NOTE:

While looking through his SRV collection, Carsten came across on a rare Promo 12" vinyl maxi single with "Willie the Wimp" from Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. It's from 1986 and its catalogue number is EAS 2615 XSS 174015.

Carsten writes,
On the white cover of this vinyl recording, there's a long text (in big red font) about Willie The Wimp. I never saw this text anywhere else and found it very interesting. Maybe it's also of interest for you guys. Here it is:

Stevie Ray Vaughan 'Willie The Wimp'
Chicago's underworld heritage. Here's the biograph theatre where they shot Dillinger in the alley. Down the street there is where they held the St. Valentine's Day massacre. The city of Al Capone. Machine-gun Kelley. Guys named Bugsy.

On the south side of Chicago in more recent times, there were a couple of dudes with very bad reputations; Flukey Stokes and his son Willie the Wimp. They beat people up. They sold drugs. They became wealthy. Willie the Wimp was shot in 1984 and dad threw a funeral. Thousands were invited. Even more invited themselves. People don't often see the recently departed sitting up and holding the steering wheel of a coffin modeled after the Cadillac Seville. A coffin with flashing lights and flowers for wheels. Oh sure, there were some other thoughtful touches, rings on his fingers and c-notes stuck like cigarettes in his hands.

The post-burial birthday party for Willie the Wimp was held at the same motel where Willie was shot. So it was, Willie the Wimp became more famous in his coffin than he had been in the street. It's a story that inspires song. Flukey Stokes was gunned down last November as he sat in his car. We thought you'd like to know Stevie Ray isn't singing about some Mickey Spillane fiction. He's singing about Chicago.

Lin Brehmer - WXRT