Wildwood Weed
1974 single by Jim Stafford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Wildwood Weed" is a 1964 country-western parody song written by Don Bowman. It was the first track of Bowman's debut album, Our Man in Trouble..."It Only Hurts When I Laugh", under RCA Victor. Its most famous version was recorded in 1974 by Jim Stafford and became the fourth of four U.S. Top 40 singles from his eponymous debut album. Musically, the song takes its inspiration from the Carter Family's recording "Wildwood Flower". While the Carters' version is a song, as performed by Bowman, Stafford and The New Lost City Ramblers in concert, the new lyrics are spoken rather than sung.
| "Wildwood Weed" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
One of US reissues (Polydor) | ||||
| Single by Jim Stafford | ||||
| from the album Jim Stafford | ||||
| B-side | "The Last Chant" | |||
| Released | July 1974 | |||
| Length | 2:38 | |||
| Label | MGM Records | |||
| Songwriter | Don Bowman | |||
| Producers | P. Gernhard and Roland Kent LaVoie | |||
| Jim Stafford singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
The song is a story about farmers, two brothers, who take a sudden interest in a common wildflower on their farm and discover, after one of them begins chewing a piece, its enjoyable hallucinogenic and mind-altering properties. They begin to cultivate the plant in earnest; however, federal agents raid their farm and destroy their crop. Nevertheless, the men are unfazed because they have saved a supply of seeds, overlooked by the agents. Despite the song's popularity, some AM radio stations banned it because of the references to marijuana.
Chart performance
"Wildwood Weed" reached number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number five on Cash Box[1] and number three on the Canadian pop singles chart.[2] It was a crossover hit onto the Adult Contemporary charts of both nations (reaching number two in Canada),[3] as well as the U.S. Country chart.
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
