My Top 2000 Songs #1056: Little Willy

I don't care what the cool kids say; I'm just gonna keep dropping old Sweet singles onto this list until I run out!

As noted on multiple prior occasions (and described in more detail in my book), Sweet were one of the earliest bands I fell in love with as a 9-year-old kid first discovering Top 40 radio. "Fox On The Run" was among the initial hits I obsessed over while listening to the local Chicago station on my handheld transistor radio up in my room, eventually saving up enough allowance to run to Sears with my dad and buy my first LP, Desolation Boulevard. 

Around that same time, I came across the 1972 single "Little Willy," which appeared on one of those K-Tel compilations ("as advertised on TV!")--the not-so-imaginatively titled Fantastic (22 Original Hits! 22 Original Stars!)--that my friend Scott down the block happened to own. While "Fox On The Run" (and the balance of Desolation) had a varied mix of glam and hard rock, with, ok, a good amount of pop, "Willy" was pure, unadulterated bubblegum, re-purposing a chiming three-chord Who riff into a catchy earwig I still can't help but sing along with 50 years later.

Top of the Pops 1972:

Material Issue cover: