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Little Willy (song)

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"Little Willy"
Single by The Sweet
from the album The Sweet
B-side"Man from Mecca"
Released19 May 1972 (UK)
January 1973 (US)[1]
Recorded1972
Genre
Length3:13
LabelRCA (UK)
Bell (US & Canada)[8]
Songwriter(s)Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman
Producer(s)Phil Wainman
The Sweet singles chronology
"Poppa Joe"
(1972) 		"Little Willy"
(1972) 		"Wig-Wam Bam"
(1972)
Official audio
"Little Willy" on YouTube

"Little Willy" is a song written by songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and performed by the British glam rock band The Sweet, released in 1972 as a non-album single in the UK, peaking at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. It was released in the US in January 1973 and also appeared on their US debut album The Sweet and became their biggest hit in the US, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.[9] Billboard ranked it as the number 18 song for 1973.

In a retrospective review of glitter rock, Bomp! noted that although rock music journalists almost uniformly "loathed it", the song was a huge commercial success and "helped launch the essential glitter rock formula sound".[10]

"Little Willy" was used extensively in the pilot of the television series Life on Mars.

Chart performance

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Weekly charts

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Chart (1972–1973) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] 65
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[12] 7
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[13] 19
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[14] 1
Denmark[citation needed] 1
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[15] 2
Ireland (IRMA)[16] 9
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 6
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[18] 7
New Zealand [19] 7
Norway (VG-lista)[20] 7
South Africa (Springbok) [21] 9
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 2
UK [23] 4
US Billboard Hot 100 [24] 3
West Germany (GfK)[25] 1

Year-end charts

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Chart (1972) Rank
UK [26] 41
Chart (1973) Rank
Canada [27] 17
US Billboard Hot 100[28] 18

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[29] Gold 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

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"Little Willy"

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"Man from Mecca"

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Parody versions

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References

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  1. ^ "Great Rock Discography". p. 807.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal?s Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-62788-375-7.
  3. ^ Sendra, Tim. "Golden Groups & Glitter Sounds – Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  4. ^ Stanley, Bob (13 September 2013). "Deluxe and Delightful: Glam". Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-571-28198-5.
  5. ^ Cantwell, David (4 November 1998). "Power Pop It Ain't". MTV News. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  6. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Sweet | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  7. ^ a b Dolan, Joe; Martoccio, Angie; Sheffield, Rob (November 20, 2024). "The 74 Best Albums of 1974". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 29, 2024. Sweet started out as the Sweet, doing bubblegum pop-rock tunes like "Funny, Funny," "Little Willy," and the even-more-problematic-than-it-sounds "Wig Wam Bam
  8. ^ "The Sweet – Little Willy". Discogs.com. 1972. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Little Willy by Sweet". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  10. ^ Barnes, Ken (March 1978). "The Glitter Era: Teenage Rampage". Bomp!. Retrieved 25 January 2019 – via Rock's Backpages.
  11. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. ^ "The Sweet – Little Willy" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  13. ^ "The Sweet – Little Willy" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4817." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  15. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "The Sweet". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  16. ^ "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  17. ^ "The Sweet – Little Willy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  18. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – The Sweet" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  19. ^ "flavour of new zealand – search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  20. ^ "The Sweet – Little Willy". VG-lista. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  21. ^ "SA Charts 1965 – March 1989". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  22. ^ "The Sweet – Little Willy". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  23. ^ "UK Official Charts". Official Charts Company. 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  24. ^ "Hot 100: The Sweet". Billboard. 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  25. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Sweet – Little Willy" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 15 February 2024. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON The Sweet"
  26. ^ "Top Selling Singles for 1972". Sounds. London, England: Spotlight Publications: 4. 6 January 1973.
  27. ^ Canada, Library and Archives (December 26, 2017). "Image : RPM Weekly". Library and Archives Canada.
  28. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1973/Top 100 Songs of 1973". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  29. ^ "American single certifications – Sweet – Little Willy". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
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