“I myself do not believe in explaining anything.”
- Shel Silverstein
Here's a dandy bit of music trivia. On this day in 1973, the band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show wound up on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine after their hit, The Cover of the Rolling Stone reached No. 6 on the US singles chart.
It was Dr. Hooks highest charting song except for Sylvia's Mother which reached #2 in 1972. Both contain anachronisms central to their story . The first is about magazines, which hardly anyone reads any longer. The second involves a payphone. For anyone under 30, a payphone is as relevant as a telegraph. Anyway, here's the trivia: Both of those songs were written by poet, cartoonist and songwriter, Shel Silverstein. Most people would recognize him, if at all, by his children's books like The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. As previously mentioned here, he also wrote Johnny Cash's hit song, A Boy Named Sue.
If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in, come in.
- Shel Silverstein