![]() Self-parody, or a parody of current teen idol Ricky Nelson. Others have suggested he was indulging in The song was seen as an opportunity for a jokey treatment, and Allison has recalledĪttempting but discarding a James Cagney voice. Buddy Holly sang backing vocals along with vocal trio The Roses. Real Wild Child was recorded in mid-February 1958, soonĪfter returning from Australia, at Norman Petty’s Nor Va Jak Studios in Clovis, New Mexico.Ĭrickets on bass, and session musician Bo Clarke substituting for Allison Jerry Lee Lewis, who also picked up the song, was Jerry Allison heard the song on tour in Australia with Buddy Holly in late January 1958, with Johnny (Tony Watson, email to this website, January 2005)Īllison (middle name Ivan), drummer and songwriter from Buddy Holly’s Crickets. IMHO, is markedly superior to our version, was never issued in Australia… at the time, it did finally appear on a local compilation LP in the 70’s and is nowĬommonly available on various JOK CDs here, including the 3CD JOK set, “The Birth of Australian Rock & Roll”. The Australian music collector, commentator and anthologist Tony Watson points out that this is in fact another take ofįestival liner notes have always put forward that the crowd overdub was the only difference… Ignoring the crowd overdub at the start, both versions have aĭifferent intro and JOK’s vocal on the foreign versions is noticeably wilder than on the EP version issued here… As far as I know, the US/UK single version which, This is often assumed to be a reissue of Wild One that was altered for its release as Real Wild Child, for example by having the Wild One with a different title (taken from the lyrics). Single on Brunswick (USA), B-side on Coral (UK). (Dave Owens - John Greenan - Johnny O'Keefe) Johnny O’Keefe & The Dee Jays - Real Wild Child (1958) The post by Roger Ford includes aĬhronology of the song, with comments by Frankįurther reading/listening: Probe is Turning-on the People! has audio of four Wild One versions including JO’K’s Brunswick release. ![]() Damian Johnstone’s definitive biography The Wild One (2001), pp.54ff. A TV mini-series about his life was made in 1985, Shout! The Story of Johnny He was a pioneer Australian rocker, a chart topping artist in his homeĬountry. Johnny O’Keefe (1935-1978) was known in Australia as The Wild One, The King of Johnny O’Keefe’s 1958 USA & UK singles used The song has often been renamed Real Wild Child or Real Wild Child (Wild One). See the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame’s Spotlight on Tony Windsor. Writer credits on future versions often omit Withers, who later worked in Britain on pirate stations RadioĪtlanta and, as Tony Windsor, Radio London. Johnny O’Keefe later contributed to the development of the song,Īnd Sydney disc jockey Tony Withers was credited to help get radio airplay for the song. The original writers of Wild One were Dave Owens and John Greenan, Deejays saxophonists who drafted the song overĭrinks after a particularly wild concert. Version released in the USA and UK (see below). This version, with overdubbed applause, differs from the (Tony Withers - Dave Owens - John Greenan - Johnny O'Keefe)ĮP on Festival label, Shakin’ At The Stadium. It ends up being a somewhat below-average rootsy rock album, with a pre-stardom Vince Gill on rhythm guitar and backup vocals.Johnny O’Keefe & The Dee Jays - Wild One (1958) So you get middling songs like “Rock’n’Roll Man” and Rodney Crowell’s “One Way Rider” where the guitar soloing far outshines any other aspect of the track. But nothing really sparkles here other than the guitar playing, and even that’s less frequent than Lee fans might like. It was devoted mostly to covers of songs by Rodney Crowell (who also produced), John Hiatt, and Hank DeVito, with a couple of oldies thrown in (the rendition of the Everly Brothers’ (“So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad),” sadly, is sluggish to the point of desultory), and just one Lee original, “Your Boys.” Reliance on outside material isn’t a problem when you’re a good interpreter and you acquire access to good new songs. Though no one questions Albert Lee’s superb guitar skills, he was a far less spectacular singer and frontman on his second solo album. Real Wild Child is a re-release of Albert Lee’s second album with one bonus track.
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