Weirdest thing: on September 11th, for no apparent reason, I download all these Wesley Willis songs off Kazaa. I had never really had a desire to listen to him before. I had no idea he had died in August until I just picked up the new Rolling Stone. In a somewhat related story, there’s some whack-assed white boy calling himself Pimp Daddy Welfare who adds his own vocals to Wesley Willis songs and they’re listed on Kazaa under slightly different titles. Now I don’t know this Pimp Daddy Welfare’s story, but how bad does your life have to suck for you to be a Wesley Willis wanna-be? That’s kinda’ like being an assistant crack-ho. Anyway, I was thinking: Wesley Willis; here’s a 350 pound guy with leukemia, schizophrenia, and no discernable musical talent and he was signed to a record deal by Rick Rubin, released over fifty albums and his passing was marked by Rolling Stone. How cool is that? There’s hope for all of us.
…for our mental illness to be exploited!
Seriously, I find the whole Wesley Willis thing to be so sad, and yet I can’t stop myself from making the odd Wesley quote here and there (e.g., “rock over London, rock over Paris, Budweiser – the king of beers”).
You probably have the right idea, downloading some of his stuff and listening to the tracks one at a time. I can tell you that it’s almost physically impossible to listen to an entire CD of his in one sitting.
Not Exploited
Most of Wesley’s albums were originally self-published. He is on record as saying that performing music gave him respite from his adult-onset schizophrenia. That callus on his forehead ain’t from some blind white dude trying to fuck Wesley in the ass. Nah, it takes a Chicken Cow to do that.
Re: Not Exploited
I agree. I held my tongue on ‘s post, but I honestly feel that all artists exploit their own mental illness and the ones who make a living at it are the ones who find rich people to exploit them. I think it’s kinda’ condesending for we the relativley sane to begrudge someone who’s mentally ill the right to express themselves under the guise that they are being exploited. I don’t think there are many people in Wesley Willis’ condition who wouldn’t have traded places with him if given the chance. He used his creativity to find a way out of what would have most likely been a hellish existence, if the way most mentally ill people are treated is any indication.