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With all of the publicity surrounding John's recent success - even The New Scientist had something to say - 

A FAILED British punk rock singer is not the first person you'd expect to further the public understanding of science, but then John Otway (whose last and only hit record was in 1978) is no ordinary failed punk rock singer. For a start, he has kept a loyal group of fans during all his years in the wilderness, and it was his fans who selected Bunsen Burner as his new single after he sent 2000 of them a CD of 11 new compositions to choose from.

Bunsen burner was inspired by Otway's daughter's science homework. As well as the theme in the title, the lyrics touch on several laboratory procedures and include felicitous lines such as "You're the kind of carbon I can date''.

According to a recent article in The Independent. Otway's fans are determined to make the single his second hit, as a present him for his 50th birthday. They have been promoting it so vigorously that 20,000 advance copies have been ordered and success seems assured. So it won't be long before the whole of Britain will be humming along to the song's rousing chorus line: ''Let me be your Bunsen burner, baby, let me be your naked flame."
To see the press release for The Hit - please choose your chosen format
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In preparation for "The Hit", the UK's premier music / movies magazine Uncut did a feature on John. To see what they had to say - and which picture they used of him - press HERE. 

Two very similar record covers

Otway, a man who's never short of ideas when it comes to record sleeves

I recently found a mention of Otway in the autobiography - "Bob Harris - The Whispering Years". The passage goes as follows, and the errors are his, not mine -

"But the feeling of things spinning out of control was further enhanced by an extraordinarily chaotic live studio performance by Wild Willie Barrett and John Ottway of their current hit "Cor Baby, I'm Really free". Constantly out of camera shot, smashing and trashing his way through the set, Ottway ended the number by throwing himself off the top of a 10-foot speaker stack into the equipment below, almost knocking himself unconscious. I just couldn't work out what to make of it. Yes, it was funny, but all rather sad in a way."

Why not go to John's own Home Page. Here you will get the chance to find out more about John, and his music, and you will even be able to buy some. There is also the opportunity to join the John Otway mailing list. Possibly unique amongst music lists, the man himself is on it.
To hear what John himself had to say about this page, press HERE. But he might have been talking about something else at the time.

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This Page Last Updated

15 November 2007