Today’s classic song of the day hails from the summer of 1978 and British-Canadian singer Nick Gilder. The song, released in June of 1978, is “Hot Child in the City” and it went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and, up north, the Canada Top Singles chart.
“Hot Child in the City” was written by Mr. Gilder and his pal James McCulloch. The two played together in the Vancouver-based band, Sweeney Todd, which also included singer Bryan Adams. Gilder went off on a solo career and scored it big with his second album, City Nights, thanks to “Hot Child in the City.” That song, unfortunately, was Gilder’s only big hit, making him a one-hit wonder. (Interestingly, Sweeney Todd had a previous #1 hit in Canada with 1976’s “Roxy Roller.”)
As you might have discovered on your own, “Hot Child in the City” is about a young prostitute hawking her wares on the street. Gilder admitted as much:
“I’ve seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment drove them to distraction so they ran away, only to be trapped by something even worse. It hurts to see that so I tried writing from the perspective of a lecher—in the guise of an innocent pop song.”
Yeah, it was kind of lecherous, wasn’t it?
“Hot Child in the City” took 21 weeks to reach the top position on the charts. That was a record for a record to take the longest amount of time to hit #1; it was worth the wait, however, as the single ultimately went platinum, selling two million copies.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Mr. Nick Gilder himself lip-synching “Hot Child in the City” on the Dutch television program, TopPop. Running wild and looking pretty…
