R.I.P. - Little Richard - The Soul Years

The death of the legendary Little Richard Wayne Penniman was announced yesterday (9 May 2020) aged 87.  The cause given was bone cancer but he had also suffered a stroke and heart attack in recent years and hadn't been in good health for several years.  It is always sad when a legend dies but his music has lived for 65 years and paved the way for popular music as we know it and his legacy will live on and be immortal ... long live Little Richard.

Little Richard is obviously best know for his flamboyant flare and his rock & roll years in late 50s. He was most definitely a pioneer of rock & roll and popular music who was an inspiration to many artists who later became world famous i.e Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Elton John to name a few. Many of his contemporaries covered his songs e.g. Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Everly Brothers, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.

He started recording in 1951 with RCA but his first, and all major hits, started in 1955 on Art Rupe's Specialty label with Tutti Frutti (#21) followed by a string of hits up to 1958 such as Long Tall Sally #13, Slippin' And Slidin' #33, Rip It Up #27, Ready Teddy #44,  The Girl Can't Help It #49, Lucille #27, Send Me Some Lovin' #54, Jenny Jenny #10, Knock-A-Knockin' #8, Good Golly Miss Molly #10, Ooh My Soul #35 and Baby Face #41.  He didn't reach the top 40 again but came close in 1970 with Freedom Blues #47 and 1986 with God Gosh A'mighty from Down And Out In Beverly Hills soundtrack #42.  

His chart positions fared better in UK with 5 top 10 hits Long Tall Sally #3, The Girl Can't Help It #9, Lucile #10, Good Golly Miss Molly #8 and Baby Face #2 and a further 4 Top 20 hits She's Got It #15, jenny Jenny #11, By The Light Of The Silvery Moon #17 and Bama Lama Bama Loo #20 whilst Rip It Up, Tutti Frutti, Keep A Knockin', Ooh! My Soul and Kansas City all made UK top 30.

To give a flavour of his hit period here's a post put up yesterday by Classic Mood Experience of 45 minutes of hits from the 50s.

NOTE Unfortunately this clip has now been removed from YouTube but I'll leave up the playlist to give you a flavour.

00:00 - Baby face (1958)
02:27 - Tutti Frutti (1957)
04:48 - Kansas City (1957)
07:02 - Slippin' and Slidin' (Peepin' and Hidin') (1957)
09:35 - True Fine Mama (1957)
12:11 - The Girl Can't Help It (1958)
14:39 - All Around the World (1958)
17:02 - Long Tall Sally (1957)
19:09 - Rip It Up (1957)
21:28 - Send Me Some Lovin' (1958)
23:49 - Keep a Knockin' (1958)
26:04 - Hey Hey Hey Hey (1958)
28:08 - Good Golly Miss Molly (1958)
30:13 - Jenny, Jenny (1957)
32:13 - Ooh! My Soul
34:20 - She's got it (1957)
36:24 - I'll Never Let You Go (Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo) (1958)
38:46 - Ready Teddy (1957)
40:51 - Lucille (1958)
43:10 - Miss Ann (1957)


In this post I will cover the period from 1965 to 1969 and focus on his soul recordings, all but 2 of which never charted (not even US R&B) so a lot of these may be relatively unknown to many. Click on links to open YouTube sound clip.

His best known 45s on NS scene must surely be I Don't Want To Discuss It, Poor Dog and A Little Bit Of Something on Okeh.  He was probably overlooked as he was a mainstream artist, but his output from 1965, only 2 of which actually charted ( I Don't Know What You've Got Bit It's Got Me #92 BB 100 #12 R&B and Poor Dog #121 BB 100 #41 R&B), holds many 'undiscovered' gems.

Material prior to 1964/65 was rock & roll

1964

Cherry Red  [Vee Jay VJ 625] (Deep Soul)

1965

Cross Over [Vee Jay VJ 652] (Northern Soul)

It Ain't Whatcha Do (It's the Way How You Do It) [Vee Jay VJ 652] (Northern Soul)

Dance What You Wanna [Vee Jay VJ 665]

I Don't Know What You've Got But It's Got Me (Pt  1 & Pt 2) [Vee Jay VJ 698] (Deep Soul)

1966

Holy Mackeral [Modern 1018] (Northern Soul)

Baby, Don't You Want a Man Like Me [Modern 1018] (Northern Soul)

Do You Feel It (Pt 1 & Pt 2) [Modern 1019] (Northern Soul)

Poor Dog (Who Can't Wag His Own Tail) [Okeh 4-7251] (Northern Soul)

Well [Okeh 4-7251] (Northern Soul bordering on Rock N Roll!)

Directly From My Heart [Modern 1022] (Deep Soul)

I'm Back [Modern 1022] (Another Northern Soul bordering on Rock n Roll)

I Need Love [Okeh 4-7262] (Storming Northern Soul - you can hear the Larry Williams (composer) influence on this track)

The Commandments Of Love [Okeh 4-7262] (Deep Soul)

1967

I Don't Want To Discuss It [Okeh 4-7271] (Northern Soul Classic)

Hurry Sundown [Okeh 4-7271] (Deep Soul with a Gospel feel first recorded by folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary - the 2 versions are incomparable - a better deep soul record and performance you'd be hard pressed to find)

Get Down With It [CBS UK 8116] (Northern Soul with more than a hint of Rock N Roll  - covered as their first hit by Slade in 1971)

Rosemary [CBS UK 8116] (Rocker)

Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go) [Okeh 4-7278] (Bluesy Deep Soul)

Never Gonna Let You Go  [Okeh 4-7278] (Deep Soul)

A Little Bit of Something (Beats A Whole Lot Of Nothing) [Okeh 4-7286] (Northern Soul)

Money  [Okeh 4-7286] (Northern Soul - great version of Barrett Strong classic co-written by Berry Gordy Jr. and Janie Bradford)

Bring It Back Home To Me [Modern 1030] [Deep Soul version of Sam Cooke classic Bring It On Home To Me with a subtle title change)

Slippin' And Slidin' [Modern 1030] - reissue of his rock n roll hit from 1956

Baby What You Want Me to Do Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 [Modern 1043] (Rock/Blues)

Try Some Of Mine [Brunswick 55362] (60s Soul/ R&B)

She's Together [Brunswick 55362] (60s Soul/ R&B a bit of a stomper but too fast (and rocking) to be termed Northern Soul)

1968

Baby, Don't You Tear My Clothes [Brunswick 55377] (Rock)

Stingy Jenny [Brunswick 55377] (Rock)

Soul Train [Brunswick 55386] (Funk)

Can I Count On You [Brunswick 55386] (Funky Soul)

1969

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On / Lucille [Okeh 4-7325] Live version of previous hits

His output from 1970 onwards tended to be reissues or rock / rock n roll related and not much soul to speak of.  I've listed a handful of sides that may be of interest.

1971

Somebody Saw You [Reprise 1005] (A rock edged, raw, driving dancer)

1971

Green Power [Reprise 1043] (Funky Soul) 

1973

Don't You Know I [Kent 4568] (Deep Soul)

1975

Try To Help Your Brother [Mainstream 5572] (Starts off as Deep Soul and then after about 60 seconds turns into a funky Northern Soul dancer - this is 45 only)

Funk Proof [Mainstream 5572] (Funk sax led instrumental written by Keith Winslow - not sure how much involvement little Richard had on this recording although he did play alto saxophone so perhaps it is him on sax?)

Album ONLY Tracks

1965 - The Wild & Frantic Little Richard [Modern MST 103]
Do The Jerk

1967 - The Explosive Little Richard [Okeh OKS 14117]
Land Of A Thousand Dances
Function At The Junction