This is what happens when I'm stuck indoors because it's raining on Memorial Day weekend. Heh, heh! I was reading the comment thread on an article by a Gather friend regarding a very oddly-drawn old postcard, and some in the comment thread decided to pen captions for the thing. One of the commenters put in the words to "Wild Thing", and later I commented that I wondered if I had an mp3 version of that. I went to look; I don't. But it got me to wondering, and I did a YouTube crawl to see what I could find.
Of course, many of us old fogies remember when this hit the charts sung by The Troggs back in 1966 (yes, chillun', we're going back to ancient times!):
A year later Jimi Hendrix created rock 'n' roll legend with his performance of the tune at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival:
Do you know who originally wrote the song? Hmmm... I didn't think so. His name is Chip Taylor, the stage name of James Wesley Voight. Yup, Jon Voight's brother. As Chip Taylor he's had quite a career as a songwriter. Not only did he write "Wild Thing", he also wrote "Angel of the Morning" (I fell in love with Merilee Rush when she sang this and made a hit of it) and a slew of Country hits sung by people like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Juice Newton, and Emmylou Harris. He also had a sort of performing career, but it really kicked in later in his life, when he met vocalist and fiddler Carrie Rodriguez at the 2001 South by Southwest in Austin, TX. And that brings us to the last video. This is Chip and Carrie, along with bassist Alan Bradbury, performing "Wild Thing" with a bit of a Cajun twist at The Louisiana Musicians Hurricane Benefit Concert, November 13, 2005 at historic Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet in Cranston, RI. Yup, right up the road from me, but I wasn't there. Sadly. Anyhow...
I hope you've all enjoyed this little musical archaeology excursion!
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Comments: 16
Wild Thing is one of those songs that holds up over a long time. I remember when it was thought to be a bit risque, and The Troggs were sort of "psychedelic." They look like a group of alter boys in retrospect. Thanks for the info. Now every time I hear Wild Thing I'll think of you, Roy!
thanks roy. i loved the last one.
Vicky, my Mom freaked out when she heard The Troggs singing this! I can imagine what she'd have thought if she could've seen Jimi do his number on it.
CC, so did I. I had no idea who wrote the song (except I thought maybe somebody in The Troggs probably did), and when I did the digging this afternoon, I found this. And found out that he was a fairly prolific country songwriter. Now that I think of it, "Angel of the Morning" definitely leans toward country even with Merilee Rush's version, but Juice Newton brought it all the way into Nashville! And doesn't Carrie Rodriguez's fiddle really bring a Cajun flavor to "Wild Thing"? I almost expected somebody in the audience to yodel "aaaaaaaayeeee! Etoile!"
Speaking of "Angel of the Morning", I found the Merilee Rush version and the Juice Newton version. yup, that made my day!
My memory of Angel of the Morning lyrics keeps going off the rails into lines like: Just brush my teeth before you leave me baby.
I grew up with the Juice Newton version -- you just brought back a fond memory. Thanks!
Also, I fell head over heels for Carrie Rodriguez's Seven Angels on a Bicycle last summer after hearing her sing on "A Prairie Home Companion" -- I highly recommend it for anyone who likes unconventional country music.
I like the fiddle-enhanced version, too.
great post
I played all versions of "Wild Thing"... thanks for the fun musical interlude to my day!
I've always associated "Wild Thing" with the comedy movie my grandson used to watch a lot called Major League, a fictionalized story about the Cleveland Indians. It starred Charlie Sheen as a pitcher for the baseball team. "Wild Thing" was his theme song.
I have decided I liked Merilee's version more than Juice's... I guess I like the high notes she attained, compared to the more mellow rendition that Juice preferred.
I grew up in that era ,also Roy. Of course knew the Troggs and Jimi Hendrix ,but had never heard or seen this version. He was incredible with that guitar! What a waste of talent and a shame he left so soon!Also didn't know about Chip Taylor, and loved that version of Wild Thang with Carrie Rodriguez. Thanks .
It rained down there significantly yesterday? It only rained briefly in the morning here. I was out in the garden all day.
Thanks everybody!
Peregrine, that and "Louie, Louie". Heh, heh!
Charles, it rained here in the morning. I had been planning to hike up the train tracks, but the rain put it off, and then I was notified that a book I had on hold at the library was ready for pick-up, plus I needed to do some minor grocery shopping. So my hike plans got set aside, and this article came to be.
I well remember Angel in the Morning. had no idea it was written by John Voigt's brother, Chip Taylor. Now I'll have to go listen to them all. Thanks.
Speaking of Memorial Day, we watched the concert last night. It was one of the best over the lat 20 years.
Love Hendrix's version...he was just incredible. As for Angel of the Morning....Dad sent that to me when I was a first year teacher in Alaska (St. Mary's Mission High chool)....and we would end the dances with it.
Think I'll go find "Angel of the Morning" on Utube right now.