Richard Penniman aka Little Richard (1932 - 2020)

Another icon of the rock and roll era has left us on our own. With Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard was the top that made young America and the rest of the western world move from 1955 onwards. He was a huge influence on the beat generation in the U.K. and especially Paul McCartney who found his Little Richard voice in his rock and roll songs through the numerous times The Beatles played rock and roll covers in Hamburg.

Both Little Richard and Chuck Berry were men from an era before my time, artists that I got to know through the cover versions of U.K. beat and rhythm & blues bands, when I started back tracking their records from the late 70s onwards. My introduction to rock and roll came from a totally different event: carnival in Noord-Brabant.

When as young teenagers we snug into the pub where our parents were celebrating their carnival there always was a live band playing carnival songs. A drummer, keyboard and guitar player doing all these routine songs. Later in the evening there was always a rock and roll block of three songs, where the men showed what else they were capable of. Something I totally did not realise at the time but probably they played every weekend once or twice and not just four days in a row with carnival.

What did they play? Always the same three songs: 'Kom Van Dat Dak Af' by Peter en zijn Rockets, 'Tutti Frutti' by Little Richard and 'Johnny Be Goode' by Chuck Berry. Always these three songs, twice in a whole evening and always the roof was lifted off of the ceiling. The carnival hits of that year and all the years past were fun for the occasion, this was music in my adolescent ears. Not that I was a rock and roll fan per se. I never went out to buy a rock and roll album for instance.

The second introduction was through the compilation hit single by Long Tall Ernie and the Shakers, where 'The Girl Can't Help It' was incorporated into. That basically remained it, until I got to play in the Flopsband in the late 90s and got to play a few Little Richard songs myself.

Looking at the old pictures and reading the stories a few things can be reflected upon, things that strike me. Firstly, how incredibly gay Little Richard looks in all the photo's, etc. While totally getting away with it without anybody apparently noticing or taking offence. Most likely what he did was already so outrageous that he could hide in plain sight. The second observation is that in all his music there are expression of hysteria. Part of his show is overdoing it in wild ways, with emotions flying off the rails all the time. The third is that within Little Richard, like in Elvis and Jerry Lee, two flames raged: the one of youth and rebellion and one of the Lord calling on them to stay on his side. In Little Richard perhaps the loudest of all as he quit music to become a priest and back and forth. Fourthly that in retrospect his music is less wild than the other three. The horns in his work always make it seem less dangerous to my ears. It is his voice that creates the wildness and madness, see the previous points. The final point is that his career was basically over in the 50s already. He played his old hits for decades but nothing influential came out of him any more. As he wrote his own music, that was not necessary up front. It seems like he had said all that there was to say in those few years.

To me Little Richard is a man of the past but a name that was always there from the time I got to know music more seriously. Although I never got further than buying a beautiful 4 cd box rock and roll set with the greatest rock and roll hits and unknown gems by long forgotten rock and roll artists. It gave me Little Richard's greatest songs. Two of which I still play with my new band, Sweetwood. 'Lucille' and 'Tutti Frutti'. Some songs will never go away for party bands. It's past 45 years since I discovered that at those carnival evenings.

Of the big four there's one last man standing, Jerry Lee Lewis, but to be honest he is my least favourite of the four. Chuck Berry is my absolute  number one though.

Wo.


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