John Otway and Wild Willy Barratt - Really Free

[ManEaterFromReading]

ahaha he luaghed everytime he said wild willy hahahah

[WhitewashTheThird]

Who would dislike this? Classic stuff!

[shemanic1]

I am lucky to have the vinyl 45 of this

[DanJMcGlinchey]

Hippies? They might have long hair, but with that rasping homemade guitar, wild, anarchic singer, and short, sharp song, they are the true spirit of punk...

[supermac473]

The GUY is a legend ---enough said---

[carmelitacarlos]

Fucking love this - saw them live - not yesterday or today mind you!!!! Class. Ian Dury and the Blockheads played the same gig and we were fed by the Hari Krishnas!!!!

[amazingmonkeys]

Cor baby, thats really free! Im 14 and My dad introduced me to this song about 2 weeks ago, why must it be so catchy!? Ah I love it though :')

[notthebody]

11 people dislike freedom (really!)

[chrisdavid4026]

listened to it watch it loved it...as good as it gets....wow

[chrisdavid4026]

listened to it watch it loved it

[billyconnearly]

John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett - legendary musicians....DLT - CUNT!

[drkam6]

Otway is a TRUE GENIUS!

[shirtcreek]

OK, Otway is soon to be 60 or so I'm told!

He's been on Buzzcocks twice, once in the line up and once on the team.......isn't it about time he presented the show??

Oh, He needs a 3rd hit to go with it too!

"ooz a lucky birthday boy?"

[bobtoo]

Were they actually playing live?

[dave2806]

headbutts !

[Mojosbigstick]

He's a nutcase. They both are!

But his songs always make me smile, and his live performances always make me dance, and how many performers can you say that about.

[dave2806]

@Mojosbigstick i agree

[toffeecobb85]

Ruddy wonderful..

[TheNigelc8]

Unlike many of the people who win these talent shows , have one hit record and disappear, Ottaway and Barret are from another mold, constant live shows over many years , great backing band , tight sound, if you get chance to see them , go you will be amazed, catch John's interpretation of Dylan on u tube , very funny.

[sludgefingers]

Not quite his audience, is it?

[haj1909]

Hippies! In 1977. On TOTP. Say no more...

[makemeateeshirt]

hod oan tae ah unhook ma kilt...it letz me spread ma legz wider....now thatz really free

[AKchan92]

haha! omg he came to our school today and did a talk! he was really good! :)

[MrDioXIII]

@AKchan92

yeah, that talk got me interested in his music

Otway is a legendary fail turned into win

[modernredeye]

ohmigod brilliant.

[emperorbaz100]

This is what I used to like ?!?!?!?

[DavidTransformer]

Remember when this came out. Mans a nut job but still makes me smile when I hear it.

[helishgirl]

CLASS !!

[Squeakbuster1964]

Fucking brilliant lol.

[BEANUSEXTREME]

I remember John playing a gig at West runton pavillion (norfolk) late 80s,I bought him a drink at the bar total loon but really nice guy Also a excellent gig.....

[joserp888]

man i discovered otway last week...this guy's totally crazy...and i love itXD

first time i saw it i said....this guy is nuts...but it keeps hookin me on....

totally great rising sun cover

[serpukhovien]

I've only just stumbled upon this and one word came to my mind like 30 seconds into the performance : Legend.

w00t w00t new artist i like.

[billyconnearly]

A legend - two!!! - is (are) born!! This kicked me in the bollox when I was 15! and...in a strange twist of fate - I have had the pleasure of working with The Sainted John and Wild Willy Barrett - twice now!! If you only see one live music show before you die you should make a concerted effort to make it these guys!! Never mind the Take Twat reunion or that style of thing!!

[marts41]

pure love

[glossopcrue]

My dads mates with him lol. Hes a right star

[62624a62]

@glossopcrue Do you mean to say 'My dad's mates with him'? instead of my dad mates with him? Not sure I really want to know who your dad mates with. Even poor grammar can bother with punctuation.

[argonaut3001]

@62624a62

the lack of apostrophy suggests that our friend has several dads. Whether any of them mate with, or are friends with our hero remains a mystery

[Djian1970]

Noel Gallagher would be dreaming that he wrote this song. We should all get together and get this song to No.1 this christmas and keep another X Factor song off the top.

[thesillywabbit1349]

what a pair of truly wonderful shagwits!

[SaintPhoeniix]

He looks and sounds really camp in this video.

[SaintPhoeniix]

Wild Willy could probably get a great tune out of a milk carton with a pencil sellotaped to it.

[1963LeeH]

Blimey! This brought back some good memories. We NEED more people like this on the planet. :-)

[johnmckinlay67]

I love Youtube...Cor Baby..It's really FREE !!!

[ty3165]

totp was a great music show with great bands

[stevohorn]

Aylesbury rocks!

[smithrory]

i'd rather see the geezer fall off that amp on repeat a whole weekend than listen to this again.

[gshnw]

they are still great live, went to telfords gigs 08/09, and cant wait to see them this year. true legends

[rmr41971]

only DLT could present otway and barrett.this was one of those top of the pops moments that i,ll never forget.

[PEDREX57]

The guys was already making that punk talked music we see nowadays in the late 70's? Damn what is the guy singing now :O it will be the music in 20 years time :O

[bmrs86]

I can't believe they were lip-synching.

[HaydenKRodrigues5]

epicification

[3233peterh]

l love this song !!!!!!1

[Hollandia777]

By the way - he's got very good sense of humor!

[StarshipOverflow]

Always ready lol

[Mark2405]

Saw them last night in Hove - still brilliant!!

[chelmsfordpunk]

Dave Lee Travis the cock.

[jeffiers2233]

Brilliant! Were any of you at the Cellars gig in Eastney on Sunday? Can any of you remember the setlist?

[jeffiers2233]

Who was the TOTP presenter on this video?

[wildenfree]

Dave Lee Travis aka Hairy Monster

[Nigey]

surely the Hairy Cornflake?

[wildenfree]

Yeah, thats the one, was a bit of a monster too...

They used to have a Jingle on the radio 1..went something like "Dave Lee Travis..Hairy Monster, Go and Tell your mummy", or something like that.

[Jojoseahorse]

@wildenfree "You're tuned into the Hairy Happening" :)

[nikkleannie]

I grew up in Aylesbury and lived round the corner from Place Farm Way. Ergo, I am the most authentic John Otway fan in the world. And, if you know what I'm referring to, I do remember L-L-Longwick.

[comedybenj]

i saw them yesterday in whitstable i shaked hands with them both and john otway broke his shirt and i then picked up his button

[djbethell]

anyone got upload of dk 50 80?

[thallassocracy]

There was a back to the roots R&B movement on the British scene in the late 1970's that got bypassed when the munchkins switched on to punk instead.

Otway's mistake was probably that he never had a clothing franchise to market.

[inshreds66]

John was the basis for Rik Mayall et al.

[comedybenj]

im going to see them in concert in whitstable

[pinkanglia]

. DLT resigned live on air, as if he was making a protest against the new Matthew Bannister regime.He would have got sacked anyway and saved Bannister the job.. That generation of daytime Radio 1 DJ have got to be the most arrogant bunch of tossers in the history of entertainment.. He once thought it would be a good idea that since he was cleaning out his garage he would give his crap away as prizes, how lucky, the British public could actually own a genuine piece of DLT rubbish.

[paulh45]

Lighten up.

[davepx]

Fantastic. Otway invented the world as we know it.

[TitsOfDoom]

Hairy fuckin' Cornflake

[ChristopherMcEneaney]

"Cor" - is that a British thing or just John Otway?

[davepx]

British slang, pretty common but mostly round London - thought to be a corruption of "Gawd".

[rabt1952]

Know this of Otway Fans:

John Otway fans are born, we are not manufactured. We do not choose, we are chosen. Those that don't understand, don't matter and those who understand need no explanation.

From Rab in Scotland

[Hellishhorse]

Absol-bloody-lutley!

[gymnosophy]

@rabt1952 "We"  You speak for all of them then...cor baby that's really we

[billyconnearly]

@rabt1952 Totally agree Rab - I was "awakened" by the Old Grey Whistle Test appearance - when John toppled off the 2x12 combo onto his nuts I thought "That'll do me!". I have been a pro muso for a looong time and met a load of people from Chuck Berry, The 4 Tops and The Temptations to The Chuckle Brothers (and The BIG YIN!) but.... I couldn't believe it - but I now know Otway personally and have introduced him at a number of festivals! The Big Yin was in the OGWT studio on the fateful night!

[5hocK]

Saw Jon at Jb's in Dudley with willy...Up a ladder, fewckin mad

[llitslloyd]

Otway is fantastic, especially with Willy, but have only seen Otway live with The Big Band and solo. Must see him with Willy!

[7thParade]

I would say, in my opinion, the Best Ever performance on TOTP. Anyone know of any other to beat it? Would be interested to hear ur opinion...

[xz4q18]

ReadOtway's autobiography it's hilarious. Only Otway would have put out the best song ever on the B-side of really free. 'Beware of the flowers (cos I'm sure they're gonna get you yeah!). Hero!!!!

[barrywonderdog]

I saw Ottway twice. Once when Wild Willy Barrett was getting really pissed off by having to play Headbutts. Then after he left on the 'All Balls and no Willy' tour.

Brilliant!

[HoskieDC]

this is like White Stripes crossed with Tenacious D and with Ricky from the Young Ones on vocals haha

[sandprof]

spot-on that and I never thought of it - Jack White must owe JO a heck of a lot - good spot!

[spizzardo]

Classic,still makes me fall about laughing,"cor baby that's really free."Dunno if he's still doing it but John Otway used to regularly busk at Camden Market on the Saturdays and Sundays,not because he needed to but for the Laugh.More power to John Otway,but what happened to Wild Willy Barrett?

[StanPomeray]

And even though it was TOTP, they were playing live. This actually sounds better than the recorded single, much more raw. When this was shown in 1977 I thought DLT had announced them as "John Otway and Wild Woolly" - that confused the guy in Rumbellows "We've only got the one with Willy Barrett, is that the same?" LOL

[sandprof]

He does say that - where is DLT now - the silly sod?

[Timebandit720]

Saw John Otway at Glastonbury in the late eighties - or rather I heard him - you couldn't get anywhere near, seemed like half the festival goers were trying to get a look in. Great days.

[twlthteg]

Two honest to goodness, 24 carat, dyed in the wool British rock and roll nutcases. Long may thay both flourish.

[GUITARPOKEY]

Are the rumours of a club tour with DWAYNE MCCAIN true ? We need to know??? check out Life is shit - better get used to it.

[stev1963hit]

Thank you brother,a pure delight,absolutely i prefer this version to the vinyl-sublime,natural,free rock & roll.Willys guitar is fantastic on this,rough & ready,no champagne,on the edge-just like Otways nerve-racked yowlings.Ive just been watching Going For The One-Yes,& marvelling at its beauty & wonderfulness,but to lovers of dirty,clattering,out of tune independent RnR like me-this tune is,in its own wry way,equally fantastic!Remember seeing this in 77,brilliant vid,cheers again-love it!

[hrothgar64]

Otway = Legend.

[wells23456]

check out I am a Lion - another Otway on YouTube. Really great

[albordon]

They are crap. They were always crap. The lyrics are crap and the backing is crap. Otway was crap and Barratt was crap.

But it's great! I never could figure out why but I can never stop tapping my foot to it.

Maybe it's just having the balls to get up and do it when you're so crap but it blows away the processed megacrap we get served up nowadays. Rock on John and Willy!

[fonzleclay]

I think you'll find Wild Willy Barrett is a classically trained guitarist. If you listen to some stuff by Sleeping Dogz, you'll see what a great guitarist the man is.

[albordon]

Don't doubt his training. I'm sure it prepared him for playing classical guitar really well. I have seen him play finger style and you're right, he was really good.

Electric rock? Crap!

No, hang on, on second thoughts maybe I'm being too harsh.

Nope! On third thoughts I'm not, he is really crap. Entertainingly crap. Doesn't know one end of a beaten up old electric from the other.

But as an entertainment, well, it does have something foot tapping about it. It's reality TV in its infancy.

[Cutchswife]

Wild Willy Barrett is not crap! The song was rubbish, yes, but Willy did well even keeping up

[rockingmods]

so are you

[ThomsonAS100]

Wonderful.

I was a teenager in South Bucks in the 70's and this is part of the soundtrack to my adolescence! I still have the T-shirt saying "I knew Otway before he was famous"

[FlyingFoxOz]

Every time I hear this song I'm amazed at how much it sounds like Billy Bragg circa 'Life's A Riot...'.

John Otway's a bloody legend, thanks for uploading this.

[bubble992]

probably the best otway song! great! though, notice noone in the audience is singing along or dancing.... losers! otway rox!

[gnarsacyst]

Great to see this stuff. Hard to find. Cheers!

[munph70]

DLT = cretin. Otway = genius.

[27Wop]

John Otway the punk poet.

Great post - Thanks

(A live performance on TOTP! - a rare find)

[markdavid2000]

Tooo much!

[rpwmusic]

I have been looking for this song for ages, I could not remember who did it, just the words, free, really free, really really really really free. I love it. Thanks to youtube, and the poster

[bongfonder]

amazing fab and so cool......

[xz4q18]

Go Otway!!!!!

[freddiezgay]

The Hairy Cornflake - wonder what he is doing nowadays

[6464842]

I saw these two at Reading and at Chelmsford Odeon, where after their set they just walked off the stage, up the center isle, announcing they were going to the Bay Horse over the road if any one wanted to join them. I cant remember who they were supporting that night.

[ShadowDracless]

I first saw John when my band opened up for him at a pub in Cambridge sometime around 1998-1999. I was in the US Air Force and stationed at RAF Molesworth. I didn't know anything about Otway, but after seeing him that night I became a huge fan. I'm glad that youtube has allowed me to see some of his earlier as well as current gigs.

[daveisbowie]

Hahahha!!! Taking the piss or what? Brilliant, we used to listen to this in our sixth form days. TOTP too....DLT didn't know what to make of it did he? :)

[themysteronslive]

Fantastic

[OrigEve]

I was his number one fan!!!!!

[dobbsy9]

cool

[ballynafeighbluedog]

what a performer

[GrahamMercer]

I remember this when it originally aired, the following Saturday I rushed out to buy the record only to find that it had a full band on it and didn't sound quite as good as this T.O.T.P. performance. This is way kewl :-) I love it, and it's "Really Free!".

[rightforkoff]

Go get yourself the Old Grey Whistle Test version thats the best

[MarkCooper1]

this is awful

[macabre2007]

the legend and the species Otway... What is there to say, 11 yr's old at the time, this was a fringe act that inspired a memory of a generation. Serious Punk owes a lot to Otway.. His comedy enriched Punk to match any oxbridge footlights, and well outlast the lot of them

[lmosco]

he reminds slightly of an english version of jonathan richman

[lester247]

Excellent. Saw Ottway do some great live shows in plymouth. What an Icon. Loved it

[danseymour89]

his canal boat iz ryt near me nd i see him in the pub sumtymz (willy i mean) he's such a legend lol

[Mojosbigstick]

30 years on and he's still nuts! What a hero.

[aljanaljan]

never bettered....saw them years ago,still play the albums....check out Geneva video

[dragster58]

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­iiiLD!!!

[theslice2]

yeah ....you might be really free now but careful coz the trees are gonna get ya

[Babyhowdy233]

TOTP Announcer:"They're wrecking the place!"

A classic performance!

[FungasUK]

"TOTP announcer"?! That's Dave Lee Travis! The Hairy Cornflake, otherwise known as "that Bearded Twat".

[Babyhowdy233]

Thanks Darlin' I'm OLD now and had forgotten his PROPER name,LOL! ;)

[Joyriser]

Brilliant!! A true classic!

[motox14]

johns my greta uncle. ahaha :D

[shepshepherd]

Love it!

[FungasUK]

I was waiting for him to fall off that amp at the end. Anyone got a vid of that Whilst Test performance where he had a drum stack, climbed it and fell right through it?!

[Babyhowdy233]

They do have that Old Grey Whistle Test performance here but unfortunately it cuts short just before that scene. Too bad because that was GREAT!

[james7696739]

I saw them in late Summer 1976 , in a half empty pub in Brighton (?The Alhambra). Wild Willy came out and accosted us on the street selling tickets. They were great though. Tracks I remember include "Cheryl's going home" and "Racing cars"

[DelMkVI]

Legends in their own lifetimes. More vids please.

[TheMightyGusset]

Brilliant !

A seminal Otway performance

I remember it well !

[burnt62]

Magic ... his best was beware of the flowers because they're going ta yet ya ..Yeah

[2strokefan]

sound track to my youth....exellant

[PadSpin]

Anyone got "Beware Of The Flowers Cause I'm Sure They're Going To Get You Yeah"??

[rockinkitten]

You can see why he "falls losely into the catagory of punk" :D

[fordt99]

A great British eccentric. He is still doing this stuff. Grow old I say!

[mark56122]

Great stuff............

[Wildhat8]

You can find Willy Barrett playing for the T-set every sunday at Marsworth T rooms where the Reservours are near Tring.Still a character.

[ManEaterFromReading]

Haha, he looks like jim morrison. Which in my opinion is a very good thing

[drlovepants]

bloody marvellous!

[timtownie]

That's what I call winging it - great!

[ISB]

way cool

[BusterMandy]

And really ,really ,really free ,kick me.......

[BusterMandy]

The greatest ever performance on TOTP ,they put the lip- synchers to shame ,I fell in love with Otway & Barrett that night ,and still feel the same way!

Racing cars ,Flowers ,Cheryl ,the Alamo ,aaarr.....

[Babyhowdy233]

I wish someone would put up John's INCREDIBLE performance of "Cheryl's Goin' Home" from the movie "Urgh! A Music War"! There was also a very good performance of it here at one time but that damn copyright thing came up and the poster was forced to remove it.

[Babyhowdy233]

OMG this man is SOOO SEXY!

[bubble992]

r u crazy?? coz he is.....

[Babyhowdy233]

Yep, I'm CRAZY...crazy for JOHN! :)

[Punorss]

Cor Baby this is realy free!

[whaleloveskrill]

I met John :) He's great :)

[cattilou]

does anyone know if thats the same guy who sang the "bodytalk" song on the young ones? if not thats who he reminds me of

[charleyhellfire]

Yes it was.

[johnnydangerous1]

good

so dat brings us on2 our next case

was o.j really innocent?

[bubble992]

yes

[vc11]

oh yes

[doctorcastille]

Agreed, agreed !!

[johnnydangerous1]

dis is brilliant

every1 agree??

(YES)