Iggy Pop – Real Wild Child (Wild One)

This is probably the first song I remember by Iggy Pop back in the 80s.

This song was originally recorded by Australian rocker Johnny O’Keefe with The Deejays in 1958 as “Wild One.” Deejays saxophonists Johnny Greenan and Dave Owens drafted the song over drinks after a particularly wild concert and Johnny O’Keefe later chipped in.

The song was an immediate hit and made Johnny O’Keefe the first Australian rocker to reach the national charts.  Iggy Pop covered it for his Blah Blah Blah album. Released as a single, it became his only UK Top 10 hit.

The song peaked at #1 in New Zealand, #10 in the UK, #65 in Canada, and #27 in the Mainstream Rock Billboard Charts.

The album Blah Blah Blah peaked at #75 in the Billboard Album Charts, #61 in Canada, #43 in the UK, and #19 in New Zealand in 1986.

 

From Songfacts

Johnny O’Keefe (1935-1978) was a pioneering Australian Rock singer whose career began in the 1950s and ended with his early death in the late 1970s of barbiturate poisoning. Often referred to by his nickname, “The Wild One,” O’Keefe was the first Australian Rock star.

The lyrics are about youngsters wanting to be cool and wild.

In Australia this has been used as the theme music for the ABC’s all-night music video show Rage for over 20 years.

Iggy Pop’s version has featured in the movies Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Problem Child 2 (1991).

A cover by Christopher Otcasek featured in Pretty Woman (1989). Other cover versions include “Real Wild Child” by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts (1993), “Wild One” by Status Quo (2003) and Christian pop band Everlife’s “Real Wild Child,” which appears as the theme song in Disney’s The Wild (2006). >>

This is Kesha’s favorite song. She told Spinmagazine: “It’s the last song I play before I walk onstage and the first song I play when I get off stage. It always gets me going.”

Real Wild Child (Wild One)

Well I’m just outta school
Like I’m real real cool
Gotta dance like a fool
Got the message that I gotta be
A wild one
Ooh yeah I’m a wild one

Gotta break it loose
Gonna keep ’em movin’ wild
Gonna keep a swingin’ baby
I’m a real wild child

Gonna met all muh friends
Gonna have our self a ball
Gonna tell my friends
Gonna tell them all
That I’m a wild one
Ooh yeah I’m a wild one

Gotta break it loose
Gonna keep ’em movin’ wild
Gonna keep a swingin’ baby
I’m a real wild child

I’m a real wild one
An’ I like a wild fun
In a world gone crazy
Everything seems hazy
I’m a wild one
Ooh yeah I’m a wild one

Gotta break it loose
Gonna keep ’em movin’ wild
Gonna keep a swingin’ baby
I’m a real wild child

I’m a wild one
I’m a wild one
I’m a wild one
Oh baby
I’m a wild one

Gotta break it loose
Gonna keep ’em movin’ wild
Gonna keep a swingin’ baby
I’m a real wild child

 

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

27 thoughts on “Iggy Pop – Real Wild Child (Wild One)”

  1. I adore Iggy. I’m currently reading a biography, “Gimme Danger,” and discovering much I didn’t know about his background. I am oddly fond of “Blah Blah Blah” as a whole, but admit that this was my favorite track. Thanks!

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    1. I didn’t know either…I do though faintly remember Jerry Lee Lewis doing it but I had forgotton about it.

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  4. Great song. Great cover. Lust for Life was my first foray into Iggy Pop. From their I checked out The Stooges. Really, really good stuff. Gross looking guy though. Didn’t age well at all. So what, he’s got a decent body…even at that, he’s too veiny and sinewy.

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    1. Yea he is unusual looking…I told someone else I thought he was Mick Jagger at one time as a kid…I don’t know why. Yea the Stooges stuff is raw rock which I like. I want to look at more though.

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  5. I’m not used to seeing Iggy with a shirt/jacket on. His bare upper half is part of his costume. Straight up rock n roll and can see where that generic quality to it can be used in lots of movie scenes.

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