"Sweet City Woman", Early '70's guilty pleasure song of mine

Love it. Still have my original Bell single somewhere.

 

How can you not sing along to Daybreak??

 

Yeah, this one’s a guilty pleasure for sure, but pleasure nonetheless. I remember this from whenI was very, very little and hearing it on AM radio. All. The. Time. But even back then, I liked it too. It just screams “70s,” but in a good way.

This one gets played on Sirius XM’s “The Bridge” channel fairly often. Mellow Classic Rock, with a definite emphasis on the ‘70s.

I can usually play that channel for long periods of time and enjoy the offerings, but, eventually they throw in a Christopher Cross, or Stephen Bishop or something that’s just too sappy for me and I’ve gotta change the channel. They could also stand to expand their playlists beyond the same handful of songs from their core artists. But maybe dial back the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and (of all people) Ambrosia and Seals & Crofts a bit.

Still, it’s great to hear a fun old song like “Sweet City Woman” any time it comes on.

 

On August 8th 1971, "Sweet City Woman" by the Stampeders entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #83; and on October 17th, 1971 it peaked at #8 {for 1 week} and spent 14 weeks on the Top100...And on August 7th, 1971 it reached #1 {for 3 weeks} on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles chart...The trio had two other Top 100 records; "Devil Woman" {peaked at #61 in 1972} and "Hit the Road Jack" with Wolfman Jack {reached #40 in 1976}.

The early '70s were a fertile time for good "one hit wonders" like this.

 

I have a couple of their Canadian label LPs; for some reason I haven't run across them too often. I've run across The Bells and Painter more. Wild Eyes is my favorite, it was on a K-Tel LP we had growing up. I'm sure I remember them doing it on tv back then, but might've been on a U.S. show. I'm pretty sure they were from Calgary. Painter was from Edmonton.

 

I was 11 and I HATED it! And there was no escape. It saturated Canadian radio for weeks. I'm fine with it now, but man, then was a different story

 

A reminder of my days spent listening to CKLW. Always dug this song.

 

One of their Canada-only hits, a big favorite of mine:

 

I was around 5 or 6 when this was on the radio, and I liked it. I don't know any of their other songs.

Early 70s top 40 radio was great.

 

Rhino's entire "Have A Nice Day" series is dominated by songs with this chord progression all the way up through volume 14. Arguably, it all began with two other Canadian hit singles ("Snowbird" and "Which Way Ya Goin' Billy").

 

Never heard that one before. The funny thing is both that and "Sweet City Woman" sound quintessentially '70s to me, but they also sound like two completely different bands!

 

My wife's favorite era of music is probably the New Wave of the '80s, yet SCW is one of her all-time favorite songs. It does have a killer hook, and neat instrumentation.

 

I absolutely love "Sweet City Woman"! It's one of a ĺong string of radio hits from that era that bring back delicious memories of being a ten year old without a care in the world.

 

Another Canadian hit, "Then Came the White Man"

 

And their first hit... always like this, "Carry Me"

 

Sweet City Woman is the Canadian answer to Sugar Sugar by the Archies. It's probably alright on its own merits but it's been massively overplayed to where 99% of Canadians are sick of it (I should think).

Looking over the thread I can see that most of their other hits were worse, especially Wild Eyes and Devil You.

Oh My Lady on the other hand is a pretty song and my favourite, followed by Minstrel Gypsy.

 

That was just great to see!

 

Well, one would think, right!?! My wife rarely sings along when I play Manilow, although she will sometimes duet with me on the great "I Don't Want To Walk Without You", once it gets into that classic "32 or more Barry and Ron Dante background harmonies", if she's in the mood, LOL, which please me to no end!

 

As a 30+ year radio personality, now doing part-time talk radio, I would absolutely love to have a nearby radio station to work at and play this type of music, as I know that there is still an audience out there for this music, especially among the fifty other stations which play nothing but endless Bruno Mars, Country and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

 

The last few days i've been listening to Early in the Morning and Hitchin' a Ride by Vanity Fare.[can't get them out of my mind!]

 

Wasn't much banjo led music in the top 40. Great song and quite unique for the time. I still sing along.

 

I was bouncing between CK and WKNR.

 

Nice little blast from the past. It’s basically an irresistible pop song. Those guys looked pretty happy to have their one-hit it looks like it served them well.

Thanks for the link it was fun.

 

I make that same drive often, from Columbus to Philly...that last 3 hours on 70 heading west is brutal!

 

Always liked this song. Even though a few of my friends then didn't think it was "hip"
They probably liked it too.