Immersed in lyric writing, frontman Brett Anderson spent hours in London's Highgate library, looking through biographies of old film stars. This ballad was named after the 1953 Marlon Brando outlaw biker film, The Wild One.
Lyrically, Anderson's 17-year-old girlfriend, Anick, inspired this ode to a relationship being slowly lost. The Dog Man Star tracks "The Asphalt World" and "Black or Blue" were also written about his teenage beau. "Our relationship was fiery and fractured," he recalled to Mojo, "the kind you have when you're young."
This is Anderson's favorite Suede song. He told Suede.co.uk about its musical influences: "I was listening to a lot of very 'singerly' singers; Scott Walker, Edith Piaf, Frank Sinatra, Jaques Brel, people with the emotional and musical range to transform a song into a drama. This is what I wanted for the 'Wild Ones,' for it to be a timeless slice of melodic beauty that people got married to and shared there first kisses to. Something that embedded it self-deep within the soundscape of their lives. It's unashamedly mainstream but hopefully with a depth that belies this simple ambition. It's still my favourite single moment in Suede's history and when interviewers ask me of what I am most proud I always mention this song. The main refrain was inspired by Brel's 'Ne Me Quitte Pas.'"
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