How The Hollies Wrote 'Long Cool Woman' While Day-Drinking—and Got Sued for It

Coming up next... Tipsy from some serious ‘day-drinking,’ two members of one of England’s premier bands, The Hollies, composed a song about the Prohibition Era when alcohol was illegal. Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress was a rock epic that evolved into a mystery about a beautiful woman in a sexy dress. The Hollies purposely mimicked Elvis’s sound on the song using a vocal effect to give it some pop. It became the band’s biggest hit in the States, as well as one of the most played songs in classic rock radio history. But then The Hollies got sued for plagiarizing the song. But they didn’t get sued by ELVIS who they were deliberately trying to sound like… They got sued by a rival band Creedence Clearwater Revival. Then they found out that the song was used by the FBI on their two-way wrist radio to solve crimes. Find out what happened to the band next on Professor of Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.