LUCILLE
LITTLE RICHARD
LITTLE RICHARD
Written by: Collins/Penniman
Recorded by: Little Richard (1957)
Recorded by: Little Richard (1957)
THE BEATLES FREQUENTLY PLAYED
‘Lucille’ live between 1957 and 1962
and also included it on their double
album of BBC live sessions where old-school BBC
music presenter Brian Matthew weirdly introduced
the song – one of Paul McCartney’s truly great
Little Richard impersonations – as a ‘tribute to
The Everly Brothers’. (Apparently The Everlys
were guests on the same show and, having covered
‘Lucille’ themselves, were deemed worthy of this
false flattery, even though they had genuinely
influenced The Beatles in a quite different way).
The truly influential version of ‘Lucille’ was of
course by Richard Wayne Penniman, a.k.a. Little
Richard, an extraordinary musician born in
Macon, Georgia in 1932 who is widely credited
as a co-founder of rock ’n’ roll with his energized
version of R&B, his amazing voice and his startling
personality. ‘Lucille’ was just one of a clutch of
Little Richard Specialty recordings from the
1950s, almost all of which made Elvis Presley
sound sedate. Conservatives who found Presley too
dangerous were left to conclude that Little Richard
must be a pint-sized, black reincarnation of the
Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. Even today it
is hard to listen to his original Specialty recordings
and not to be astonished by the combination of
his electrifying voice and his cataclysmic piano
style. To this could be added – by those who
saw him perform in person in the early days – a
gravity-defying conk hairstyle towering above a
sweat-drenched face and a suit so oversized that it
moved considerably less than the hyperactive man
inside it. ‘Long Tall Sally’ vied with ‘Lucille’ as The
Beatles’ favourite Little Richard number in the
early days but in both cases it was the unrestrained
musical energy of the man himself that they really
wanted to emulate. Indeed, their stab at ‘Long
Tall Sally’, recorded in one take on March 1,
‘Lucille’ live between 1957 and 1962
and also included it on their double
album of BBC live sessions where old-school BBC
music presenter Brian Matthew weirdly introduced
the song – one of Paul McCartney’s truly great
Little Richard impersonations – as a ‘tribute to
The Everly Brothers’. (Apparently The Everlys
were guests on the same show and, having covered
‘Lucille’ themselves, were deemed worthy of this
false flattery, even though they had genuinely
influenced The Beatles in a quite different way).
The truly influential version of ‘Lucille’ was of
course by Richard Wayne Penniman, a.k.a. Little
Richard, an extraordinary musician born in
Macon, Georgia in 1932 who is widely credited
as a co-founder of rock ’n’ roll with his energized
version of R&B, his amazing voice and his startling
personality. ‘Lucille’ was just one of a clutch of
Little Richard Specialty recordings from the
1950s, almost all of which made Elvis Presley
sound sedate. Conservatives who found Presley too
dangerous were left to conclude that Little Richard
must be a pint-sized, black reincarnation of the
Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. Even today it
is hard to listen to his original Specialty recordings
and not to be astonished by the combination of
his electrifying voice and his cataclysmic piano
style. To this could be added – by those who
saw him perform in person in the early days – a
gravity-defying conk hairstyle towering above a
sweat-drenched face and a suit so oversized that it
moved considerably less than the hyperactive man
inside it. ‘Long Tall Sally’ vied with ‘Lucille’ as The
Beatles’ favourite Little Richard number in the
early days but in both cases it was the unrestrained
musical energy of the man himself that they really
wanted to emulate. Indeed, their stab at ‘Long
Tall Sally’, recorded in one take on March 1,
Little Richard in his in fluential prime. When hetopped the bill on Merseyside in October of 1962 The
Beatles were second on the bill and Richard favoured
them with a dubious compliment: ‘Man those Beatles are
fabulous. If I hadn’t seen them I’d never have dreamed
they were white’.
1964 with Paul on vocals, and released on the EP
of the same name in June, is widely regarded as
their finest ever slice of pure rock ’n’ roll. They
even got to work with Richard as their star rose
and his fell in the early 1960s. Thereafter Little
Richard’s life and career became a bizarre roller
coaster ride. Alternating between being an extreme
rock ’n’ roll party animal and an extreme religious
convert, over the years he left his fans to conclude
that his only consistent personal characteristic
was a fondness for extremism. Fortunately when
rock ’n’ roll was the focus of his excess the results
had been put on record and half a century on it is
not hard to see why The Beatles were transfixed.
Little Richard’s voice never deserted him and
when they inducted him into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1986 it somehow seemed the very
least they could do, and not a moment too soon.
of the same name in June, is widely regarded as
their finest ever slice of pure rock ’n’ roll. They
even got to work with Richard as their star rose
and his fell in the early 1960s. Thereafter Little
Richard’s life and career became a bizarre roller
coaster ride. Alternating between being an extreme
rock ’n’ roll party animal and an extreme religious
convert, over the years he left his fans to conclude
that his only consistent personal characteristic
was a fondness for extremism. Fortunately when
rock ’n’ roll was the focus of his excess the results
had been put on record and half a century on it is
not hard to see why The Beatles were transfixed.
Little Richard’s voice never deserted him and
when they inducted him into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1986 it somehow seemed the very
least they could do, and not a moment too soon.