I saw in the Guardian on Wednesday that Chip Taylor has died.

Though he was a performer in his own right he is better known as a songwriter; perhaps best remembered for Wild Thing, a song The Troggs had a huge hit with and was then taken up by Jimi Hendrix.  The Troggs later recorded Taylor’s very different Any Way That You Want Me but in the meantime Taylor composed Angel of the Morning,  brought to prominence by Merrilee Rush and later a hit in the UK for P P Arnold.

I must confess that until I read Taylor’s wiki page  I hadn’t realised that he was a brother of actor Jon Voight (and therefore uncle to Angelina Jolie) nor that he had co-written I Can’t Let Go, a UK no. 2 for The Hollies in 1966.

The Hollies: I Can’t Let Go

James Wesley Voight (Chip Taylor): 21/3/1940 – 23/3/2026. So it goes.

I’ve mentioned before that for a short while the Troggs were my favourite band. (We’re all young once.)

This song leans almost entirely to their raunchy side except for the breathiness of the, “Wild Thing, I think I love you/Come on, hold me tight/You move me,” lines and the ocarina solo.

The clip once more puts the lie to the story that until videos came along there were no promotional films for singles. Note the Troggs uniform, stripy jackets and trousers.

Reg Presley would also give David Gray a close run in the strange-movement-of-the-head stakes.

The Troggs: Wild Thing