The Troggs - Wild Thing
Wild Thing is a song written by New York City-born songwriter Chip Taylor. Originally recorded by American band The Wild Ones in 1965, "Wild Thing" is best known for its 1966 cover by the English band The Troggs, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1966. The song peaked at No. 2 in Britain.
As performed by The Troggs, "Wild Thing" is ranked #257 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Troggs' version was recorded in mono in one piece on the second take at Olympic Studios, which was then at Carton Street, off Baker Street in London, by engineer Keith Grant.
Because of a distribution dispute, The Troggs' single was available on two competing labels: Atco and Fontana. Because both pressings were taken from the identical master recording, Billboard combined the sales for both releases, making it the only single to simultaneously reach No. 1 for two companies.
On the ATCO label, "Wild Thing" is credited to Reg Presley (Troggs' lead vocalist) and "With a Girl Like You" (its flip side) to Chip Taylor. The author credits are reversed. On the Fontana label, "Wild Thing" is credited to Chip Taylor and the flip contains a different song, "From Home", credited to Reg Presley. The Fontana label credits production to Page One Productions, England, while the ATCO label credits production as "A Larry Page Production, Recorded in England".
Covers
"Wild Thing" has remained popular ever since The Troggs' hit single and has been covered many times:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience gave a dramatic performance of the song, at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The performance was captured in the 1967 documentary Monterey Pop. Hendrix recorded the song live, as heard on the compilation album The Ultimate Experience. Hendrix lit his guitar on fire at the song's finish.
In 1967, the novelty team of Senator Bobby released a version of "Wild Thing". Sung by comedian Bill Minkin in the verbal style of Democratic Senator Bobby Kennedy while a recording engineer is heard giving instructions, the stammering single charted at #20 in the United States. The flip side of the Senator Bobby 45 featured "Senator Everett McKinley" (an impression of Republican Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen) doing the same song; the initial voiceover by the recording engineer encourages Senator Bobby to respond to his "hit single" (the Senator Everett McKinley version also had some radio airplay at the time). The songs were credited to The Hardly-Worthit Players, and the Senator Bobby version was included as a bonus track on reissues of their 1962 Parkway LP called The Hardly-Worthit Report (the rest of the album is a comedic takeoff on the NBC national news broadcast The Huntley-Brinkley Report).
In 1967, The Canadian noise band Nihilist Spasm Band referred to it in the lyrics of their piece "The Sweetest Country This Side of Heaven" (released on a flexi disc in ArtsCanada magazine's August–September 1967 issue, and re-released as a version of "No Canada" on the CD reissue of the album): "Canada! I think I love you/but I wanna know for sure/Canada! Hold me tight/You move me."
The British group Fancy recorded a version of the song in 1974, which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The British comedy troupe The Goodies recorded a version of the song in 1975, including it on the album The New Goodies LP and performing it in "The Goodies Rule – O.K.?" and "The Goodies – Almost Live".
The Muppet character Animal performed this song on the Teresa Brewer episode of The Muppet Show (aired November 19, 1977). The song would later be recorded by Animal, Floyd Pepper, and Kermit the Frog for the 1994 album Kermit Unpigged.
In 1981 the British duo The Creatures recorded a cover version on their EP Wild Things with additional new lyrics; "Wild thing, I think I hate you/but I wanna know for sure/so come on, hit me hard/I hate you".
In 1983 the song was covered by the psychobilly band The Meteors for their Wreckin' Crew album
Australian pub band Cold Chisel covered the song during their Last Stand concert.
Sister Carol performed a reggae song in 1986 with a chorus that incorporated the words "Wild Thing" and contained musical elements from The Trogg's version. The lyrics and music are otherwise unrelated.
The Runaways performed a version of the song on their album Live in Japan. Drummer Sandy West sang lead on the track.
Comedian Sam Kinison recorded a hit novelty version in 1988, with a music video featuring cameos from Rodney Dangerfield as well as many well-known rock musicians including Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Slash and Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses, Billy Idol, Steve Vai, Dweezil Zappa, Sebastian Bach, Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, and Tommy Lee. The video also featured a raunchy "roll on the mat" dance with Jessica Hahn. Kinison's version changed the song to a misogynistic rant against the title subject, with lines such as "Why didn't you tell me you were a demon from Hell" and "The only thing that gets you off is to see me in pain."
A cover by the Los Angeles-based punk band X was used in the 1989 film Major League and its 1994 sequel, Major League II.
The 1991 animated series of the comic book character Swamp Thing had a theme song that parodied "Wild Thing," with the lyrics "Swamp Thing! You are amazing!"
Cheap Trick recorded the song for the soundtrack to Encino Man in 1992, possibly as a tribute to Kinison who had died that year.
The Troggs recorded a new version in 1993, which charted in the lower reaches of the British charts.
Australian rock band Divinyls covered the song in 1993 for the soundtrack to the film Reckless Kelly. It peaked at No. 39 on the Australian Singles Chart.
Hank Williams, Jr. recorded a cover version in 1995 for his album Hog Wild.
The German group Mr. Ed Jumps the Gun recorded a version of the song in 1995 with the title Wild Thang.
Canadian music duo Prozzak, on their 1998 album Hot Show, performed a medley of this and "Poor Boy".
Westlife performed the song on their Where the Dreams Come True Tour (2001).
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed the song on numerous occasions during their Working on a Dream Tour (2009).
Prince interpolated the chorus of the song into his cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover", for the album Lotusflower (2009).
Liz Phair covered this song on her 2010 album Funstyle.
American heavy metal band Chimaira did a cover of the song in 2011, and released it on their official YouTube channel.
The lyrics:
Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Wild thing, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
So come on and hold me tight
I love you
Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Wild thing, I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
So come on and hold me tight
You move me
Wild thing
You make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Come on, come on, wild thing
Shake it, shake it, wild thing
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