Tutti Frutti (song)

Infobox Single
Name =Tutti Frutti


Cover size =
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Artist =Little Richard
Album =
B-side ="I'm Just a Lonely Guy"
Released =1955
Format =
Recorded =
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Length =
Label =Specialty 561
Writer =
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Audio sample? =
Certification =
Last single ="Always"
(with "Deuces of Rhythm and Tempo Toppers", 1954)
This single ="Tutti Frutti"
(1955)
Next single ="Long Tall Sally"
(1956)
Misc = "Tutti Frutti" is a song by Little Richard, which became his first hit record in 1955. With its opening cry of "Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bam-boom!" [Various transliterations of this have been made. Nik Cohn's book on the history of pop music used the title "Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom".] (supposedly intended to be a verbal parody of a drum intro) and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also one of the models for rock and roll itself.

Original recording by Little Richard

Although Little Richard Penniman had recorded for Peacock Records since 1951, his records had been relatively undistinguished and had sold poorly. In February 1955, he sent a demo tape to Specialty Records, which was heard by producer Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell. Blackwell heard promise in the tapes and arranged a recording session for Little Richard at Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans in September 1955, with Fats Domino's backing band. The band included Lee Allen and Alvin "Red" Tyler on saxophones, Frank Fields on guitar, and Earl Palmer on drums.Jim Dawson and Steve Propes, "What Was The First Rock'n'Roll Record", 1992, ISBN 0-571-12939-0] Penniman, Richard Wayne. "Little Richard." Little Richard 24 Jan 2008. GroveMusic.com (subscription only)]

However, as the session wore on, Little Richard's anarchic performance style was not being fully captured on tape. In frustration during a lunch break, he started pounding a piano and singing a ribald song which he had been performing live for some time. [ [http://lennyflatley.wordpress.com/joeys-in-america-essays-journalism-fiction/tutti-frutti/ Tutti Frutti « this is the new me, dig? ] ] The song that he sang was a piece of music that he “had polished in gay clubs across the South".Lhamon, W.T.. Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s. USA: The Smithsonian Institution, 1990.]

Although the song was essentially his own, it bears some similarities to an earlier song "Tutti Frutti", recorded by Slim and Slam in 1938. Little Richard sang :

:"A wop bop a loo mop, a good goddam!:Tutti frutti, loose booty :If it don’t fit, don’t force it:You can grease it, make it easy."

After this lively performance, Blackwell knew the song was going to be a hit, but recognized that the song, with its “minstrel modes and homosexuality humor”, needed to be cleaned up.

Blackwell contacted local songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to revise the lyrics, with Little Richard still playing in his characteristic style. According to Blackwell, Dorothy La Bostrie “didn’t understand melody”, but was definitely a “prolific writer". [Brackett, David. , the Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates. New York: Oxford, 2004] The original lyrics, “Tutti Frutti, good booty / If it don’t fit, don’t force it / You can grease it, make it easy",White, Charles. The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Quasar of Rock". New York: Harmony, 1984] were replaced with “Tutti Frutti, all rooty! Tutti Frutti, all rooty”. ("All rooty" was hipster slang for "all right".) In addition to Penniman and LaBostrie, a third name — Lubin — is credited as co-writer. Some sources considered this to be a pseudonym used by Specialty label owner Art Rupe to claim royalties on some of his label's songs, but others [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fifoxqujld6e allmusic ((( Joe Lubin > Overview ))) ] ] refer to a songwriter of that name.

Blackwell stated that time constraints didn't permit a new arrangement, so Little Richard recorded the revised song in three takes, taking about fifteen minutes, with the original piano part.

Recorded in September 1955, “Tutti Frutti” was seen as a very aggressive song that contained more features of African American vernacular music when compared to any other past recordings in this style.

The song was recorded on September 14, 1955. Released on Specialty 561, the record entered the "Billboard" Rhythm and Blues chart at the end of November 1955, and rose to # 2 early in 1956. It also reached # 17 on the Billboard pop chart. In the UK, it only scraped into the top 30 in 1957, as the B-side of "Long Tall Sally". The song, with its 12 bar blues chord progression, [ [http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME06/Music_matters_Appendix.shtml A sample of 100 rock and roll songs ] ] provided the foundation of Little Richard's career.

The song, as sung by Little Richard, is #43 in "Rolling Stone"'s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11028260/the_rs_500_greatest_songs_of_all_time/1|title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|publisher=RollingStone.com|accessdate=2007-06-02]

The song is #1 in "Mojo Music Magazine"'s list of [http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html#100%20Records%20That%20Changed%20the%20World 100 records that changed the world] .

"Tutti Frutti" provided the title for one of the earliest books about the development of rock and roll and pop music from the 1950s, Nik Cohn's "Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom" (1969).

Racial Connotations

Despite Little Richard’s popularity, the fact that Pat Boone’s version surpassed his original version on the US pop charts illustrates the racial attitudes of the time period. Both versions made it to the Top 40 rankings, with Pat Boone’s leading at 12 ranking while Little Richard trailing behind in the 17th. Smothers, Robert. "Macon Journal; Georgia's Very Own: a Wop Bam Boom." The New York Times 08 Jan. 1990, Late ed., sec. A10] Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” became the first black record that obtained a significant amount of plays on radio stations, not only reaching African American communities, but also spreading its scope to white listeners. Due to the song’s huge popularity with white teenagers, Pat Boone’s “whitewash” cover of the song was created in order to “sanitize the image of rock-and-roll in the 50’s and 60’s”, thereby producing a cleaned up version that appealed to a wider and whiter audience. [Dixon, Keith. "Pat Boone, Minus Those White Bucks." The New York Times 04 May 1997, Late ed., sec. 220] Pat Boone himself admitted that he did not wish to do a cover of “Tutti Frutti” because “it didn’t make sense” to him; however, the producers persuaded him into making a different version by claiming that the record would generate attention and money. [Harrington, Richard. "VIDEOS; 'the Early Days', When Rock Began to Roll." The Washington Post 19 May 1985, Final ed., sec. G12] Therefore, record companies and corporations are very willing to have a white performer, preferably one of high standing, to do a cover version of a popular African American song so as to appeal to more conservative white listeners.

Little Richard says that though Pat Boone “took [his] music”, he admits, however, that Boone made it more popular due to his high status in the white music industry. [O'connor, John J. "Television Review: Rock's Story as Told by Rockers." The New York Times 08 Mar. 1995, Late ed., sec. C20] Nevertheless, a Washington Post Staff Writer, Richard Harrington, quotes Richard in an article:

Other versions

The song has been covered by many musicians. After Pat Boone's success with "Ain't That a Shame", his next single was "Tutti Frutti", markedly toned down from the already reworked Blackwell version. Boone's version outdid Little Richard's on the US pop charts, reaching #12.

Elvis Presley recorded the song and it was included in his first RCA album " Elvis Presley" March 23, 1956.

Queen regularly played it during their live shows in 1986. It is also featured during the T. Rex jam session with Elton John during the 1972 rock film "Born to Boogie". It is the first song on the MC5 album, "Back in the USA". The song was covered by Fair Weather in 1970.

Sting recorded the tune for the original soundtrack of the 1982 film "Party Party".

The Disney Channel ran a DTV music video of the song, set mostly to clips from the 1940 Donald Duck cartoon "Mr. Duck Steps Out" (Daisy Duck represents the character of the same name in the lyrics), but also the 1942 cartoon "Mickey's Birthday Party" (with Clara Cluck representing Sue in the lyrics).

This song is also featured in the 1987 movie "The Brave Little Toaster".

The song is featured on the "California Raisins" soundtrack from their first special, "Meet The Raisins".

The song is sung by Val Kilmer in "Top Secret!"

WWE's Mean Gene Okerlund covered it, and uses it as his entrance tune. It appears on 1985's The Wrestling Album

The song is regularly covered by UK Rock-a-billy band The Houndogs

References