“Tutti Frutti” (meaning “all fruits” in Italian) is a song written by Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) along with Dorothy LaBostrie that was recorded in 1955 and became his first major hit record. With its opening cry of “A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bom-bom!” (a verbal rendition of a drum pattern that Little Richard had imagined) and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also a model for rock and roll itself. The song introduced several of rock music’s most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume and vocal style emphasizing power, and its distinctive beat and rhythm. In 2010, the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry added the recording to its registry, claiming the “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music”. (More from Wikipedia)
Little Richard is another man who helped lay the foundations of rock and roll. His hit songs – “Tutti Frutti”, “Long Tall Sally”, “Slippin’ and Slidin’”, “Jenny, Jenny”, “Ready Teddy”, “Keep a Knockin’”, “Good Golly, Miss Molly”, etc. – are so primal and so ingrained in the rock and roll milieu that it seems like they have always been there. Little Richard (real name: Richard Penniman) is sometimes unfairly dismissed as a one-dimensional shouter, but he brought a passion to his music – and a flamboyant personality to match – that made even Elvis Presley seem tame by comparison. His short stature only exaggerated the vehemence of his performances.
Little Richard’s first hit song, “Tutti Frutti” came out in September 1955 and was markedly different from his earlier, more traditional recordings. This song established the basic template for his parade of hit songs that would follow over the next couple of years. Even among the other rock and roll greats that I have already discussed, “Tutti Frutti” had an incredible impact and looks even better in retrospect.
In 2007, a panel of established recording artists voted on “The Top 100 Records That Changed The World”; as published in Mojo magazine, “Tutti Frutti” was voted #1 on the list, and the accompanying article lauded the record as “the sound of the birth of rock and roll”. The song was added by the U. S. Library of Congress to its National Recording Registry in 2010, noting that the “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music”.
The song opens with a cry of “A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bom-bom!!” and closes with the same cry except that it ends “. . . bam boom!!” In April 2012, Rolling Stone magazine declared that the opening cry in “Tutti Frutti” “has to be considered the most inspired rock lyric ever recorded”. To Little Richard, these syllables were a drum pattern that he heard in his head.
(June 2013/1)
