pick up a copy of the album, Hit the Road at Amazon:

Today on Dances with Bass Radio, we’re feeling nostalgic about our childhood connection to AM radio, particularly on snowy Indiana school mornings when we were glued to the radio while devouring Lucky Charms and hoping that school would be canceled because of slick county roads. All too often, we were disappointed to learn that the previous night’s quarter-inch of snow wasn’t enough to keep the buses off the road, so our hopes often proved transient. However, those mornings spent listening to AM radio bore fruit that we still enjoy today because the local DJs played a host of AM radio 1970s classics that still stud our playlists today.

One such AM gold band is the Canadian trio The Stampeders. Originally The Rebounds, the band formed in 1964 in Calgary, Alberta. In 1965, the band renamed itself The Stampeders and moved to Toronto. In 1971, The Stampeders struck gold with their banjo-laden track, Sweet City Woman, which spent four months on the charts and became a gold record. This infectious diddy was a favorite of mine as a child because it was still being played on AM radio well into the mid-1970s when I was growing up in Central Indiana. For you non-French–speaking folks (including me), the lyric, “Bon c’est bon, bon bon c’est bon, bon” is Frenchy for “It is good, good, good; it is good, good.”

In 1976, The Stampeders scored another smash hit in the U.S. with Hit the Road Jack, which was performed with none other than Wolfman Jack. While the band would score more hits in its Canadian homeland, its string of U.S. hits would stop at a deuce.

And while the band has undergone a variety of lineup changes, two of its original members—Rich Dodson and Kim Berly—remain in the band today. They still tour Canada.

Video:

Here, The Stampeders “perform” (read: “badly lip-sync”) Sweet City Woman. You’ll also note that the guitarist is wicked talented because he can make his double-necked guitar sound both like a guitar and a banjo. 

Below, The Stampeders perform their other U.S. hit, Hit the Road Jack with Wolfman Jack:

You Might Also Like: