Songwriter Chip Taylor, the younger brother of actor Jon Voight, died Monday, two days after his 86th birthday. All the obituaries lead with “Wild Thing,” the most iconic song in his voluminous catalog. He wrote hundreds of songs and released almost three dozen albums, the most recent earlier this year, in a career that began in the early 1960s.
He wrote “Wild Thing” in minutes at the request of socialite Sybil Christopher, ex-wife of Richard Burton, for the Wild Ones, a band she backed that featured her new young husband as lead singer. It failed to chart until the Troggs recorded it six months later. Their version reached No. 1.
Taylor’s other big hit was “Angel of the Morning,” which charted for both Merrilee Rush in 1968 (No. 7) and Juice Newton in 1981 (No. 3). His own records were never big sellers but he achieved critical acclaim early this century when he teamed up with singer-violinist Carrie Rodriguez for three albums. “Red Dog Tracks,” the title track of their 2005 collaboration, has always been a favorite of mine because it plays like an enigmatic short story.
