Today brought the sad news of the death of Little Richard. If there was one single artist I could point to as the true avatar of 1950s rock and roll, it's him. He performed with more reckless abandon than his peers, and his showmanship and gender bending set the stage for so many others. Some of the influences are pretty direct. For example, on "She Saw Me Standing There," the first Beatles song on the first Beatles album, Paul McCartney imitates Little Richard's famous high "woo." Other influences have more to do with his attitude and way of attacking the music. Listening to his short, stripped down songs today I thought a lot about punk rock. It's amazing to think that he recorded his influential songs in only a couple of years before having a conversion experience and rejecting the rock and roll devil for the salvation of gospel music. (Of course, he'd come back, but never as a hit-maker.)
One of my favorites of his is "Keep A Knockin'," a truly raucous rave-up that's more an assault than a song. A friend of mine in college had a tape of 50s rock and roll he liked to play in his car, and this song was by far the best on that compilation. It just seemed miles ahead of everything else when put in the context of its time. Others would play fast, Little Richard played faster. Others would get crazy, Little Richard was always crazier. When Pat Boone infamously covered "Tutti Frutti," Little Richard answered with "Long Tall Sally," getting even more far gone and challenging Boone to try and do it again.
Growing up the oldies station was on a lot in my parents' car. I could appreciate a lot of it, but nothing got my blood pumping like Little Richard. There is a spirit in his early songs that the ravages of time still have not dulled. RIP
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