Loose Booty
There are some songs that simply make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up every time you hear them. Often these are not even songs which you purposely listen to all that frequently, but will occasionally pop up on your shuffle, at a bar, on the radio or just as the momentary backdrop to an otherwise humdrum day. But for that moment you are instantly reminded of the power that music has to just grab and hold you at some guttural and primitive level, some place that you are unaware of, and shake you with a force of elemental joy. It can literally transform your day.
Imagine then the power of hearing a song that sounds like nothing you have ever heard before. Not some experimental guitar solo that you marvel at for its technical wizardry, or some sampled beat that cries freshness and innovation. No, a song that sounds literally like nothing you have ever heard before. It is difficult in this age of musical recycling, of sampling and stretching, of derivatives and covers, to imagine such a scene. You have to step into the far reaches of musical genres to discover something truly new nowadays, and even then it is often so fresh and innovative as to render it quite unbearable to listen to. Well imagine then what it must have been like to be a music fan in late 1955 and hearing this incredible sound flying out of your wireless.
Out of nowhere a soulful and impossibly sexually charged half-scream, half-exclamation cries out "A-wop-bomp-a-loom-op-a-wop-bam-boom!", before a pounding and rollicking piano led music of unadulterated good vibes is unleashed on you. With the impenetrable but somehow lucid couplet "Tutti Frutti, aw rudy" repeatedly chanted and increasing in intensity, before the vocal drum roll hits again, followed by a verse of raucous tale-telling. To start a song off with a chorus is in itself pretty audacious, but when it is a chorus with such other-worldly charms it borders on downright genius. Little Richard was not the inventor of rock'n'roll, nor is "Tutti Frutti" the first record of the fledgling new music, but there is something about it that takes the music on to a new level and changes the game subtly but crucially.
The twelve bar chord progression and hard-driving music is significant as a model for future records. But more than that, "Tutti Frutti" sexes up the music in an unadulterated fashion, and gives voice to a new, unashamed, confident and flamboyant black star, the repercussions of which have hit far and wide since. That Richard was gay (if not openly then certainly not hiding the fact as far as the times allowed) and as wonderfully camp as a tent convention is also significant. Imagine that, a gay, black, sexually charged pop star in 1950s middle America. Like I said before, it is difficult to consider now quite how ground-breaking this was. Those in the know also were aware of the fact that the original song, a staple of Little Richard's live shows prior to the unplanned studio recording in late 1955, had the chorus "Tutti frutti, loose booty", with tutti frutti a street slang term for a homosexual male. If music and society were not quite ready for an all out overt celebration of gayness, the so-called cleaned up version still remains one of the archetypes of rock'n'roll music and is simply a killer tune that refuses to date, and never loses its impact.
The early history of rock'n'roll is a fascinating story to tell, and can never be dated to one song or one artist. It is a progression and amalgamation over time that became a social and cultural revolution, with key players and moments too numerous to mention here. In many ways Little Richard came at the end of this process, and was a culmination of a many number of elements that came before. But he took those elements and added something new to the mix. It could be said that he added the funk to it, and thus paved the way for much of the great soul and r'n'b music that followed, and all that this in turn influenced. His original recording career was brief, but this does not detract from its enormous impact. In some ways it makes it even more stunning. So don't wait for the next time that "Tutti Frutti" turns up on your radio. Dig it out. You're day will always be a better one after it.
Imagine then the power of hearing a song that sounds like nothing you have ever heard before. Not some experimental guitar solo that you marvel at for its technical wizardry, or some sampled beat that cries freshness and innovation. No, a song that sounds literally like nothing you have ever heard before. It is difficult in this age of musical recycling, of sampling and stretching, of derivatives and covers, to imagine such a scene. You have to step into the far reaches of musical genres to discover something truly new nowadays, and even then it is often so fresh and innovative as to render it quite unbearable to listen to. Well imagine then what it must have been like to be a music fan in late 1955 and hearing this incredible sound flying out of your wireless.
Out of nowhere a soulful and impossibly sexually charged half-scream, half-exclamation cries out "A-wop-bomp-a-loom-op-a-wop-bam-boom!", before a pounding and rollicking piano led music of unadulterated good vibes is unleashed on you. With the impenetrable but somehow lucid couplet "Tutti Frutti, aw rudy" repeatedly chanted and increasing in intensity, before the vocal drum roll hits again, followed by a verse of raucous tale-telling. To start a song off with a chorus is in itself pretty audacious, but when it is a chorus with such other-worldly charms it borders on downright genius. Little Richard was not the inventor of rock'n'roll, nor is "Tutti Frutti" the first record of the fledgling new music, but there is something about it that takes the music on to a new level and changes the game subtly but crucially.
The twelve bar chord progression and hard-driving music is significant as a model for future records. But more than that, "Tutti Frutti" sexes up the music in an unadulterated fashion, and gives voice to a new, unashamed, confident and flamboyant black star, the repercussions of which have hit far and wide since. That Richard was gay (if not openly then certainly not hiding the fact as far as the times allowed) and as wonderfully camp as a tent convention is also significant. Imagine that, a gay, black, sexually charged pop star in 1950s middle America. Like I said before, it is difficult to consider now quite how ground-breaking this was. Those in the know also were aware of the fact that the original song, a staple of Little Richard's live shows prior to the unplanned studio recording in late 1955, had the chorus "Tutti frutti, loose booty", with tutti frutti a street slang term for a homosexual male. If music and society were not quite ready for an all out overt celebration of gayness, the so-called cleaned up version still remains one of the archetypes of rock'n'roll music and is simply a killer tune that refuses to date, and never loses its impact.
The early history of rock'n'roll is a fascinating story to tell, and can never be dated to one song or one artist. It is a progression and amalgamation over time that became a social and cultural revolution, with key players and moments too numerous to mention here. In many ways Little Richard came at the end of this process, and was a culmination of a many number of elements that came before. But he took those elements and added something new to the mix. It could be said that he added the funk to it, and thus paved the way for much of the great soul and r'n'b music that followed, and all that this in turn influenced. His original recording career was brief, but this does not detract from its enormous impact. In some ways it makes it even more stunning. So don't wait for the next time that "Tutti Frutti" turns up on your radio. Dig it out. You're day will always be a better one after it.
posted by Twelve Bar at 2:26 AM
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