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.