![]() I recall I previously wrote Chuck Berry’s 1959 album Chuck Berry Is On Top might as well be titled ‘The Greatest Hits of Classic Rock & Roll’. Here’s Little Richard is a breathtaking record full of energy, which still sounds great nearly 66 years after its release. And if I ever do it means I’m probably dead! Man, that tune is cooking – I simply can’t listen to it without starting to move. She was having an affair with John, who was married to Mary, who they called “Short Fat Fanny.” John and Mary would get in fights on the weekends, and when he saw her coming, he would duck back into a little alley to avoid her. He described her as tall and ugly, with just two teeth and cockeyed. Little Richard explained that Sally was a friend of the family who was always drinking whiskey – she would claim to have a cold and would drink hot toddies all day. Songfacts notes There really was a “Long Tall Sally,” but she was not a cross-dresser as sometimes reported. 6 on the pop chart in the U.S., while reaching no. ![]() It became his biggest hit, topping the R&B chart and climbing to no. Long Tall Sally, another tune Richard wrote during his time as a dishwasher for Greyhound, was credited to him, Blackwell and Enotris Johnson. Next up is the song that inspired this post, which I simply couldn’t skip. “Awap bop a lup bop a wop bam boom” was kind of his catch phrase, something he would reply to folks who asked him how he was doing, according to Songfacts. Written by Richards in 1955 while working as a dishwasher at a Greyhound bus station in his hometown of Macon, Ga., the tune was credited to Richard Penniman (Richard’s birth name was Richard Wayne Penniman) and Dorothy LaBostrie who had been asked by Blackwell to revise some of Richard’s original lyrics, which Blackwell felt were too racy. Let’s take a closer look at some of the goodies!įirst is Tutti Frutti, a song I had first heard and come to love by Elvis Presley. The album, which was recorded in New Orleans and Los Angeles, was Specialty’s first 12-inch LP. Five more singles followed prior to the release of Here’s Little Richard, including three that were included on the album: Long Tall Sally/ Slippin’ and Slidin’ (March 1956), Rip It Up/ Reddy Teddy (June 1956) and Heeby-Jeebies/ She’s Got It (October 1956). In October 1955, Tutti Frutti backed by I’m Just a Lonely Guy became Richard’s debut single for Specialty Records and his first-charting song in the U.S. ![]() One thing led to another, and I found myself listening to Richard’s original, followed by the entire record – and, holy cow, what an album! While he does a nice job with this rock & roll classic, it made me think of the incredible original and that nobody I know has done it better than Little Richard – not even my all-time favorite band The Beatles, though I dig their rendition as well. McClinton’s above rendition of Long Tall Sally appears on his most recent album Outdated Emotion from May 2022, a great covers collection of old blues, rock & roll and country songs. As such, blame them if you don’t like it! □ In this case, the trigger was a cover of Long Tall Sally I heard yesterday by Delbert McClinton, who was on my radar screen thanks to fellow bloggers Max ( PowerPop) and Cincinnati Babyhead, aka CB. ![]() Moreover, it’s not the first time I’m writing about Richard and some of the songs on that album, Here’s Little Richard. After having published this blog for more than six and a half years, a post on Little Richard’s debut album may seem to come out of left field, given my previously expressed longtime love of ’50s rock & roll. ![]()
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