Top forty radio in the early 1970s was host to a slew of one-hit wonders. Case in point, today’s classic early ’70s song of the day, “Sweet Mary” by a group called Wadsworth Mansion. The single, released in October of 1970, peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Cash Box Top 100.
The song was a catchy little number about a soldier in Vietnam who finds out that his girlfriend back home is going to have a baby. That’s reflected in the very first verse:
Sweet Mary sent a letter to me
She said to hurry home
I need you home right away
Mike Jablecki, the band’s drummer, recalled how his brother Steve recorded a demo of the song he wrote and what happened next:
“He sent out demos. They heard that tune and they said like, ‘That’s it, let’s call this guy.’ My brother Steve hitch-hiked to New York and sang the lead. There were studio musicians involved… It became a hit record, and then Steve formed the band, and then we went out and toured. It was fun, in certain ways it was frightening, in certain ways it was just enjoyable. It was great.”
Hailing from Rumford, Rhode Island, Wadsworth Mansion (also known as the Wadsworth Family Mansion) took their name from the real Wadsworth Mansion in Long Hill, Connecticut. They released one album and a handful of singles, with only “Sweet Mary” charting. The band broke up in mid-1972 after losing all their instruments in a flood resulting from Tropical Storm Agnes.
And that’s pretty much all I know about “Sweet Mary” and Wadsworth Mansion.
