Nobody Sees

The Story: Chip Taylor, the songwriter behind "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning," died on Monday, March 23, 2026, at the age of 86. His death was confirmed by friend and singer Billy Vera, who said Taylor passed away while in hospice care. He had undergone treatment for throat cancer in 2023 and released an album about the experience, Behind the Sky, just months before his death.

Born James Wesley Voight in Yonkers, New York, in 1940, Taylor was part of a famous family — the brother of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and uncle to Angelina Jolie. But while his relatives became household faces, Taylor lived in a different kind of fame: the invisible kind. He wrote songs that became part of the cultural fabric of the 20th century, yet most people who sang along to them had no idea who put the words on paper.

"Wild Thing" was written in minutes, according to Rolling Stone, at the request of a producer. The first recording by Jordan Christopher and the Wild Ones bombed. Then the Troggs took it to No. 1 in 1966, and Jimi Hendrix lit his guitar on fire performing it at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Taylor himself called it "probably the first punk record." The song became shorthand for raw, unfiltered rock energy — three chords and a feeling that has never stopped resonating.

"Angel of the Morning" took a gentler path. First recorded by Evie Sands in 1967, it found its voice through Merrilee Rush's No. 7 hit in 1968, then Juice Newton's million-selling version in 1981, and eventually into the opening of Deadpool for a new generation. Taylor said it was inspired by a war movie — two lovers on different sides who might never see each other again. "People thought it was just a roll in the hay," he told The Guardian, "but this was the most powerful love of two people who may never see each other again."

A Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee in 2016, Taylor also penned hits for Willie Nelson, the Hollies, Linda Ronstadt, and Janis Joplin. When he wasn't writing, he was a professional gambler. "I just try to let my spirit go some place," he once said, "and then I try to catch up to it."

When we saw this story, we found something that goes far beyond one man's obituary: the paradox of the invisible creator. Chip Taylor wrote songs that billions of people have sung, screamed, danced to, and fallen in love to — but almost nobody knew his face. This isn't just about a songwriter. It's about everyone who builds something that outlives them, everyone whose work becomes so universal that the human behind it disappears.

We wrote it as heartland Americana rock because that's the sound of Taylor's era — warm, analog, honest. The fingerpicked verses honor the quiet man; the full-band chorus honors the songs that escaped his hands and ran wild through the world. The hook — "I know every word but I don't know your name" — is the universal confession of everyone who ever sang "Wild Thing" without wondering who wrote it.

Sources:

• Variety: Chip Taylor, Songwriters Hall of Fame Member Who Wrote 'Wild Thing' and 'Angel of the Morning,' Dies at 86
• Rolling Stone: Chip Taylor, 'Wild Thing' and 'Angel of the Morning' Songwriter, Dead at 86
• Hollywood Reporter: Chip Taylor, "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning" Songwriter, Dies at 86