I DONT WANT CHARITY, JUST HALF A CHANCE

After Pete Wylie failed to give WEA Records a single that was as epic and barnstorming as the 1982 hit The Story Of The Blues, the label dropped him and his band.

Not long afterwards, having penned a deal with Beggars Banquet, this single took The Mighty Wah! back into the charts in 1984:-



It was a single released on a number of different formats. The 12" version that sits in my cupboard has this as the lead, which combines and extends the title track with another, giving you 10 minutes worth of music:-

mp3 : The Mighty Wah! - Come Back (The Story Of The Reds) & The Devil In Miss Jones (combined and extended)
Flip the single over and you find a lyrically different version which is a far from veiled attack on his former paymasters:-

mp3 : The Mighty Wah! - Come Back! (The Return Of The Randy Scouse Git)
One of the funniest things about all of this is that the label says it is 'courtesy of WEA Records Ltd' which would seem to indicate that Pete presented it this bosses as a great big 'get it right up you' knowing full well he was on the verge of getting the bullet....giving them the epic tune they wanted but a lyric that was unnaceptable.

The third and final track is an instrumental version of the main song, which I reckon has something of a demo feel about it:-

mp3 : The Mighty Wah! - From Disco Dicko To A Kid In Care
The title of this could be a sideways swipe at his contemporaries Paul Simpson and/or Ian Broudie who had, by this time, indeed formed a very fine band called Care. But maybe I'm reading too much into things.....

Oh and today's posting is dedicated to John Greer, Sunday Correspondent extraordinaire who has long been a devotee of Pete Wylie.

Happy Listening