Your classic early ’70s pop song with a banjo by a Canadian band of the day is “Sweet City Woman” by the Stampeders. This one-hit wonder was released in May of 1971 and went to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #5 on the Easy Listening chart). Not surprisingly, it hit #1 on all the Canadian charts.
“Sweet City Woman” is a song about a country boy traveling to the city to be with his, well, sweet city woman. Being from Canada, the lyrics even include a little section in French:
Bon, c’est bon, bon, bon, c’est bon, bon
Bon, c’est bon, bon, bon, bon, bon
Bon, c’est bon, bon, bon, c’est bon, bon
Bon, c’est bon, bon, bon, bon, bon
This roughly translates to “Good, it’s good, good, good, it’s good good,” etc
The Stampeders were a trio (Rich Dodson on vocals and guitar, Ronnie King on bass, and Kim Berly on drums) from Calgary in Alberta. They got together way back in 1964 with two other members as the Rebounds; over the years they shed members and changed names. “Sweet City Woman,” a track off their debut album, was their only U.S. hit. They had several other Canadian-only hits, including 1976’s “Hit the Road Jack” with guest Wolfman Jack. The group broke up in 1979.
By the way, the summer of 1971 was a great time for pop music. The week that “Sweet City Woman” peaked on the chart, the rest of Billboard’s top ten looked like this:
- “Maggie May”/”Reason to Believe” (Rod Stewart)
- “Superstar”/”Bless the Beasts and the Children” (Carpenters
- “Yo-Yo” (The Osmonds)
- “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” (Cher—a previous classic song of the day)
- “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (Joan Baez)
- “Do You Know What I Mean” (Lee Michaels)
- “Go Away Little Girl” (Donny Osmond)
- “Sweet City Woman” (Stampeders)
- “Theme from Shaft” (Isaac Hayes)
- “If You Really Love Me” (Stevie Wonder)
If you ignore the Osmond infestation, that’s a pretty good list!
