This will be the first of two separate editions of 10 Songs this week, each drawing exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1025. Today's list is all about the late, great Little Richard.
LITTLE RICHARD: Ready Teddy
Ready. Set. Go, man, go. From 1956, and this is as direct a statement of intent as any rock 'n' roll anthem to follow, from Jerry Lee Lewis to The Ramones. Little Richard excelled at creating party music, amped-up songs of whooping abandon that drew musically from Gospel while embracing...embracing, extolling the hedonistic virtue of vice. The records aren't sexy so much as they just embody sex itself. Ready! Ready-ready-teddy, I'm READY! Ready to...rock 'n' roll? It's not even a euphemism. Cigarette...?
LITTLE RICHARD: Good Golly Miss Molly
When my wife Brenda was pregnant with our daughter Meghan in 1995, the first time Brenda ever felt the baby kick was when we were watching some TV history of rock 'n' roll music. Little Richard appeared on the screen, singing his signature WOOOOOOO!, and Meghan made her presence known. Awright!, I thought, THAT'S my kid! When she also subsequently kicked in response to [shudder] Michael Bolton, I wondered if perhaps a blood test would be in order. But no--the latter was an anomaly, thank God. Meghan's a rocker, even if our specific tastes diverge far more often than they coincide. Good golly!
I don't remember if "Good Golly Miss Molly" was the Little Richard song that prompted prenatal Meghan's first rockin' and/or rollin'. For the sake of narrative, let's presume it was, which means "Good Golly Miss Molly" was the start of many shared musical moments between my daughter and me. I'll take that, and the collective memories always make me smile.
LITTLE RICHARD: Tutti Frutti
Relentlessly whitebread crooner Pat Boone has insisted his relentlessly whitebread covers of essential rock 'n' roll fare like Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" helped the originator cross over to a white audience. Boone's claim may have some historical credence (even though I mostly reject it), but there's just no comparison between Boone's bland, bloodless interpretation and the manic original fury of Little Richard.
THE BEATLES: Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey
Many of my introductions to the pioneers of rock 'n' roll came via proxy, and specifically via cover versions performed by The Beatles. My first Chuck Berry song was "Rock And Roll Music" by The Beatles. My first Buddy Holly song was "Words Of Love" by The Beatles. My first Carl Perkins song was "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" by The Beatles. And my first Little Richard song was "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey" by The Beatles.
All of the above came to me through the combined splendor of Beatles '65 and Beatles VI, a pair of haphazardly-assembled LPs slapped together by The Beatles' U.S. record label Capitol (LPs which also allowed The Beatles to introduce me to Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy"). Both of those albums were in the family record library when I was growing up, and I remain inordinately fond of them.
THE BEATLES: I'm Down
The sincerest form of flattery. I'm tempted to say that "I'm Down" is to Little Richard as The Knickerbockers' "Lies" is to The Beatles, but that wouldn't be accurate. For one thing, while the Lennonesque lead vocals of The Knickerbockers' Beau Charles could plausibly convince some that "Lies" was an actual Beatles 45, Paul McCartney doesn't quite succeed in his effort to become Little Richard on "I'm Down." The effort itself is evident, and transcendent in and of itself. Paul wanted to sound like his idol. But not even a Beatle could pull that off; there was only ever one Little Richard.
That said, "I'm Down" remains an amazing record, thrown away as a non-album B-side to the more familiar "Help!" Perhaps it was the gulf between trying to be Little Richard and being Little Richard that led to McCartney to dismiss "I'm Down" as "plastic soul, man, plastic soul" during its recording, but he was wrong. When I wrote my very first attempt at rock journalism in late '77/early '78, "I'm Down" was one of the songs I listed to represent the epitome of rock 'n' roll music. That view has not changed.
JOHN LENNON: Slippin' And Slidin'
I was a teenage Beatles fan. But I was a teenager in the '70s, a little late for Beatlemania, yet old enough to remember it and to remain in its thrall. Any chance to see one of The Beatles on television was an opportunity that could not be missed, whether it was Paul's 1973 TV special James Paul McCartney or 1975's A Salute To Sir Lew Grade: The Master Showman. The latter featured a live performance by John Lennon.
At the age of 15 in 1975, I knew little or nothing of the back story surrounding Lennon's appearance in this program, honoring a man who had managed to gain ownership of the lucrative Lennon-McCartney publishing catalog, a catalog our John and our Paul would have preferred to own themselves. Gentlemen, start your lawyers.
Nor did I know that John had recently reconciled with his wife Yoko Ono. I had previously seen a picture of John with May Pang, but I was confused by it; I didn't know about John and Yoko splitting to begin with, so I also didn't know about John's interim girlfriend Pang. And of course I wasn't aware of John and Yoko getting back together because the separation hadn't worked out. I only knew I was going to see John Lennon sing and play on TV.
And I found it odd, but riveting. The players in Lennon's band wore masks on the backs of their heads, presumably implying the two-faced nature of honoree Lew Grade. Although the internet tells us that they performed three songs that night, only two were broadcast: "Imagine," and a cover of Little Richard's "Slippin And Slidin'." Lennon had recorded "Slippin' And Slidin'" for his 1975 covers LP Rock 'n' Roll, but this was the first time I had heard the song in any context.
As we speak of these things that I didn't know, we must also mention what no one knew at the time: this would be John Lennon's final public performance. After this event, Lennon took a five-year break from show biz, returning in 1980 with Double Fantasy and fresh plans to play and promote his new record.
Those plans were cut short.
THE POPPEES: She's Got It
B-side of NYC power pop group The Poppees' Bomp! Records single "Jealousy," which I picked up at Sam Goody's in Smithtown Mall on Long Island during spring break 1979. I didn't hear Little Richard's original version of "She's Got It" until many years later. For this particular spring break, I had first gone to Staten Island to meet my then-girlfriend Brenda's parents. The trip included an evening at a Bowery club called Gildersleeve's, where we saw Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse The Flashcubes dazzle a small crowd of supposedly-jaded New Yorkers, and where I bought the 'Cubes' brand-new 45 "Wait Till Next Week"/"Radio" directly from bassist Gary Frenay. The stop at Sam Goody's was part of a side visit I made via the Long Island Railroad to Stony Brook to see my high school friend Jay, who would eventually serve as my best man when Brenda and I were married in 1984. Oh, and I also picked up Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Hong Kong Gardens" single at Goody's; as a poor college student, I couldn't afford to buy any albums that week.
Out of those three 45s, I wound up playing the Flashcubes single the most often. By far. I did like the A-sides of both the Siouxsie and the Banshees and Poppees singles; this week's show was the first time I've heard The Poppees' "She's Got It" in many years. It's a sturdy cover, but the Beatley "Jealousy" was the right choice for the top side.
SUZI QUATRO: Keep A-Knockin'
My teen rock 'n' roll crush Suzi Quatro covered Little Richard's "Keep A-Knockin'" for her second album, 1974's Quatro. It's nearly impossible to take ownership of a Little Richard song--of all the times artists have covered Little Richard classics, I can't think of a single instance where anyone (including The Beatles) improved on the original--but Quatro deserves credit for successfully recasting the song into her own style, crossing it with a little Eddie Cochran, applying a touch of U.K. glam with the steady hands-across-the-water of her native Michigan. This song is dedicated to all you 16-year-old girls out there! Joan Jett would have probably been about 15 when she heard it. Close enough.
THE BEATLES: Long Tall Sally
In 1977, my senior year in high school, Capitol Records ignored objections from John, Paul, George, and Ringo and released the first official Beatles live album, The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl. I was stoked beyond belief, and bought it as quickly as I could (which led to a tiny bit of personal drama detailed here, and yes, my arm still hurts). I'm always going to love this album, without regard for whatever faults others may insist that it has.
The album mixes performances from The Beatles' 1964 and '65 concerts at this legendary venue, and it closes with the Fabs paying tribute to their mentor once again, singing Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally." Over the screams and right through the hysteria, you can still hear--still feel--the sheer enthusiasm of four young men from Liverpool who called themselves The Beatles. They loved music, rock 'n' roll music, so they played the music they loved. Chuck Berry. The Isley Brothers. Little Richard. You can't change the world if you don't believe in what you're doing.
The Beatles' 1964 Hollywood Bowl shows ended with "Long Tall Sally." Though not heard on the LP, their '65 Hollywood Bowl shows ended with "I'm Down." Little Richard was their active model in both cases.
LITTLE RICHARD: The Girl Can't Help It
Title theme from the first great rock 'n' roll movie, and The Greatest Record Ever Made! The Georgia Peach did indeed have a lot of what they call the most. We will never see another performer like Little Richard.
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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 134 essays about 134 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
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