This tale of a government agent and a femme fatale 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 (another founding member, Graham Nash, left in 1968). 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, Romany in 1972, before Clarke took back his position.
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.
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