It’s funny how local radio stations will change how songs are remembered. When I hear Wet Willie’s band name I think of one song…Keep on Smiling. When I posted that song a while ago…some did not know it but they knew this song. We did hear this song but to tell you the truth…until Dave told me it was Wet Willie a few years ago doing this song Weekend…I would have never known.
When I posted about them before…I’ll say the same thing. First, let’s get this out of the way… wet–willy. Noun. (plural wet willies) (slang) A prank whereby a saliva-moistened finger is inserted into an unsuspecting person’s ear, often with a slight twisting motion… Oh yes…I’ve given them and have been on the receiving end. When you are 12 given wet willies were a lot of fun….oh wait…that was yesterday!
Wet Willie began as a blues-rock band during the Summer of 1969 down in Mobile Alabama. The original nucleus of the group that eventually became known as Wet Willie was called Fox. Wet Willie eventually moved to Macon Georgia and signed to Capricorn Records sharing the label with The Allman Brothers and The Marshall Tucker Band. Still, they really didn’t have a Southern rock sound.
This song was released in 1979 on the album Manorisms. The album peaked at #118 on the Billboard Album Charts.
The song peaked at #29 on the Billboard 100 and #34 in Canada. Their biggest hit was Keep On Smiling which peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 and #21 in Canada in 1974.
Southern Rock took off in the 70s but crashed when Lynyrd Skynyrds plane did in 1977. It hung around a little longer with 38 Special and Molly Hatchet but died when the 80s came. Gregg Allman had a great quote on “Southern Rock.” He is right in this quote below. Most of the bands were so different from each other. The only thing many of them had in common was that they were Southern. The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd were the two biggest bands and they were day and night. Skynyrd was more like The Stones and Free and The Allman Brothers were a combination of blues, jazz, rock, and country.
Gregg Allman: For some reason, people think that we all grew up together and we all knew each other, and our friends were their friends and their friends were our friends, like there was one big town of southern rock stars or something. Man, it wasn’t nothing like that at all. You might know two or three cats in one band here and there, and you’d see each other passing in the night. If you did a tour together, then you’d see each other maybe a couple of hours a day.
Of course, there was some competition between bands—there has to be. But we weren’t out there to sell southern rock, we were out there because we had the best goddamn band in the land. The Allman Brothers Band has had its bad nights, but we are some Super Bowl motherfuckers compared to all them other bands.
Weekend
One Friday evenin’What a feelin’, feel like singin’Tired of workin’, my mind is buzzin’Feel like dancin’ yes I do
But you gotta make the best of life while you’re youngGood people, weekendDo just what you want to do, weekendWhen those workin’ days are throughWeekend, weekend, weekendWeekend, weekendYou know it’s time to get away, weekendI want to hear ev’rybody sayWeekend, weekend, weekend
Saturday night feelin’ just rightMakin’ new friends, lazy SundayEvery Monday ends my weekend, yes it doesBut you gotta make the best of life while you’re youngListen people, weekendParty down with all your friends, weekendIt’s party, hearty time againWeekend, weekend, weekendWeekend, weekendSpendin’ all my hard-earned pay, weekendWith crazy nights and lazy daysWeekend, weekend, weekend
But you believe me right now, weekendWatchin’ all the people play, weekendI want to hear ev’rybody sayWeekend, weekend, weekendWeekend, weekendDo what you want to do, weekendWhen those workin’ days are throughWeekend, weekend, weekendAh you gotta make the best of life while you’re youngRight now, weekendDo what you want to do, weekendWhen those workin’ days are throughWeekend, weekend, weekendYeah weekend
…
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Finally the comments opened for me, it’s either the mobile app or my phone but im having a time with WP! Sorry about your post, very interesting look at Southern Rock. I know enough about it to appreciate what Allman is saying. I only recognize Weekend, a bit odd given how well the other song charted.
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Hope you get it fixed soon…I know the feeling believe me!!!! Lately I’ve had trouble with it since they changed the reader.
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It’s really annoying isn’t it!
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Yes it is! I wish they would leave the thing alone…update what they have to but leave the functions alone.
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Same as Randy in that this is the only song I remember by them, no recollection of ‘Keep on Smilin’ at all – therefore it’s surprising that one charted that well in Canada. These guys definitely should have covered The Sweet’s ‘Little Willy’ don’t ya think?
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Yes…they would have sounded good. doing that…they did not have a southern sound.. yea what surprised me Dave is that they charted well in Canada… not that you have to know every song lol…but the other one charted better than this one… I knew this one but would have never known they did this without you telling me.
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This song sounds like it has a Disco beat.
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It certainly does, and sounds like a lot of Disco songs from 1978-79. In fact, I think I remember hearing it in the dance clubs back then.
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A while back, I heard “Keep On Smiling” on the radio and I remembered that Jimmy Hall, who was their frontman, had been in another band that I had seen in my one and only trip to Chastain Park, when they opened for Robert Cray. I couldn’t remember the band he was with, so I found a form on his website and wrote to him, not really expecting to hear back. Twenty minutes later, I get an email back from him, all excited that I actually remembered him. I wasn’t even that big of a fan, but I feel like I made his day.
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That is pretty cool…in the south we heard that song a lot through the years on rock radio in the 1980s. They really didn’t fit southern rock but that is what they are known as… I’m glad he got back with you…and yea it probably did.
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I may have their first album, or perhaps I gave it to my son. They didn’t sound like they were from the south.
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I think anyone from the south got stuck with that label including the Atlantic Rhythm Section.
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I knew “Keep On Smiling” but hadn’t heard “Weekend.” Also, thanks for providing a definition of wet willie, which I had no idea what it was. Last but not least, you gotta love that Gregg Allman quote!
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AH!!!! Finally! Glad you heard of that one! I’ve heard Weekend but didn’t know it was them. I love Keep On Smiling. This is one southern band that didn’t sound southern.
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I always knew that it was Wet Willie. I loved this song the first time I heard it. Very underrated song.
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I like it but Keep on Smiling is the one I remembered the most. It’s the one KDF would play a lot. This one is good.
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Of course I like both. Keep on Smiling got a little worn out at one point.
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Yea I’ll give you that.
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Do I hear a bit of disco? Also, what a name… I’ve had a few wet willies, which sound even worse in Britain because ‘willy’ is slang for… well, I’m sure you know.
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Yes! That name…yea I can’t believe they went with that. And they were under the “southern rock” label…the song was popular over here.
LOL yes I know! That would not translate well.
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