Hot Child in the City

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"Hot Child in the City"
Hot Child in the City Nick Glider.jpg
Single by Nick Gilder
from the album City Nights
B-side "Backstreet Noise"
ReleasedJune 12, 1978
RecordedOctober 1977
Genre
Length3:09 (Single Version)
3:35 (Album Version)
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)

"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 No. 1 both in Canada (October 14, 1978) and in the United States (October 28, 1978). It was not his first No. 1 single: as the lead singer of Sweeney Todd, he had hit No. 1 in Canada on June 26, 1976 (in the RPM listing) with the single "Roxy Roller", which remained at the top for three weeks. [2] [3] [4] 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 weeks to reach No. 1 at the time, taking 21 weeks to reach the summit. The song became a platinum record.

Contents

Content

Despite the song's innocent and catchy pop stylings, the tune is based on Gilder's experiences witnessing child prostitution in Los Angeles. "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." [5]

Chart history

Award successions

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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