Glory Days of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (the Shel Silverstein years)

In 1975, R&B/country-rock band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show released Bankrupt, their 4th album containing songs written by Shel Silverstein. Like the previous three, it had a number of songs you couldn't play on the radio (in this case 7 out of the 12 were either ribald or had self-medication as their subject matter.

I forget the name of their fifth record.  It was bland, cutesy and aimed towards a commercial market of small children and others who like their music with a couple extra scoops of sugar.  ****

Dr. Hook never released a challenging record again.

I thought about flagging this post is inappropriate, but I did not.  The names of the songs may be strongly suggestive, but they are not in of themselves vulgar.  If you do not like talk about libertine drunkenness or promiscuity this may not be for you. 

The art of Dr. Hook was about more than offending, but if even a little schmutz shocks you, stop now.

Before Dr. Hook took their turn towards commercial bubblegum music, they were what my friends and I knew as a "biker band".  While I have never been a biker - can't even drive a hog - I spent a fair amount of time with bikers in my teens and twenties.  Dr. Hook's music had that mix of pain, sentimentality and rudeness that, to me, characterized biker culture.

My favorite thing about Dr. Hook was the emotional unpredictability.   They would establish in no uncertain terms their credentials for indecency, with a song like "Come on in" where a farmer invites travelers to stop for the night and participate in any number of improper behaviors: "I don't know where you slept last night, or what ya been learnin' in school, but if you're ever around my barn you can ____ my ____."   They would then follow that with the precious, heart-rending "Wonderful Soup Stone", a song about family and a single mother trying to feed her children.  Each of the first three Dr. Hook albums were this sort of roller coaster.  Laugh.  Cry. Laugh. Bust a gut.  Cry again. 

Bankrupt retained the outrageous, but had only one sentimental piece, "Cooky and Lila".  "Only Sixteen" doesn't count for me as sentimental, in part because it's not that great of a song, and also because that Sam Cooke cover marks – for me – the start of their artistic decline.

I highly recommend Bankrupt, Sloppy Seconds (their second record), and Belly Up (their third).  To get the full impact, I would listen to all songs on the records, but if you wish, you can single out these cuts that best match what you're looking for.

For heartfelt music, I recommend: Cooky and Lila* ; You Ain't Got the Right**; The Wonderful Soup Stone**; Carry Me Carrie***; The Things I Didn't Say***; Last Mornin'***; Turn on the World***; and I Can't Touch the Sun***. 

If you're not into sentimentality but instead want bawdy and raucous I recommend: The Millionaire*; Everybody's Makin' It Big But Me*; On the Way to the Bottom*; Penicillin Penny**; Come On In**; andFreaker's Ball***.  

Other good tunes that combine the sweet and naughty are: Everybody Loves Me*; Life Ain't Easy**; Roland the Roadie and Gertrude the Groupie**; If I'd Only Come and Gone***; and Stayin Song***.

One song belongs in a category of its own, and while I feel compelled to mention it I don't want to recommend it.  Get My Rocks Off, from Sloppy Seconds, is one of the most offensive things I've ever heard.  I can't imagine the record being complete without it, but I always skip it – even when I'm at home listening to the record all alone.  It's that bad.

My last part of this tribute to Dr. Hook involves the cover art of these three records.

You can tell from my copy of Sloppy Seconds that this record has been well loved, like an old Teddy Bear.

If you get the meaning of the album title, you're not as innocent as you might want me to believe : )

Bankrupt has this beautiful image of them (robbing?) a bank.

And then on the back cover of Bankrupt, they're arguing with their accountant.

It's the Belly Up album cover that I love most, and really captures the band's essence.  On the double-fold cover, they're all trashed in this ratty looking bar.  That's the rowdy Dr. Hook. 

But open the cover and on the inside, they are clearly posing with their mothers (and in at least one case I think a grandmother).  That's the family-loving, down-home side of the band that constitutes what used to be called "redeeming social value".

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show was, is and always will be one of my favorites. 

If you thought they we're only about the bland hits "Only Sixteen" and "A Little Bit More", find these records. 

Revelation is every day if you have any interest in looking for it.

* Bankrupt      ** Belly Up       *** Sloppy Seconds

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**** (Well, okay, okay, maybe "You Make My Pants Wanna Get Up and Dance" was a fun tune.)