Hot Child in the City

"Hot Child in the City"
Single by Nick Gilder
from the album City Nights
B-side "Backstreet Noise"
Released June 12, 1978
Format 7" single
Recorded October 1977
Genre Pop
Length 3:33
Label Chrysalis
Songwriter(s) Nick Gilder, James McCulloch
Producer(s) Mike Chapman
Nick Gilder singles chronology
"Here Comes the Night"
(1978)
"Hot Child in the City"
(1978)
"She's One of the Boys"
(1979)

"Here Comes the Night"
(1978)
"Hot Child in the City"
(1978)
"She's One of the Boys"
(1979)

"Hot Child in the City" is a song by English-Canadian musician Nick Gilder. It was released in June 1978 as a single from the album City Nights. It went to #1 both in Canada (October 14, 1978) and in the United States (October 28, 1978). It was not his first #1 single: as the lead singer of Sweeney Todd, he had hit #1 in Canada on June 26, 1976 (in the RPM listing) with the single "Roxy Roller", which remained at the top for three weeks.[1][2][3] He won 2 Juno Awards in Canada and a People's Choice Award in the US. According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits it held the record for taking the longest amount of time to reach #1. The song became a platinum record.

Content

Despite the song's innocent and catchy pop stylings, the tune is based on Gilder's experiences witnessing child prostitution. "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."[4]

Cover versions

The song was covered by London on their 1990 album Playa Del Rock. Mac McCaughan of Superchunk and singer-songwriter Kelly Hogan performed a version of the song in August 2013 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover: Summer Break series.[5]

Chart history

See also

References

  1. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  2. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  3. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  4. Hot Child In The City
  5. "Mac McCaughan and Kelly Hogan cover Nick Gilder". Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  6. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. "Charts.nz – Nick Gilder – Hot Child in the City". Top 40 Singles.
  8. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, November 4, 1978
  9. "Top 200 Singles of '78 – Volume 30, No. 14, December 30 1978". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  10. "End of Year Charts 1978". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  11. Musicoutfitters.com
  12. Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 30, 1978


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.