Sylvia's Mother" is a 1972 single by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show and the group's first hit song. It was written by Shel Silverstein, produced by Ron Haffkine and was highly successful in the United States, reaching #5 on the Billboard singles chart (tied with "Sexy Eyes" from the album Sometimes You Win for the band's best performing song),[1] as well as #2 in the United Kingdom. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Australian music charts,[2] making it the 15th ranked single in Australia for 1972; and also reached #1 in South Africa, where it was the 3rd ranked song for the year, and in New Zealand. The song spent 7 consecutive weeks at #1 in Ireland on the Irish Singles Chart.[3] It appeared on the group's first album, Dr. Hook.