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‘The more famous I got, the bigger my beehive got’: how Mari Wilson made Just What I Always Wanted

‘I was trying to bring back some glamour. The backcombed hair was like architecture really. It took more than 45 minutes to style’ Just What I Always Wanted had already been in our live set, but with different verses. When we’d gone on David Essex’s Showcase earlier in 1982, in the middle eight I sang “A wink from Wilbur, a kiss from Kurt, don’t tell Hank, he might get hurt” – all names of my backing band the Wilsations. But when it came to recording, I said to Tot Taylor, who wrote most of my early singles, including Love Man and Baby It’s True, “We can’t sing that because no one will know who they are. What about, ‘A mink from Paris, a ring from Rome, a whole new wardrobe in my home?’” Tot, such a brilliant writer, took it from there. Continue reading...

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‘I was trying to bring back some glamour. The backcombed hair was like architecture really. It took more than 45 minutes to style’ Just What I Always Wanted had already been in our live set, but with different verses. When we’d gone on David Essex’s Showcase earlier in 1982, in the middle eight I sang “A wink from Wilbur, a kiss from Kurt, don’t tell Hank, he might get hurt” – all names of my backing band the Wilsations. But when it came to recording, I said to Tot Taylor, who wrote most of my early singles, including Love Man and Baby It’s True, “We can’t sing that because no one will know who they are. What about, ‘A mink from Paris, a ring from Rome, a whole new wardrobe in my home?’” Tot, such a brilliant writer, took it from there. Continue reading...

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, ‘The more famous I got, the bigger my beehive got’: how Mari Wilson made Just What I Always Wanted, ‘I was trying to bring back some glamour. The backcombed hair was like architecture really. It took more than 45 minutes to style’ Just What I Always Wanted had already been in our live set, but with different verses. When we’d gone on David Essex’s Showcase earlier in 1982, in the middle eight I sang “A wink from Wilbur, a kiss from Kurt, don’t tell Hank, he might get hurt” – all names of my backing band the Wilsations. But when it came to recording, I said to Tot Taylor, who wrote most of my early singles, including Love Man and Baby It’s True, “We can’t sing that because no one will know who they are. What about, ‘A mink from Paris, a ring from Rome, a whole new wardrobe in my home?’” Tot, such a brilliant writer, took it from there. Continue reading…

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-09-07T13:45:05+00:00.

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Primary source: ‘The more famous I got, the bigger my beehive got’: how Mari Wilson made Just What I Always Wanted via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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