Little Richard part two

Yesterday we dealt with Little Richard's pre-fame years, his influences and we ended with his first big hit, the seminal R'n'R hit Tutti Frutti. Today we'll listen to his best songs that came after that. We'll also discuss Richard's sexuality.

On his sexuality, is there a question whether Richard falls into the LGBTQI spectrum? Absolutely not. What differed from interview to interview was his degree of self-acceptance. Also, some say that he's now ex-gay... Come on guys, there's no such thing. You haven't heard anybody calling themeselves ex-straight, have you? What we do have, is the journey back and forth to the closet. An advice: when you come out, burn it to the ground, so that you'll avoid the temptation of crawling back in.

Enough editorializing. Little Richard began having sexual encounters with both sexes by his early teens and his father kicked him out of their family home at 15. Little Richard first became involved in voyeurism in his early twenties, when a female friend of his would drive him around and pick up men who would allow him to watch them have sex in the backseat of cars. Little Richard was once arrested after a gas station attendant in Macon reported sexual activity in a car featuring Little Richard and a couple. Cited on a lewd conduct charge, Little Richard spent three days in jail and was temporarily banned from performing in Macon.

During the early 1950s, Little Richard had appeared as a drag performer in various vaudeville groups. He began using makeup regularly. While attending Oakwood College, Little Richard recalled a male student showed himself to him. After the incident was reported to the student's father, Little Richard withdrew from the college. In 1962, Little Richard was again arrested after he was caught spying on men urinating at men's toilets at a Trailways bus station in Long Beach, California.

There were also women in his life. In 1956, Little Richard began a romantic relationship with Audrey Robinson, a 16-year-old college student, originally from Georgia. According to Little Richard, he would invite other men to have sex with her in groups and once invited Buddy Holly to have sex with her; Robinson denied those claims. The relationship ended after Little Richard's religious conversion in 1957. Robinson later became a stripper using the name Lee Angel. According to Robinson, Little Richard wanted to continue to see her but she felt uncomfortable seeing a preacher as a stripper. Described in GQ's UK edition as a "lifelong soulmate", Robinson and Little Richard are occasionally in each other's company.

Little Richard met his only wife, Ernestine Campbell, at an evangelical rally in October 1957. They began dating that year and wed in July 1959. According to Campbell, she and Little Richard initially enjoyed a happy marriage with "normal" sexual relations. Campbell claimed when the marriage ended in divorce in 1963, it was due to Little Richard's celebrity status, noting that it had made life difficult for her. Little Richard claimed the marriage fell apart due to him being a neglectful husband. While married, in 1962, Little Richard adopted a one-year-old boy, Danny Jones, from a late church associate. Little Richard and his son remain close, with Jones often acting as one of his bodyguards.

In an interview for Penthouse in 1995, he says: “I’ve been gay all my life and I know God is a God of love, not of hate. How can I [put] down the fisherman when I’ve been fishing all my life?” He adds that Lee Angel and Ernestine Campbell didn’t see he was gay because “they just thought of me as a pumper [fan of masturbation]. I was pumping so much peter in those days; eight or nine times a day.” In the same interview, he explains his sexuality: “We are all both male and female. Sex to me is like a smorgasbord. Whatever I feel like, I go for. What kind of sexual am I? I am omnisexual! ” But again, religion came into play: “When I had all these orgies going on,” he said, “I would get up and go and pick up my Bible. Sometimes I had my Bible right by me.”

Enough words. Let's go back to the songs. After Tutti Frutti, Richard released another bona fide classic, Long Tall Sally. It was an even bigger hit than its predecessor, in fact it was the best-selling single of the history of Specialty Records.

I love this song as much as Tutti Frutti. (The Beatles did too. It was the most durable song in their live repertoire, lasting from their earliest days as the Quarrymen in 1957 through to their last public concert in August 1966). Now - and this is just me - don't the lyrics make more sense if Long Tall Sally is a trans woman? Judge for yourselves:

Gonna tell Aunt Mary 'bout Uncle John,

He claim he has the misery but he's havin' a lot of fun,

Oh baby, yeah baby, woo, baby

Havin' me some fun tonight yeah

Well long, tall Sally

She's built for speed, she got

Everything that Uncle John need, oh baby,

Yeah baby, woo baby,

Havin' me some fun tonight yeah

Well, I saw Uncle John with long tall Sally

He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley oh baby,

Yeah baby, woo baby,

Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah ow

Well, long, tall Sally

She's built for speed, she got

Everything that Uncle John need oh baby,

Yeah baby, woo baby,

Havin' me some fun tonight yeah

Well, I saw Uncle John with bald head Sally

He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley oh baby,

Yeah baby, woo baby,

Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah

We gonna have some fun tonight,

We gonna have some fun tonight, woo

Have some fun tonight, everything's all right,

Have some fun, have me some fun tonight

Here's the video:

Since there's always a good reason to listen to a song by the Beatles, here's their version, live in Melbourne, Australia, 1964:

His next big hit was Rip It Up, another R'n'R classic (this here is a live version):

This video contains two great songs, Ready Teddy and She's Got It. It's a scene from the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It, with Tom Ewell and the fabulous Jayne Mansfield:

And here's the title song, The Girl Can't Help It:

Lucille was his next classic. His 3d #1 in the US R&B charts (after Long Tall Sally and Rip It Up). It also made #21 in the Hot 100 and #10 in the UK.

His next big hit was Jenny, Jenny. It was to be his 2nd Top 10 in the US Hot 100 (at #10), since Long Tall Sally peaked at #6.

Here he is live in France in 1966:

Of many of the songs that I'm presenting today, there are clips in youtube with the original audio and better sound quality, but no video. I usually try to post videos where you can also watch the artist perform, even if the sound quality is not the best. I believe that the visual compensates for the poorer audio. Do let me know if you disagree.

Keep A-Knockin' was yet another classic. Rolling Stone magazine later ranked Keep A-Knockin' at number 442 in its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It was a big hit too: #2 in the US R&B charts, #8 in the Hot 100 and #21 in the UK.

Good Golly, Miss Molly was yet another bona fide classic. It was to be his last US Top 10 hit, both in the Hot 100 (#10), as well as in the R&B chart (#4). It also made #8 in the UK.

Keep in mind that all these classics, from Tutti Frutti (October 1955), to Good Golly, Miss Molly (January 1958) all happenned in a period of a little over two years, in which time he had 11 great singles! During that period, Richard could do no wrong.

Baby Face was to be his last big hit in the UK, reaching #2. it was originally a 1926 song.

Get Down with It (1967) wasn't a hit for Little Richard. It was to be, however, Slade's first hit single. Slade was the most popular band in the UK in the first half of the 70s.

Since we've mentioned it, here's Slade's version:

This is a great song from his later period, Freedom Blues:

In 1986, he appeared in the film Down And Out In Beverly Hills, as well as in its soundtrack. This produced his last solo hit, Great Gosh A'Mighty! (It's a Matter of Time) which fell agonizingly short of the US Top 40. It made #42. This is a scene from the film. Yes, that's the fabulous Bette Midler chasing after the running Santa.