Out of New Jersey, the rock band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show began gaining traction in the 1970s when they released “Sylvia’s Mother,” written by acclaimed writer Shel Silverstein.
Not many may know that Silverstein’s published works go far beyond childhood favorites like The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic. The acclaimed writer and cartoonist was also a musician and songwriter who penned the track “Sylvia’s Mother” for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.
The track would end up becoming the band’s first hit single, which landed them at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Cash Box. It was also an international success at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and in South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, and Australia. Behind “Sylvia’s Mother” was a very real story of heartbreak that Silverstein experienced between him and a close friend.
Top 2000 a gogo released an interview with Louisa Pandolfi, Sylvia Pandolfi’s mother. She described the inspiration behind the track as having been based around a phone call. Mrs. Pandolfi recalls Silverstein calling their home to talk to her daughter, and Sylvia having broken the news to Silverstein that she was leaving for Mexico to get married. Her daughter ultimately implied that “their friendship was more or less over, and so forth.”
The following day, Mrs. Pandalfi remembers Silverstein calling again and admitted in the interview that she thought the writer “was very much in love” with her daughter. In 1972, Silverstein spoke with Rolling Stone and revealed the story in “Sylvia’s Mother” is exactly as it happened in real life, but with some tweaks.
“I just changed the last name, not to protect the innocent, but because it didn’t fit. It happened about eight years ago and was pretty much the way it was in the song. I called Sylvia and her mother said, ‘She can’t talk to you.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ Her mother said she was packing and she was leaving to get married, which was a big surprise to me. The guy was in Mexico and he was a bullfighter and a painter,” he explained.
For Silverstein, the moment was heartbreak and recalls her saying, “Shel, don’t spoil it,” and thinking, “For about ten seconds I had this ego charge, as if I could have spoiled it. I couldn’t have spoiled it with a sledge hammer.”
When the Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show track was released in 1972, many wondered who Sylvia was. According to SongFacts, Dutch public television producer named Arjan Vlakveld found Mrs. Pandolfi by accident thanks to an acquaintance. He found Sylvia’s phone number and asked if she was the woman in “Sylvia’s Mother,” which led to the interview in the same room where the original phone call occurred.
“A surprising number of people thought it was a parody, but I always saw it as a truly heartbreaking story, and I did my best to portray the anxiety and sadness that I knew that poor guy in the phone booth would be feeling,” said singer Dennis Locorriere.
Related: 1973 Blues Song, With Lyrics by Bob Dylan and Bette Midler, Became a Pop Culture Staple
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