I heard this a lot when I was a kid. The song was written by Hot Chocolate members Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The song peaked at #22 in the UK in 1970. I also heard the version by April Wine.
You Could’ve Been A Lady was released by Hot Chocolate as a non-album single, the song later appeared on the 2009 reissue of Cicero Park.
While the Hot Chocolate version of “You Could Have Been a Lady,” never charted in the Billboard 100, April Wine, a Canadian rock band, took the song to #32 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada in 1972. A decade later and they would have their biggest American hit with Just Between You and Me.
Both bands did a great job. It’s a good catchy little rock song.
Could Have Been A Lady
You could’ve been all right
You could’ve been here tonight
You could’ve been sweet as wine
You could’ve been a lady
You could’ve been all right
You could’ve been here tonight
You could’ve been sweet as wine
You could’ve been a lady
They all love you, you’re a good girl
When you awake you’ll find another man
Lying beside you
They all need you, they all want you
Well, I’ll be surprised if you realised
Where you’re going to
You could’ve been all right
You could’ve been here tonight
You could’ve been sweet as wine
You could’ve been a lady ….
If I tell you where you’re going to
You’d laugh in my face, I’m out of place
Mind your business
They all want you to make love to
Well, I’ll be surprised if you realised
Where you’re going to
You could’ve been all right
You could’ve been here tonight
You could’ve been sweet as wine
You could’ve been a lady ….
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ….
All right
You could’ve been here tonight
You could’ve been sweet as wine
You could’ve been a lady
…
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
I don’t remember this song by either artist. How strange.
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The big one I remember by Hot Chocolate other than their big hit “You Sexy Thing” is Every 1’s A Winner…this one my sister played…she must have had the album.
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I remember You Sexy Thing and Emma, which I really liked. I’d forgotten about Every 1’s a Winner.
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We took a vacation in Panama City around 10 years ago and that song came on the radio…didn’t hear the artist’s name and I remembered it from childhood. I couldn’t hear the lyrics…took me months to find who did it.
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I remember Emma too, love that track and now have it on a Rhino 70s compilation, but I think few of us do.
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Well, you taught me something! I never knew this was a Hot chocolate tune! Being Canadian, I remember the April Wine version well from my childhood (offbeat trivia – one of the guys from that band owned a fish & chips shop in my hometown for a while in the ’90s or early-00s) but thought it was an original! Cool to know it was HC. I do know Hot Chocolate were huge in the UK for years and really onlyknown for about 2 songs over here.
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I know them most for Every 1’s A Winner and You Sexy Thing…they had another hit that I haven’t heard as much…Emma
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The usual average product à la Hot Chocolate.
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One thing I can say about them…they had a different guitar tone than most of their peers. It was a guitar but it sounded like a synth and guitar doubling the riffs almost…especially in Every 1’s a Winner.
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I vaguely remember this and I didn’t know April Wine did it.
I have Every 1’s A Winner on my phone playlist. Love the guitar riffs.
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Yea I love that riff also…I’ve already covered it…or I would have done that one today.
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Never heard this one. I always kind of think of them as a guilty pleasure band – some nice tunes, but not super substantial.
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The best thing I can say about them is they had a different guitar tone than most of their peers…it stands out in Every 1’s a Winner
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It’s very cutting, right? Almost like a horn section.
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Yes it is…When I re-found the song I thought it was a synth only at first but it was a guitar…probably with an early effect.
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I never knew it was covered! Hot Choc are still one of my fave 70’s bands, they had UK hit singles every year for 15 consecutive years, because they were essentially genre-defying, cool, multi-racial at a time when that was a thing, Errol Brown was a huge draw…and the songs were great. They weren’t picked up by Apple Records for nothing, and I guess most people in the US had no idea that Brother Louie was their song. The Stories version was fine, but theirs was better.
They could do ballads (Love Is Life, I Believe (In Love), So You Win Again, It Started With A Kiss), soul (Rumours, Louie), funkrock/disco (Sexy Thing, Every 1’s A Winner, Don’t Stop It Now, Disco Queen), theatrical/world/dark/sci-fi music (Put Your Love In Me, I’ll Put You Together Again, Emma, No Doubt About It) and pop (Girl Crazy, What Kind Of Boy) and much more. US radio had no idea what to do with them, UK radio didn’t care what genre they were – the good stuff got airplay, the public bought it.
Want social commentary, songs about aliens, childhood romance, sex, deaths of actresses, positivity, lost love, kicking out a band-member (but with love), then look no further 🙂
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I heard them on AM radio as a kid. Every 1’s A Winner, Sexy Thing, and this one a lot. I’ve always been a fan of them. My sister had many of their singles so I got to know them quite well.
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