Little Willy (song)

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"Little Willy"
Little Willy.jpg
Single by The Sweet
from the album The Sweet
B-side"Man from Mecca"
Released19 May 1972 (UK)
September 1972 (US)
Recorded1972
Genre
Length3:13
LabelRCA (UK)
Bell (US & Canada)[5]
Songwriter(s)Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman
Producer(s)Phil Wainman
The Sweet singles chronology
"Poppa Joe"
(1972) 		"Little Willy"
(1972) 		"Wig-Wam Bam"
(1972)

"Little Willy" is a song written by songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and performed by the British glam rock band The Sweet, released in 1972 as a non-album single in the UK, peaking at #4 in the best seller charts. It was released in the US in September 1972[6] and also appeared on their US debut album The Sweet and became their biggest hit in the US, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.[7] Billboard ranked it as the No. 18 song for 1973.

In a retrospective review of glitter rock, Bomp! noted that although rock music journalists almost uniformly "loathed it", the song was a huge commercial success and "helped launch the essential glitter rock formula sound".[8]

"Little Willy" was used extensively in the pilot of the television series Life on Mars.

Chart performance[]

Personnel[]

"Little Willy"[]

"Man from Mecca"[]

Cover versions[]

  • Finnish singer Kirka sang a Finnish version called Pikku veli.
  • Poison recorded a cover version of "Little Willy" as the opening track to their 2007 covers album Poison'd!.
  • Bob Rivers recorded a parody called "Little Billy's Willy", about President Bill Clinton and the Lewinsky scandal.

References[]

  1. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal?s Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-62788-375-7.
  2. ^ Sendra, Tim. "Golden Groups & Glitter Sounds - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  3. ^ Cantwell, David (4 November 1998). "Power Pop It Ain't". MTV News. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  4. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Sweet | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  5. ^ "The Sweet - Little Willy". Discogs. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  6. ^ Little Willy / Man from Mecca (US) - 45cat
  7. ^ "Little Willy by Sweet". Songfacts. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  8. ^ Barnes, Ken (March 1978). "The Glitter Era: Teenage Rampage". Bomp!. Retrieved 25 January 2019 – via Rock's Backpages.
  9. ^ http://www.dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp%3Fcat%3Ds&prev=search
  10. ^ http://www.dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp%3Fcat%3Ds&prev=search
  11. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  12. ^ http://www.dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp%3Fcat%3Ds&prev=search
  13. ^ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  14. ^ http://www.dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp%3Fcat%3Ds&prev=search
  15. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  16. ^ http://www.dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp%3Fcat%3Ds&prev=search
  17. ^ "UK Official Charts". Official Charts Company. 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  18. ^ "Hot 100: The Sweet". Billboard. 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  19. ^ Canada, Library and Archives (December 26, 2017). "Image : RPM Weekly".
  20. ^ "Top Selling Singles for 1973". Sounds. London, England: Spotlight Publications: 4. 5 January 1974.
  21. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1973/Top 100 Songs of 1973". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 20 October 2015.

External links[]

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