Dave Thompson

They Did It Otway - John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett in the Seventies Dave Thompson

Writing a book about Otway-Barrett that ends in 1979 is like writing a book about the Beatles that ends in 1963. Or would it? What if that book was actually written in 1979, at a time when true pop stardom still seemed to be in reach, and then abandoned, forgotten, tucked away in a folder, and only rediscovered by utter chance, when its author, close to 30 years older than when it was written, was looking for something else entirely? That would be They Did It Otway, a book that traces John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett from their earliest musical (or otherwise) strivings, through to the release of John's Where Did I Go Right? and Willy's Call Of The Wild, and Any Moment Now, that great golden bird was going to swoop down and transport Otway, at least, to Las Vegas and beyond. They Did It Otway was written, with John and Willy's full co-operation, before history was rewritten, and it emerges all the more incredible for it.