B-side "West of Tomorrow" Label Liberty Records | Released August 1970 | |
Genre Jazz fusion, psychedelic rock Length 6:53 (album version)
5:58 (single version #1)
2:58 (single version #2)
3:33 (single version #3) Writer(s) Jerry Corbetta, J.C. Phillips & David Riordan | ||
"Green-Eyed Lady" is a popular single by the 1970s rock band Sugarloaf. Written by band member Jerry Corbetta along with J.C. Phillips and David Riordan, the song was featured on the band's debut album, Sugarloaf, and was the band's first single. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 and was RPM Magazine's number one single for two weeks. It remains the band's most popular song, according to the Last.fm rankings. It has been featured on dozens of compilation albums.
Contents
Single versions
The original single release was a 5:58 version with no edits but an early fadeout, almost immediately after the last verse. This was later trimmed down to 2:58 (for radio airplay only) in which the entire organ and guitar solos are edited out. When "Green-Eyed Lady" started climbing the charts, the single was reworked one last time to include a shortened piece of the organ/guitar break; this became the common 3:33 version used by radio stations today. Aside from other minor edits, the two shorter tracks begin with the opening's third bar and also end with early fadeouts. All three versions were released under the same catalog number (Liberty 56183).
Critical reception
The song received generally positive reviews. One reviewer called the song "jazzy and memorable", while John Laycock of the Windsor Star called it a "bewitching single".
In popular culture
Four years later, Sugarloaf described the process of recording the song and selling it to the recording industry (namely the failed attempt to get CBS Records to distribute the record) in its song "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You," which also became a hit.
The song is featured in the 1997 comedy film Home Alone 3, starring Alex D. Linz and Rya Kihlstedt.
Cover versions
The song has been covered by Pat Travers, Lifeunderwater and My Sister's Machine.
San Francisco experimental rock band Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 released a version of the song on their 1991 album Lovelyville.
It was also sampled by Jordan Knight for his song, "A Different Party".