Wild Willy Barrett

Is this man Jesus or what? Find if you will a man who had mastered every stringed instrument given to him by the age of 7. Since then he has recorded everything from reggae to country rock, created a unique wood-working style and gotten back together with a sado-masochistic punk a dozen times.


 * 1979: Call of the Wild
 * 1980: Krazy Kong (Demo) Album
 * 1986: Organic Bondage
 * 1991: Mound of Sound
 * 1995: Open Toed And Flapping


 * Call Back: The bit at the end of Moose Loose Kicking from Organic Bondage reprises the melody of Shot of Redeye. I'm In Love Again also seems to do this but less evidently.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Creator In-Joke: A Shot of Redeye. Red Eye Records. Hmm...
 * Death by Sex / Femme Fatale: The protagonist in Late Night Lady almost dies after encountering the antagonist; a prostitute. He returns to her the next night
 * Indecipherable Lyrics: Drink To Me Only is sped up to twice its speed and it is incredibly difficult to understand what's being said without slowing 'em down.
 * Kongcept Album: Krazy Kong. At least the Kong tracks are. The Other Wiki has an article with an interpretation of the lyrics.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The Late Show. "And the mixing desk is picking up the radio" There is a live video where during that line, a radio is pulled out on a cord. It is of course quite loud and makes the point about electronic interference being bad.
 * Protagonist: Krazy Kong. And a bit of an Anti-Hero if the opinion of the men in the town are anything to go by. Probably employs some of them by Kong and the Soup Dragon!!
 * Shout-Out: Kong and the Soup Dragon is a very obvious nod to The Clangers' character The Soup Dragon. The song even mentions the protagonist Kong traveling on a spacecraft of some kind. I wonder where to?...
 * Singing Simlish: The Kong Scat on Return of Kong.
 * Studio Chatter: During the b-side; Nice To Know You're My Friend, Willy says "Can we do the ending again?" then "I know it's shit"
 * Supporting Harem: In Krazy Kong the Protagonist Krazy Kong has a "harem by his side" when his visits the dance-hall on a Friday
 * The Man Behind the Man: Willy is this to John Otway. Subverted since Otway wrote the pair's only hit.
 * The Writer Behind the Musician
 * Organic Bondage's tracks were written by criminally obscure songwriter Eddie Stanton. These were 'arranged' by Barrett who proceeded to add a writing credit before Stanton's name.
 * The best tracks on Call of the Wild were written by also criminally obscure songwriters Mike Gatton and Ken Murray. The distinctive guitar hook on "Late Night Lady" was provided by Roy Hurley. Though the bass part at the end of "Temptation" is Barrett's
 * Throw It In:
 * The cooler than cool bass riff at the end of "Temptation" seems to of been improvised at the last minute. Barrett fluffs a note as if working out how to end it.
 * During "Tales From the Raj" on Organic Bondage, Barrett fluffs "She was standing there where-ho-a-um-th-a-um-there looking out of place" then laughs as he says "The only sign of life..." The already complex rhythm changes to accommodate this. God, Barrett must be really talented to work like that.