“Wot” is a 1982 single by English musician Captain Sensible released by A&M Records. The song was produced by Tony Mansfield and features the group Dolly Mixture on backing vocals. The song charted in the United Kingdom and was a specialist hit in the United States, but enjoyed its greatest success in continental Europe.
Captain described the song’s creation in a SFX Magazine interview: – While the Damned were touring in the USA, he heard this horrible pounding sound coming from outside at 5am. It was coming from a building site and as it was so early and he wanted to sleep in the hotel, he recorded the noise to make a complaint. He played it to the reception, informing them that it was disgusting and a ploy to upset British bands, and he was trying to get some sleep. They just said, “Have a nice day” and nothing was done. Sensible got no sleep. When he returned to the UK, he played the tape to Tony Mansfield who took the tape and created a loop (backing track) from it within about 10 minutes. This sound loop formed the basis of the song. The loop can be heard clearly at the beginning and near the end of the song. The song’s lyrics were also based on his lack of sleep and noisy events. Captain explained that they simply “added more rubbish on top of the track” to build up the song.
The song was originally going to be called “Cap’s Rap”.
