Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress - The Hollies {HD}

"Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" (also called "Long Cool Woman" or "Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)") is a song written by Allan Clarke, Roger Cook, and Roger Greenaway and performed by the British rock group The Hollies. Originally appearing on the album Distant Light, it was released as a single in April 1972 (on Parlophone in the United Kingdom), selling 1.5 million copies in the United States and two million worldwide. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1972. Billboard ranked it as the No. 24 song for 1972. On the day "Long Cool Woman" was recorded at AIR Studios, the group's producer, Ron Richards, was ill and, as a result, the song was produced by the group. The song is different from most Hollies songs in that there are no three-part vocal harmonies, and the song features lead guitar and lead vocal work by Allan Clarke. Upon his return, Ron Richards mixed the recording. The song was written in the swamp rock style of Creedence Clearwater Revival, in terms of the vocal, rhythm, and melodic style. It came out in the spring of 1972 (the same year Creedence split up). Clarke imitated John Fogerty's vocal style, which was based on the Creedence song "Green River". According to Clarke, the song was written "in about five minutes". When the song made its mark in America, Clarke had already left the band, but Clarke feels that "it wasn't unfortunate", since he had co-written the song. Clarke rejoined the Hollies in the summer of 1973, partly due to the success of this song. This contains one of the classic indecipherable lyrics in rock history. The part after "She was a long cool woman in a black dress" is "Just a 5' 9" beautiful tall." The Distant Light album was out for a year before this song was released as a single. Before the single was released, lead singer Allan Clarke left the group, replaced by Swedish singer Michael Rickfors. After "Long Cool Woman" became a hit in the US, Clarke rethought his solo career and came back. The group released one album with Rickfors, which did not sell well. On the charts, this was a rare miss in the UK, where the Hollies were from and where they had their greatest success. It was surprising, however, how well it did in the US. This is the only Hollies single without any backing vocals. The reason why Clarke is the only singer on this record is that he didn't intended the song to be released on a Hollies album, but as a record of his own. When the band learned that he intended to do a solo recording, Clarke was issued an ultimatum - he could either remain with The Hollies or pursue a solo career, but not both. Clarke told Rolling Stone in 1973: "I think with me the band feared that if I got a hit I'd leave. How can you stop destiny? Now, if they originally agreed, I might not even have left. 'Long Cool Woman' would have been released a year earlier, and we'd have done a few tours of the States and maybe would have been really big." Clarke wrote this song with the Brittish songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. Cook and Greenaway also wrote "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" by The New Seekers.