According to Casch, as O'Keefe and the Dee Jays played at an upstairs venue, an "Italian wedding" reception was taking place downstairs.
Some of the dance patrons came to blows with wedding guests in the men's toilets, and within minutes the brawl had become a full-scale riot that spilled out into the street, with police eventually calling in the Navy Shore Patrol to help restore order.
the writer quotes Dee Jays’ saxophonist – and the song’s co-writer – John Greenan corroborating Casch’s account and elaborating upon it.
An alternative version was recorded and released outside Australia: in the United States (as "Real Wild Child") on Brunswick and in the UK on Coral.
Part of the version was also used at the start of the Remix Edit of Iggy Pop's own song "Monster Men" from Space Goofs.
A cover of the song was recorded again by Iggy Pop who teamed up with Aussie rockers Jet, titled "The Wild One".
In 1958, the song was released as a single by Jerry Allison, a member of the Crickets, using the name Ivan, with Buddy Holly backing him on guitar.
His version also appears in the 1989 motion picture and soundtrack album for Great Balls of Fire!, Nowhere Boy, and The Complete Novel edition of The Outsiders.
An up-tempo rock version of the song (titled as ''Real Wild Child'') was covered by the fictional band Josie and the Pussycats (lead vocals provided by singer Kay Hanley) in the 2001 film of the same name.
Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack to the 2008 film Wild Child.
As pointed out by Clinton Walker once again,[4] the songwriting credit was taken by her Chinnichap production team at RAK Records, whose Mike Chapman, as an Australian, would have been well familiar with.
[29] A seasonal version of the song was covered in December 2014 by former UK soap actor John Altman with backing band JoanOvArc.