Yonkers honors 'Wild Thing' writer Chip Taylor
When you write a song that everybody knows--by tune, by title, by chugging guitar riff--that song follows you around the rest of your life. For Chip Taylor, that song is "Wild Thing," which was made famous by the Troggs in 1966. It's the kind of song that, when you hear it, it feels more like it evolved out purely out of a combination of earth, sky, electricity, and the back corner of someone's garage, rather than having been 'written' in the traditional sense. But it was written. By Taylor.
Who also happens to have a famous brother: Jon Voight. Which makes him Angelina Jolie's uncle. Don't tell me you knew that already.
At any rate, Taylor's had a long singer-songwriter career that included more famous songs (most notably "Angel of the Morning"), some awesome country-rock in the '70s ("The Real Thing"), and--after getting sidetracked by a stab at a career as a professional gambler--a return to making music that hovers on the alternative-rock-country-folk side of the fence.
Taylor's latest album is "Yonkers, NY," a low-key collection of stories about his upbringing in that New York town. It's groovy, beautiful, thoughtful, and personal--a trip to another world, and another time, brought to life by a veteran storyteller with an eye for detail and an ear for the sort of melody that keeps us coming back for another spin.
When Yonkers mayor Philip Amicone got wind of the album, he gave Chip something he's probably never gotten before: his own day.
Read the full text declaring Chip Taylor Day below--and while you're reading, you can also listen to the album.
HEREAS: As Mayor of the City of Yonkers, it is with a great sense of pride that I recognize those distinguished Yonkers natives who have risen to the highest levels of personal success and who remain true to their Yonkers' roots, and
WHEREAS: Foremost among these individuals is CHIP TAYLOR, who is recognized this day, in celebration of the release of his newest album, Yonkers, NY, which chronicles his life history, and
WHEREAS: Raised in Yonkers, CHIP TAYLOR, also formally known as James Wesley Voight, began his love affair with music at an early age, and his penchant for the country genre found an outlet in his Archbishop Stepinac High School band, 'Town Country Brothers', and upon graduation, entered the music business, writing and composing pop and rock songs and achieved success with a number of his songs, and
WHEREAS: A prodigious and prolific talent, CHIP TAYLOR's status as one of the most notable songwriters in American music is secure and in recent years has won praise for acclaimed recordings and collaborations and has penned dozens of classics, written in varied voices and styles, most notably Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning, and
WHEREAS: Throughout the course of a successful music career, CHIP TAYLOR released over twenty albums and with the release of his latest recording, Yonkers, NY, he relates the story of his childhood and adolescence, through an eleven song cycle which is filled with warmth and humor, enlivened with spoken reminiscences and packaged with a book of lyrics and vintage photos of the people and places that are their subjects, and
WHEREAS: Family has played an important part of the songwriting process of CHIP TAYLOR and many of the songs on his newest album are a reflection of the warmth and love of family and friends that he experienced during his youth, and
WHEREAS: The City of Yonkers raises its voice in tribute to CHIP TAYLOR and wish him much success with our namesake album.
NOW, THEREFORE I, PHILIP A. AMICONE, Mayor of the City of Yonkers, do hereby proclaim this 28th day of October 2009 to be:
CHIP TAYLOR DAY
in the City of Yonkers, and I call upon all the residents of our City to join with me in congratulating this individual on the release of his newest musical endeavor and to express our gratitude to him for 'putting Yonkers, NY' on the musical map.
Given under my hand and the Seal of the City of Yonkers, New York this 28th day of October 2009.
