{"id":2672,"date":"2020-05-11T17:13:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T22:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.streamapse.com\/?p=2672"},"modified":"2020-05-11T17:13:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T22:13:19","slug":"a-lop-bam-boom-little-richards-saucy-style-underpins-todays-hits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=2672","title":{"rendered":"A-lop-bam-boom: Little Richard\u2019s saucy style underpins today\u2019s hits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Little Richard was washing dishes<\/a> at a Greyhound bus station in Macon, Georgia when he wrote Tutti Frutti, Good Golly Miss Molly and Long Tall Sally. The singer, who died Saturday at 87, sent the songs as demos to Specialty Records.<\/p>\n

Robbie Drexhage\/Wikimedia<\/span>, CC BY<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon he was having lunch with talent scout Robert \u201cBumps\u201d Blackwell<\/a> at a New Orleans nightclub, leaping onto the piano and belting out:<\/p>\n

Tutti Frutti, good booty<\/p>\n

if it don\u2019t fit, don\u2019t force it<\/p>\n

you can grease it, take it easy<\/p>\n

tutti frutti, good booty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Watching the flamboyant performer sing about the pleasures of anal sex, Blackwell knew he had a hit.<\/p>\n

The recorded lyrics were toned down<\/a> for the conservative 1950s, but Little Richard\u2019s wild whoops and falsetto screeches infused the song with the saucy spirit of the original.<\/p>\n