Just What I Always Wanted

"Just What I Always Wanted"
Single by Mari Wilson
from the album Showpeople
Released	1982
Genre	Pop new wave
Length	3:22
Label	The Compact Organization, London Records
Songwriter(s)	Teddy Johns
Producer(s)	Tony Mansfield
Mari Wilson singles chronology
"Baby It's True" (1982) "Just What I Always Wanted" (1982) "(Beware) Boyfriend" (1982)

"Just What I Always Wanted" is a song by English singer Mari Wilson, released in 1982 as the lead single from her 1983 debut album Showpeople.

As Wilson's fifth single release, "Just What I Always Wanted" was her first UK top 40 hit, reaching No. 8 in October 1982.[1]

Robin Denselow of The Guardian said of the song: "With 'Just What I Always Wanted', Mari Wilson found the perfect song to fit her image - emotional, slightly camp & sounding as if it might have been a pop hit back in the early 60s. It was tongue-in-cheek but performed with deadpan panache, treated the same way Mari treats her stage uniform with her long gloves, jewellery & enormous beehive hairdo."[2]

The song's lyrics mention three people while listing things that the singer wants: artist Pablo Picasso ("not one Picasso, he'll give me a pair"), the song's writer Teddy Johns ("a tune from Teddy"), and the song's artwork photographer Peter Ashworth ("an Ashworth snap").[3]

Track listing

• A. "Just What I Always Wanted" (Teddy Johns)
• B1. "Are You There (With Another Girl)" (Bacharach and David)
• B2. "Woe, Woe, Woe" (Teddy Johns)

Charts

Chart (1982/83)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4]	76
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company)	8

References

1. "MARI WILSON | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
2. The Guardian 17 February 1983 "Robert Denselow reviews the new rock releases" Arts p.12
3. "Just What I Always Wanted". Discogs.
4. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 340. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.