RIP Richard Penniman aka "Little Richard"

[al mcguire]

A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bom-bom. Little Richard wrote the greatest (maybe the first) rock & roll lyric to describe a drum fill he wanted. Or – depends when you asked him – it was how he talked back to his boss as a dishwasher at the Macon Greyhound station. Hearing a hit in the frustrated number Richard pounded out during a break in an unproductive recording session, producer Bumps Blackwell hired songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to temper the original lyrics' lip-smacking celebration of "good booty" and helpful butt-sex instructions ("If it don't fit, don't force it/You can grease it, make it easy"). "Tutti-Frutti" may have been modified from "explicit" to "suggestive," but Richard's lustfully tumbling onomatopoeia still voiced a carnal glee far beyond the reach of any dictionary words  – when he lands on the last two syllables you can practically hear the bodies slapping against each other.

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/little-richard-20-essential-songs-15792/tutti-frutti-1955-209077/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/little-richard-dead-48505/

 

[drpro]

Was on an interview shoot with him after James Brown passed.  Super nice fellow

RIP

[EmRR]

RIP, what a thing he did.  

[old school]

An innovator and original who helped forge what was to become “Rock & Roll”. I treasure my work experience with Mr Penniman on “Down and Out in Beverly Hills”. Cheers to the “ ‘King and Queen’ of Rock&Roll”. Thanks for all you gave us.

CrewC