{"id":2063,"date":"2011-12-06T13:58:26","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T18:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=2063"},"modified":"2012-02-21T14:50:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-21T19:50:53","slug":"happy-birthday-little-richard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=2063","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday Little Richard!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Richard Wayne Penniman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Little Richard – Poor Dog (Can’t Wag His Own Tail) <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Little Richard – I Need Love <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was yesterday, while I sat beside my wife in the hospital, surfing the web that I discovered that it was in fact the 79th anniversary of the birth\/eruption of the mighty Little Richard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Penniman<\/strong> is one of the true greats of American music, and next to Jerry Lee Lewis<\/strong>, just about the last of his kind still prowling the earth.<\/p>\n

I thought that in the absence of a cake, I ought to get something together to mark the occasion (albeit a day late), and since I had some very groovy, very soulful Little Richard tracks dry-aging in the Funky16Corners Soul Cellar<\/strong>, that I would do so.<\/p>\n

What you get here are two smoking tracks from his 1966 Okeh set ‘The Explosive Little Richard’ (for which I can neither locate the label scans not muster up the energy to dig out the album<\/em>), as well as a republication of one of my fave pieces from the blog in which I rhapsodize about the greatness the man.<\/p>\n

If this is familiar, but somehow “un”<\/em>, it is because that it was originally posted back in 2007 in tandem with his early 70s cut ‘Nuki Suki’.<\/p>\n

I thought that since the writing was recycled, I ought to cough up some tunes that hadn’t appeared here before, so there you go.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the music and the words, and I’ll see you all on Friday with something new.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published 2\/4\/07<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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>>Whether you spent a day in your smoking jacket, reclined on the settee with a good book and a snifter of brandy, or the night out, sweating up your best tee-shirt with an icy bottle of beer in your claws, I\u2019m guessing you certainly deserved it \u2013 as do we all. This, opposed to the lot of the neckties of the world, who spent their weekend poring over spreadsheets and such, concocting new ways to endear themselves to the uber-bosses by thinking of methods to keep the rest of us down. This I suspect \u2013 whether they know it or not \u2013 will provide them with a lifetime of regrets, which they will savor in some cold, substandard \u201ccare facility\u201d long after their children have forgotten them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the weekend is all about. Avoiding that kind of future. The kind where all you have is regrets. I mean, when I\u2019m 65 (or 70, or 90 if I\u2019m really lucky) I\u2019ll have lots of wonderful, non-spreadsheet related memories to keep me warm, as well as my wife, kids and (one hopes someday) grandkids, to whom I will bequeath the contents of my bookshelves and crates, which by that time will be seen by most as little more than arcana and the ephemera of a bygone age<\/p>\n

However, when the vast majority of the teenagers of the future (which by the way would make a wonderful band name and\/or title for a 1950\u2019s drive in flick) are doing the NuRobot to the strains of Zontar 2100 (or whatever they\u2019re showing on Venusian MTV), my progeny will be the keepers of a wellspring of valuable cultural knowledge. Whether they use this knowledge for good or evil (I suspect that somewhere in the roots of my family tree yet to be there lurks the leader of some kind of soul 45-based mystery cult) is yet to be revealed. I am however sure of one thing\u2026though they may walk the earth clad in tinfoil suits and six-foot platform boots, they will know who Little Richard<\/strong> was. I\u2019ll make sure of that my friends.<\/p>\n

Oh yes, I will<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Why?<\/p>\n

Well I\u2019d hope that if you were a regular visitor to the Funky16Corners blog<\/strong> you\u2019d already know the answer to that particular question, but then again, maybe not.<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re one of those people that can\u2019t abide by the sounds of anything before a certain cut-off date and you see Little Richard as little more than a relic of bygone age, or even worse as that comical old queen in the bad wig yelling at Alf on the Hollywood Squares.
\nIf that\u2019s what you\u2019re thinking my friend, well\u2026you have another think coming.<\/p>\n

Because\u2026well\u2026pay attention on account of I’m about to start testifying<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The 1950\u2019s were the very heart of the atom age and while that usually brings to mind images of mushroom clouds aglow over the Nevada desert, it reminds me of another explosion entirely, that being the equally jarring arrival of a young Georgia dishwasher named Richard Penniman on the American scene.<\/p>\n

I have often (usually every time I see a film clip of Little Richard) given much thought to what it must have been like to see him for the first time. How must it have felt to be a 13-year-old kid in ultra-white bread Republican middle America, the very heart of staid I-Like-Ike-ism, turning on the radio and hearing a record like \u2018Good Golly Miss Molly\u2019. A 45 that carried with it (aside from all manner of earth shattering cultural implications) a 50-megaton payload of ear bending, bone rattling, dare I say it LIFE CHANGING<\/strong> music, the likes of which \u2013 if not entirely unprecedented \u2013 had probably never been heard by most of the growing suburban world.<\/p>\n

Imagine the kind of psychological\/aesthetic tattoo hammered into countless listeners via the piano keys exploding under the flying fingers of Little Richard.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s that voice.<\/em><\/p>\n

The history of rock\u2019n\u2019roll is littered with screamers of all types, but rarely (and I do mean rarely) has anyone taken the power of an honest to god scream, and endowed it with a controlled musicality the way Little Richard did, though I\u2019m certain that the Moms and Dads of America didn\u2019t see it that way. What they saw (when he finally flew into view on some TV variety show or other) was a creature so alien, so seemingly built from a grab bag of offensive elements (running the gamut from his blackness, aggression, sexual thrust and\/or orientation, though more likely a combination of all of the above) that he quite literally blew their minds. It was as if some mad scientist had created in his mountaintop lair, with the assistance of lightning and a rogue atom or two \u2013 this was after all the 50\u2019s \u2013 a monster engineered to cut a wide swath of offense through the white middle class status quo, creating in the process an army of zombie teens, each and every one overflowing with a newly fired libido, a bottle of fortified wine in one hand and a love letter to Chairman Mao in the other.<\/p>\n

Popular culture of the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s is rife with images of adult authority figures, eyes rolling back in their heads as they drop to the floor in a faint at the mere sight, sound or suggestion of rock\u2019n\u2019roll, but the only artist capable of causing those kinds of reactions (until his onetime employee and disciple Jimi Hendrix<\/strong> more than a decade later) was Little Richard.<\/p>\n

That these people missed the irony of the situation shouldn\u2019t be surprising. Mid-50\u2019s America was like the idea of the boom-town played out on an unimaginably huge scale. This was a country bursting at the seams with both a surplus of ready cash, and an equally huge stockpile of repressed sexuality (buried under a foul smelling cloak of puritanical hypocrisy and denial that seems to have made an unwelcome return in our own lives and times) both of which they wasted no time in using. This was the age of gigantic, almost-priapic automobiles, and the explosion of Madison Avenue controlled electronic media. Everything in the culture, from the new consumerism right on through to nuclear paranoia was outsized and out of control. How anyone could have been surprised that an age with this much electric current running through it could spawn a being as awe inspiring as Little Richard is a testament to the equally strong current of denial and racial ugliness that existed in the background.<\/p>\n

While the American cultural underground was filled to the brim with the products of cutting edge creativity and innovation, the Kerouacs, Coltranes, Monks, Warhols<\/strong> et al, that are often cited as the undercurrent that gave birth to the changes of the 1960\u2019s, the art created by these people, in its time existed largely in the margins, as did those that were aware of these words and sounds.
\nLittle Richard on the other hand was on the radio, TV, and in the movies and he wasn\u2019t pulling any punches. He wasn\u2019t \u201cforeshadowing\u201d anything. He WAS the 1960s ten years ahead of time. He was explosive and flamboyant (in all senses of the word) in a way that was still cutting edge when the 60\u2019s became, in one of the great nostalgic clich\u00e9s of our age \u2013 \u201ca turbulent time\u201d.<\/p>\n

The world was filled with Pat Boone<\/strong>-y types, and here came Little Richard, with his conk piled high, his eyes blazing, teeth flashing, pencil thin moustache in stark contrast to a thick layer of pancake makeup, hammering away at his piano, screeching\/preaching about a girl who \u201csure liked to ball<\/em>\u201d (how did they miss that???) and slamming up against the inside of Americas TV sets. His image grabbed the parents of the world by the collar and shook them violently, all the while screaming<\/p>\n

\u201cWake the fuck up Momma and Daddy \u2018cuz I\u2019m coming for your kids! WAAA-OOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! (Shut up!)\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It pays to stop for a second and take into consideration the jet propulsion that was present on so many of his best records. If you listen to a track like \u2018Long Tall Sally\u2019 or \u2018The Girl Can\u2019t Help It\u2019 it is immediately obvious that these slabs of wax acted as transmitters, taking the energy that Little Richard expended recording them and entering the listeners (not unlike the holy spirit of legend) causing all manner of ecstatic convulsions. They are still capable of doing the same thing 50 years hence.<\/p>\n

How many poor kids got grounded and were forbidden to listen to (nay, think about listening to) Little Richard after their unsuspecting parents encountered him on TV? Probably the exact same number who were driven to defy such edicts, raid the liquor cabinet and slip their hands under their best girls sweater (or allow the boundaries of their sweaters to be breached). These were the kids that left home to go to college years later and ended up throwing bricks (real and symbolic) through the windows of the establishment.<\/p>\n

Look at a band like the MC5<\/strong> and it\u2019s not hard to see that there is a direct line running from their sounds back to those of Little Richard despite the differences \u2013 real and imagined \u2013 between the two, I\u2019m here to tell you that they were most certainly working the same side of the street, selling the same kind of salvation. As many times as I\u2019ve listened to \u2018Kick Out the Jams\u2019, I\u2019ve always wanted to believe that Rob Tyner, Brother Wayne Kramer<\/strong> and the rest of the Five were working their Mailer<\/strong>-esque \u201cwhite negro\u201d schtick (which would not have existed for them without John Sinclair<\/strong> and his White Panther-isms) with wholehearted sincerity, because they transmit an energy on that album that is redolent of a love of real rock\u2019n\u2019roll (especially Little Richard) that is 100% pure. The boys from Michigan may have been serving up their Tutti Frutti with a side of hand grenades and trans-love energy, but maybe that\u2019s what was needed in 1968. I can\u2019t really fault them for taking the implicit politics of the Little Richard sound and translating them into explicit connections to the un-realpolitik of the moment because the end result was so exciting. I\u2019m not sure if Little Richard approved (or even knew who the MC5 were) but I\u2019ve seen film of them on stage and they certainly seemed like his kind of people.<\/p>\n

As it is, the spirit of Little Richard, a fiery cornerstone of rock\u2019n\u2019roll, didn\u2019t get a whole lot of play in the days of the MC5, or in any time since.<\/p>\n

The tragedy is that Little Richard (the man and the legend) fell victim less to the vagaries of the marketplace than to a veritable tidal wave of religious guilt that alternately fueled and doused his fire through the years. The devil on his left shoulder kept pushing him to break new ground (of all kinds, read his biography) while the tight-assed angel on the right repeatedly dragged him back, forcing him to throw his jewels overboard and thump a bible instead of a piano.<\/p>\n

He spent much of the 60\u2019s running back and forth from the sacred to the profane, stopping along the way to create some above average soul 45s (for Okeh, Brunswick and Reprise*) and watching his musical descendants become an unstoppable juggernaut. When you see the man on TV raving about how he \u201cinvented the Beatles<\/strong>\u201d it pays to remember that he\u2019s not too far off the mark.<\/p>\n

By the early 70\u2019s, the godfathers of rock\u2019n\u2019roll were prowling the stages of the world once again at the behest of their followers. I can hardly think of one of the greats, the Chuck Berrys, Bo Diddleys, Fats Dominos or Little Richards<\/strong> (even cats like Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker<\/strong>) , that didn\u2019t make an effort \u2013 to wildly varying levels of artistic success \u2013 to remain relevant.<\/p>\n

Little Richard re-entered the studio in 1972 with a hand-picked crew of his old NOLA compadres (Earl Palmer, Bumps Blackwell, Lee Allen, George Davis<\/strong>) and some newer cats (Bill Hemmons – who wrote ‘Nuki Suki’ –<\/strong> and believe it or not the recently departed Sneaky Pete Kleinow<\/strong>) to make some music. The album that he made, \u2018The Second Coming\u2019 may not have been perfect, but it is evidence that Little Richard knew which side his bread was buttered on, and while clearly eager for 1972 style success, he didn\u2019t screw with the basic elements of his sound too much.<\/p>\n

That is with the marked exception of the lascivious \u2013 and funky \u2013 \u2018Nuki Suki\u2019. That\u2019s Richard on the clavinet \u2013 and the shrieking, moaning and yelping (of course), on a record that in his 1950\u2019s heyday would probably have changed hands only under the counter in a plain brown wrapper. By current standards it couldn\u2019t be more harmless, and even in 1972, as America, in a haze, staggered along in their fringe vests, unaware of how bad a hangover was ahead, it wouldn\u2019t have raised a single eyebrow. And you can be sure, that he meant every word \u2013 all five or six of them \u2013 with a deep conviction that can only come in the mid-life of the man that Leon Russell<\/strong> once celebrated as the \u201cUndiluted Queen of Rock\u2019n\u2019roll\u201d.<\/p>\n

As it is, it\u2019s probably just a footnote in the history of Little Richard, but a funky footnote nonetheless (the kind of footnote we specialize in around here), with no discernable impact in comparison to a monster like \u2018Long Tall Sally\u2019, yet strangely reassuring when you see the man, in a star-spangled pant suit yukking it up on a game show panel. Dig it.<<<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr Richard Wayne Penniman Listen\/Download – Little Richard – Poor Dog (Can’t Wag His Own Tail) Listen\/Download – Little Richard – I Need Love Greetings all. It was yesterday, while I sat beside my wife in the hospital, surfing the web that I discovered that it was in fact the 79th anniversary of the birth\/eruption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,30,24,12,18,96],"tags":[166,97,169,164],"class_list":["post-2063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-lp-tracks","category-northern-soul","category-soul","category-soul-45","category-the-best-of-funky16corners","tag-funky16corners","tag-little-richard","tag-northern-soul","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-xh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2063"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2206,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2063\/revisions\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}