I don’t care what anybody else says only someone like me, born in 1940 and hitting the most awkward and irritating period of youth between 1954 and 1958 at exactly the same time as the world of music was ripped asunder can truly describe himself as a child of rock and roll.
Recorded in February 1956 in New Orleans and backed by some of the best session men in the city Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally was released one month later.
Richard had been irritated by the pop chart success of Pat Boone’s cover of his 1955 rhythm and blues hit Tutti Frutti so he decided to record a song that would be too fast for Boone to cover.
The result was a sax laden raw, driving 12 bar blues that stayed at the top of the r&b charts for 19 weeks but also broke into the top ten pop chart briefly making Richard, with his wild boogie woogie piano and loud screaming voice one of the hottest names in the exploding genre of rock and roll.
By the end of the fifties Richard and many of the other early rockers faded into the background as the big labels in the US tried to push a less brash, more commercial style towards the teenage market. But by then Richard had left rock and roll behind to become a preacher.
He remained popular in England, however, so when he returned to rock in the early 60s he made several UK tours playing with, amongst others, the then little known Beatles and Rolling Stones. Interestingly enough the Beatles made one of the best covers of Long Tall Sally. Slightly slower and less frantic they nevertheless managed a decent fist of his raw, untutored style – not surprising, really, since he had coached Lennon when they had shared several gigs in Hamburg in 1962 when the Fab 4 were totally unknown.
Interesting factoid
Little Richard (real name Richard Penniman ) has had a roller coaster life with many high and low points. But at the end of the 60s, at the height of the influence of Black Power he defied their demands that he perform only to black audiences – fifteen years after he had caused consternation in many southern towns by attracting white kids to his concerts.
