LITTLE RICHARD: The Voice of Rock and His Disciples

...with 2 piano-smashing
Music Players!

Little Richard, by Tim O'Brien


RockSex
brings you the actual, all-inclusive
history of Rock'n'Soul music,
with essay overviews and Music Players.
▶ History Checklist

Today, the sanctified Little Richard, the full-throttle throat of Rock!
Hear 2 massive music players, one of Richard and one of all his disciples from the 1950s to today!

Music Player quick-links:
𝟭 Little Richard
𝟮 Little Richard's disciples: 1950s-Today

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Buddy Holly and Little Richard


𝟭
RIP IT UP:
The Music of Little Richard

LITTLE RICHARD
by Tym Stevens
This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.




"and rose incarnate in the ghostly clothes of jazz in
the goldhorn shadow of the band and blew the
suffering of America's naked mind for love into
an eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani saxophone
cry that shivered the cities down to the last radio"

- Allen Ginsberg, HOWL (1956)


All of his life one exultant declaration.

Born bonepoor Georgia, starved skinny and 'little', wanting bigger. A Deacon father -alias bootlegger -also nightclub owner. One leg shorter but always two steps ahead of his surroundings. Running with the girls and mischief and make-up, shunned by men and beaten and scorned.

Deep soul forged in smolder, singed but singing, a blues heart a gospel throat. Like a minister you must love administer, sort out the sinister, writhe out pain adorn all in light. Hear inner word, give outer voice.

Calling up the crowds via alto saxophone transmission brawk squawk bleat squee, upjump crowds, fervor nerves, pound floorboards, sweat fire, amass joy.

Opening for Sister Rosetta Tharpe at fourteen 1947 gospel chorus boy, swaying secular with swingjive tours, drag king in vaudeville and circus. Show biz early '50s, pancaked and floodlit, pizazz pulpit, the volt dynamo.

Absorbing boogie piano from Esquerita 1951, burning through record labels and blues tours and mentors. In punk spirit bands together The Upsetters blazing rhythm rock 1953.

Specialty Records 1955, New Orleans club improv "Tutti Frutti", too profane! sanitize the insane but revolution remains, a wax attack in guerilla grooves, flaming young hearts all around the world. Standing at or on piano, footloose and finally free stomping keys kicking out all divisions, integrating dancing ears hearts souls in tune A WOP BOP A LOO BOP A LOP BAM BOOM!

Little Richard and The Upsetters
in THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT (1956)

He wrought in Rock the androgyny the wild the theatrical the cinematic the uninhibited the omnisexual. The go-getter the upsetter the upender the offender the end of pretenders the blender. Bane to klan and The Man and the ban and the banal, bane to the youth and the uncouth and tall-taling upscaling of the truth.

Feral firebrand become consumptive fireball "Good Golly, Miss Molly/ You sure like to ball!" coming apart in a carnality carnivale. Best-dressed on the excess express deranged duressed unrest need blest. 18 hits three years on a ripping tear unabashed, a canon fired from circus cannons, a fastblast era moving too fast to control all a blearing smear a coming crash.

He saw the fireball in the sky above (1957 Sputnick), he saw the ministry as a grounding. Felt he'd lost God for gold, threw away his rings and his royalties in sacral loyalty, the man who fell to earth to reach out to heaven.

All of his life one exultant declaration.

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𝟮
ALL AROUND THE WORLD!:
The Disciples of Little Richard

Little Richard meets The Beatles, Hamburg, 1962

LITTLE RICHARD: Disciples 1950s-Today
by Tym Stevens
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*(The Player is limited to the first 200 songs.
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All songs in order from the 1950s to today.
19 hours and seven decades of music
influenced by Little Richard, including:
Etta James • Elvis Presley • Buddy Holly
Esquerita • Wanda Jackson • LaVern Baker
Carl Perkins • Johnny Otis • Eddie Cochran

James Brown • Los Teen Tops • Marvin Gaye
The Sonics • Everly Brothers • Sam Cooke
Laurel Aitken • The Beatles • Jackie Wilson
The Kinks • Tom Jones • Wilson Pickett
Mitch Ryder • Thee Midniters • Stevie Wonder
Otis Redding • Creedence • Joe Cocker

MC5 • Fleetwood Mac • The Band
Deep Purple • David Bowie • Johnny Winter
Canned Heat • Mott The Hoople • ELP
Rolling Stones • The Stooges • Nilsson
Elton John • Rocky Horror • John Lennon
Led Zeppelin • BTO • ELO • Elvis Costello
Rezillos • Waylon Jennnings • Frank Zappa
Bob Seger • Patti Smith • Elvis Costello

The Damned • Motorhead • Heart • Ramones
Cheap Trick • The BusBoys • X • Stray Cats
Emmylou Harris • Tom Waits • Queen
Aerosmith • Aerosmith • Los Lobos

Paul McCartney • Living Colour • The Gories
Yusef Lateef • The A-Bones • Teengenerate
Iggy Pop • Jet • Noisettes • Ty Segall

Detroit Cobras • Guitar Wolf • The Dirtbombs
Outkast • Los Lobos • Hot Damn!
Jet • Noisettes • Ty Segall

Barrence Whitfield • Bruno Mars • Del Moroccos
Los Fabulocos • JD McPherson • Little Rachel
The Coathangers • King Salami • Fleshtones
Thunderbitch • Death Grips • Ezra Furman
and many, many more!


"It was if, in a single instant, the world changed from monochrome to Technicolor."

- Keith Richards, on hearing "Tutti Frutti"


And the Rock faithful heard the word horde and saw the floodlights.

Little Richard, the bedrock of their bedlam, canon of their carols, artisan of their attitude, the verve of their voice.

Ray Charles and Little Richard seduced gospel stars to secular Soul> like Sam Cooke, the Womacks, Johnny Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Al Green (and like him they swayed back and forth).

He is the jump and grit of James Brown and Otis Redding. His shattering shout is the voice of Garage Rock> and Punk and Metal.

His early '60s second coming galvanized The Beatles in Hamburg (who befriended his organist, Billy Preston). The Rolling Stones were his amen chorus opening for him in '63. Jimi Hendrix was his harpist in '64 ("I Don't Know What You Got"). His songs were the psalms of the British Invasion>.

Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix

As Rock went roots and rough in the late '60s, his third coming graced the festival circuit with Chuck Berry> and Bo Diddley>, a revival that will summon Glam and Pub Rock> and Punk and Psychobilly>.

His paint-peeling howl possesses Etta James, James Brown, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Otis Redding, The Sonics, Wilson Pickett, Jim Morrison, The Outcast (Japan), Creedence Clearwater Revival, MC5, Rod Stewart, Steven Tyler of Aerosmth, Motorhead, Bon Scott and Brian Johnson of AC/DC, Barrence Whitfield, The Lime Spiders, Tom Waits, The A-Bones, Guitar Wolf, and Alexis Saski.

His world ministry amens in Los Teen Tops' "La Plaga" and Los Gibson Boys' "Lucila" (Mexico) and The Black Dynamites' "Send Me Some Lovin'" (Netherlands) and Masaaki Hirao's "Lucille" (Japan) and Moustique's "Good Golly, Miss Molly" (France) and Adriano Celentano's performance of "Ready Teddy" in Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA (Italy, 1960).

David Bowie; Freddy Mercury; Boy George

His pagentry, Pancake 31, and punch is the creator of Glam Rock and New Romantic, his theatre a launching stage for David Bowie and Freddie Mercury and Suzi Quatro and Siouxsie Sioux and Lou Reed and Jayne County.

His erotic ambiguity and androgyne edge sired Grace Jones, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, Boy George, Prince, Lady Gaga, and Janelle Monae.

Little Richard; Grace Jones; Prince; Janelle Monae

His "Ooh! My Soul" begat Ritchie Havens' "Ooh! My Head" which begat Led Zeppelin's "Boogie With Stu". His spin on "Keep A-Knockin'" begat Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" and the intro drums of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll". His canon begat Deep Purple's "Speed King".

His spirit catalyzed The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There", "I'm Down", and "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window"; and CCR's "Travelin' Band"; and The Rolling Stone's "Rip This Joint"; and Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"; and Bob Seger's anthem "Old Time Rock and Roll". Listen anew.

His "The Rill Thing" begat the drum samples on 60 hiphop songs alone.

His fourth comeback after a bestselling bio in the '80s led him to new music, talk shows, and Fishbone and Living Colour.

His "Tutti Frutti" was voted #1 in Mojo's "The Top 100 Records That Changed The World".

Yes, verily, to all and whom,
A WOP BOP A LOO BOP A LOP BAM BOOM!


Amen.

The Minister of Rock'n'Roll


© Tym Stevens
(except Ginsberg's "Howl")

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See Also:

• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll!

• 1950s PUNK: Sex, Thugs, and Rock'n'Roll!


• CHUCK BERRY: The Guitar God and His Disciples

• BO DIDDLEY: The Rhythm King and His Disciples

• BUDDY HOLLY: Rock's Everyman and His Disciples

• JIMMY REED: The Groover of Rock, From Motown To Sesame Street


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: A Manifesto, A Handy Checklist

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BUDDY HOLLY: Rock's Everyman and His Disciples

...with 2 whopping
Music Players!

RockSex
brings you the actual, all-inclusive
history of Rock'n'Soul music,
with essay overviews and Music Players.
▶ History Checklist


Today, the brainstormin' Buddy Holly, man of vision!
Hear 2 massive music players, one of Buddy and one of all his disciples from the 1950s to today!

Music Player quick-links:
𝟭 Buddy Holly
𝟮 Buddy Holly's disciples: 1950s-Today

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𝟭
RAVE ON:
The Music of Buddy Holly

BUDDY HOLLY
by Tym Stevens
This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.

The everyman who changed everything.

Elvis was the sexy crooner, Little Richard> the fierce belter, Chuck Berry> the guitar god. But Buddy Holly was the crowd itself, crashing the stage. Lanky, button-down, and big spex, the antidote to matinee idols and avatar to mere mortals.

Buddy was the triumph of normal life breaking through the spectacle, a clarifying moment and palette cleanser desperately and repeatedly needed in all culture.

His appearance and chords and band seemed the essence of simple. But Buddy was complex, fluid, and on fire. In a greasefire 18-month span, he redefined Rock and opened all the doors that the rest would get to explore.

The Crickets: Buddy Holly (lg), Joe B. Mauldin (b), Jerry Allison (d), Niki Sullivan (rg), 1957.
Refine, redefine.

Buddy wrote his own songs while others still interpreted. Buddy stripped out the horns and piano, creating the lead/rhythm/bass/drums template for Rock bands. He double-tracked his voice, brought in orchestral strings, and produced sessions. He popularized the Fender Stratocaster. His chords and changes became more tricky and mercurial.

Buddy Holly And The Crickets toured with an all-black revue and won over the Apollo Theatre. He married a Puerto Rican woman, brought Tejano influence in with "Heartbeat" [followed by Freddy Fender covering "Esa Sera El Dia (That'll Be The Day)"], and supported label mates like Carolyn Hester and Sherry Davis. He planned to make an album with his idols Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson.

He signed on two labels simultaneously, as himself and the band, to outwit industry thievery. (Cue Parliament-Funkadelic, and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.) He moved toward owning his own publishing and label. (Cue The Buzzcocks and indie rock.) And he was first to be out and proud about needing glasses. (Cue geek chic.)

Ed Sullivan and Buddy Holly, 1957

And, most sadly, he was the first major rocker to die, and to be exploited by the record industry (stripmined and over-overdubbed).

But the loss of Buddy Holly isn't really "the day the music died". Buddy's acts and wax opened up the future for singer/songwriters, quartet combos, studio wizards, Strato-blasters, indie upstarts, and geek empowerment for decades to come.

Buddy Holly was honest passion, and he gave us a love that will not fade away.

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𝟮
NOT FADE AWAY:
The Disciples of Buddy Holly

BUDDY HOLLY: Disciples 1950s-Today
by Tym Stevens

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*(This Player is limited to the first 200 songs.
Hear the unlimited Playlist here.)
All songs in order from the 1950s to today.
14 hours and seven decades of music
influenced by Buddy Holly, including:
Esquerita • Janis Martin • Freddie Fender
Waylon Jennings • Wanda Jackson • John Barry
Everly Brothers • Del Shannon • The Chantays

The Beatles • Rolling Stones • Lonnie Mack
Bobbie Fuller • Moody Blues • Jimmy Page
The Kinks • The Monkees • The Small Faces

Blind Faith • Grateful Dead • Don McLean
Raspberries • Foghat • Showaddywaddy
John Lennon • Paul McCartney • Elvis Costello
Blondie • The Clash • The Knack • The Cramps

Fleetwood Mac • Dead Kennedys • The Cars
Squeeze • Lene Lovich • Rockpile • Stray Cats
The Beat • Bruce Springsteen • Chris Isaak
Neil Young • Thee Mighty Caesars • Mekons

The La's • Julee Cruise • Tav Falco
Pavement • Flat Duo Jets • Flat Duo Jets

The Detroit Cobras • Erasure • Rogue Wave
Kung Fu Monkeys • Chris Whitley • M.Ward

Dum Dum Girls • She & Him • Ringo Starr
Fiona Apple • Black Keys • Vampire Weekend
Shannon + The Clams • Baby Shakes
and many, many more!


Buddy Holly discovered Waylon Jennings and opened the door for more Texas rockers like ZZ Top, Joe Ely, the Vaughan brothers, and Mars Volta. He may have done as much to popularize the Bo Diddley beat as even Bo Diddley>!

The Crickets' 45rpm; The Bobby Fuller Four; The Clash; Dead Kennedys

The punk standard "I Fought The Law" exists because of him. Sonny Curtis, a rotating member of The Crickets, was a crack songwriter; when the band continued after Buddy's death, they recorded Curtis' "I Fought The Law" in Buddy's style in 1960. (Curtis also wrote "Walk Right Back", "More Than I Can Say", and the Mary Tyler Moore theme, "Love Is All Around".) The song hit huge when covered by Buddy acolytes The Bobby Fuller Four in 1965, becoming a Garage standard. In the late '70s, The Clash and Dead Kennedys turned it into a punk broadside for the ages.

Buddy toured Australia and the United Kingdom. His sound and fashion had seismic influence on the youth who became the coming British Invasion; The Beatles, The Hollies, The Searchers, Gerry and The Pacemakers. The Rolling Stones first broke big covering "Not Fade Away". Sonic sorcerer Joe Meek evidenced his obsession with Buddy Holly in his productions, such as Mike Berry and The Outlaws' "Tribute To Buddy Holly".

Hank Marvin with The Shadows; Paul McCartney and John Lennon; Peter and Gordon; The Zombies

The Beatles connection is especially acute; their name, working-class approachability, originals like "I'll Be On My Way" and their cover of "Words Of Love", using the studio as an instrument, and going orchestral. McCartney even owns Buddy's song publishing.

Buddy's death inspired clear tributes but also some more abstract. Don McLean's allegorical opus "American Pie" (1971) mythologizes the first era of Rock from Presley through Altamont, opining that the plane crash of Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper was "the day the music died", when the music lost its innocence and perhaps its way.

Don McLean; Gary Busy in 'The Buddy Holly Story'; the 'Buddy' musical; the Buddy Holly USA stamp (1993)

Interest in Buddy skyrocketed after the release of the film THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY (1978), and again with the first 'jukebox musical' "Buddy" (1989), still touring worldwide.

Buddy also renovated Rock vocals. Elvis had turned hiccups into a swagger, a ricochet of verbiage and reverb. Between Rockabilly and Doo Wop, the era was already elastic in elocution. But Buddy seemed to further deconstruct syllables into a melismatic morse code, a reconstruction by interpolation which chopped and distorted words into feels (e.g., "Peggy Sue").

This was paralleled in period rockers like Bettie McQuade's "Tongue Tied" and Kathy Zee's "Buzzin". It is also prescient of radical vocalists to come like Yoko Ono, Damo Suzuki, Annette Peacock, and Diamanda Galas who turned tonsils into tonescapes.

Besides his pop canniness and normal=rebel style, Buddy's livewire yelp was conducted by New Wave singers with angular affected vocals like Devo, The Cars, The B-52's, Nina Hagen, Lene Lovich, Talking Heads, XTC, Elvis Costello (Presley's name in Buddy Holly's body!), and Missing Persons. What they did doesn't sound like him, but how they did it does.

Devo; David Byrne of Talking Heads; XTC; Elvis Costello

Buddy ironically inverted spectacle by wearing spectacles. Glasses meant normal, smart, contrary, honest. They were the opposite of theatre (until someone postures those traits which returns it to theatre). Buddy the everyman gave the many anypersons the repeal to keep it real. His sartorial throughline links from John Lennon roundrims, to the Talking Heads' "average" aesthetic, to Geek Chic, to Nerdcore.

1) Freddie and The Dreamers; David Ruffin; Chad and Jeremy; Isaac Hayes
2) Elton John; Curtis Mayfield; Cheap Trick; Linton Kwesi Johnson
3) Donnie Iris; Marshall Crenshaw; RUN-DMC; Morrissey
4) Bjork; Jarvis Cocker; JD Sampson; Asa


Stay true to yourself, follow your vision. Any person can change anything.

© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll!

• 1950s PUNK: Sex, Thugs, and Rock'n'Roll!

• CHUCK BERRY: The Guitar God and His Disciples

• BO DIDDLEY: The Rhythm King and His Disciples

• LITTLE RICHARD: The Voice of Rock and His Disciples

• JIMMY REED: The Groover of Rock, From Motown To Sesame Street


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: A Manifesto, A Handy Checklist

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Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll!

...with massive
Music Player!

24 hours of
international Rock'n'Roll music,
in order from 1947 to 1960!

1950s ROCK'n'ROLL REVOLUTION
by Tym Stevens

This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.

(The Player is limited to the first 200 songs.
Hear the unlimited 600-song Playlist here.)

---

RockSex
brings you the actual, all-inclusive history of Rock'n'Soul music,
with essay overviews and Music Playlists.
▶ History Checklist


Let's start with the Big Bang itself, 1950s Rock'n'Roll.

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The Revolution of 1950s Pop

Until 1955, radio belonged to the adults in America.

The Popular Music charts were mainly somnolent syrup lulling war-weary elders into a saccharine trance. Music was the loll of reassurance and restraint. But small record labels, jukeboxes, and night owl radio waves changed that. The youth heard crazy voices whispering from this alien ether and acted on them. Overnight the word 'Pop' became a whole new universe, a joyful free-for-all, where everything combined and recombined in endless new shapes. What had been became everything that would be, blendered in the restless energy of the young.

What were the seeds of this cultural revolution?

Sax and electric guitar were a new jolt to Jazz in the decade before, leaping in and carousing like a drunk crasher. Their raunchy edge whipped the crowds crazy into communal spasms like the modern age had never seen. Swing Jazz orchestras pumped the war years up with brassy horn sections and liquid crystalline guitar. But war shortages pared the big bands down to quartet combos, easier to fit in a car and feed. In the late 40's these trimmed-back troubadours pounded out Jump Jive and Boogie Woogie to kids from coast to coast. The primal pulse was that Boogie. It shook hips without shame from juke joints to hoedowns nationwide. To this raw rhythm was added the refined sound of electric guitar. Les Paul and his cohort Mary Ford reeled off lightning licks so complex, mercurial, and high-pitched they sounded like they were chiming in from another world. And every kid with a twanger for thirty years would take notice.

Gutbucket Blues framed the skeleton of Rock. That wrestle with the Devil, with conscience, with life, all with laughing abandon. And that hard clang, that terse swagger, that moody intonation. Blues was the edge, the truth. It infects blazers like Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog", LaVern Baker's "Jim Dandy", and Chuck Berry's "Reelin And Rockin" with its ambivilent zest.

Country hit a hard-twanging gallup in the early-'50s with Honky Tonk music. While many blues masters scowled terse chords, hillbilly sages barnstormed the hayrides with blue streak riffs honed out of Bluegrass. It was the heady mix of blues fuel with country wildfire that ignited Rockabilly. Country riffs are rife throughout songs like Chuck Berry's> "Too Much Monkey Business", Joe Clay's "Duck Tail", Carl Perkins' "Put Your Cat Clothes On", Ricky Nelson's "Believe What You Say", Little Jimmy Dickens' "I Got a Hole In My Pocket", and the hypersonic string wizardry of Joe Maphis and his 13-year-old accomplice, Larry Collins.

But Rock'n'Roll was no chess game, no black and white, not just Country and Blues.

It's a shock, I know, but listen up. Or rather, just listen to those records again, and look closer at the people making them. Like all actual culture, it was a jigsaw puzzle. Simultaneously it was splicing strings from Classical, slide from Hawaii, syncopation from Cuban Jazz, two-step from Tex-Mex, eerieness from Electronic music, and Folk strains from all immigrant traditions.

Culture isn't constant or owned by a pure group. Culture is constantly renewing itself through everyone.

It is an intersection of ideas. We refract everything we've taken in. From each other, with each other, for each other.

Country kids (such as my Dad) hid radios under their pillows to taste all of the flavors of the world beyond and then became radio beacons made flesh. Soundwaves bypass all boundaries, whether on maps, in cultures, or in one's head.

Kindergarten activists who knock Elvis for singing a Blues song miss the point; he also sang Bluegrass, Pop, and Gospel songs in the same breath, and channeled them without the barriers. He made further music out of the music that he lived and breathed. Using a separatist model of colonialism on him would be ludicrous and oversimplified. Similarly, but unnoted, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley> made their breakthroughs based on Country songs simultaneously.

Elvis, like his generation, was the fruition of tearing down all separations. Rather than a King, he was part of a pantheon of young men and women rethinking the future. There was no ruler because there were no more rules. Everyone was king and queen, if only for a performance, a 45, a school dance, a love affair, a night ride, a new idea shared.

The 40's Jump Jive music and Jitterbug dances unleashed the shared Rock revolution.
The '50s was a smorgasbord, with sooo many flavors to choose from. Fats Domino tickling Crescent City piano rolls. The Big Bopper possessed by Jump Jive. The Five Satins converting Gospel chorals into soaring teen lust. Little Richard> roaring out barrelhouse Blues past the speed of tongue. The Coasters trajecting the Marx Brothers through Rhythm and Blues. The Drifters wafting over epic string sections. Ronnie Self sneering wanton through Honky Tonk. The mighty Howlin' Wolf gargling gravel and electric Blues. The Everly Brothers countrifying the celtic hymn tradition. Santo And Johnny and The Ventures sailing out into the first ripples of Surf to come, with Mediterranean, Hasidic, and other worldly melodies churning beneath.

And the personalities. The smooth spacefaring glee of Mary Ford. The smoldering satisfaction of Ruth Brown. The cocksure Bo Diddley. The ethereal Platters, wings to the archangel Tony Williams. Lascivious Presley. The ever charming Carl Perkins. That hellion Wanda Jackson, so fair and fierce. The riotous theatrics of The Coasters and Don And Dewey. The eerie dreamscape of The Flamingos. The intense urgency of the seeming everyman Buddy Holly>. The startling virtuosity of Jackie Wilson's performance of "Lonely Teardrops". And sweet Gene Vincent, blasting headlong and hardscrabble.

The Big Bang of Rock'n'Roll detonated ideas, debunked constrictions, fractured the status quo, burst past borders, blasted revelation, and birthed revolutions. Even as US politicians, bonfires, and disc jockeys moved to contain the shock, its waves already rebounded through the world.

Creativity is crossroads. Rock'n'Roll is a tryst of combined intimacies that deepen the soul and expand the mind. Boogie and Mambo (Cuarteto Don Ramon, Celia Cruz, Fay Simmons, Georgia Gibbs), Boogie and Country-Western (Merle Travis, Skeeter Davis, Big Joe Turner), Honky-Tonk and Boogie Blues (Forrest Sykes, Hank Williams, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Bill Doggett), Rock and Gospel (Sister Rosetta Tharpe), along with Cha-Cha-Cha (Richard Berry's original "Louie Louie", Rene Touzet, Tiny Topsy) and Cajun (Hank Williams, Chiemi Eri, Dave Bartholomew) and Jazz (Peggy Lee, John Barry, King Curtis, Margie Anderson) everywhere. Human arts flow from heart to heart, and leave delusional limits in the dust.

Doo Wop came out of the Gospel quartet tradition, but went lateral lickety-split. Las Hermanas Navarro from Mexico were covering "Sh...Boom (Cancion Pop)" in 1954. There were many other all-female Doo Wop acts like The Debs, Gay Charmers, and Vikki Nelson. There were female-and-male acts like The Six Teens, The Platters, and Los Cincos Latinos (Argentina). The Crests ("16 Candles") had one female, one Italian-, one Puerto Rican-, and three African-American members.

The Crests
Segregation in the USA was a repressive martial law that went against the inclusive, diverse core of the immigrant nation, and it was already being overthrown in the music and on the dance floors. And around the world.

From 1956 onward, there was Rock music in Mexico (Los Rebeldes del Rock, Los Teen Tops), Canada (The Diamonds), Jamaica (Laurel Aitken), Cuba (Perez and Brana), Brazil (Celly Campello), Spain (Los Estudiantes), Africa (Jimmy Masuluke), England (Tommy Steele, John Barry), France (Johnny Hallyday, Catarine Caps), Germany (Little Gerhard), Sweden (Owe Thornqvist, Rock-Olga), Italy (Adriano Celentano), New Zealand (Max Merritt, Johnny Devlin), Australia (Johnny O'Keefe), South Korea (Shin Jung-hyeon), and Japan (Billy Morokawa, The Peanuts).

The Chantels
And, as in all things, women were straight there with it, just as strong for the long with every song. Big Mama Thornton, Ella Mae Morse, Ruth Brown, Wanda Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Janis Martin, LaVern Baker, Lorrie Collins, Etta James, and The Chantels, a singing band who played their own instruments. Emancipation exclamation.

These voices gave voice to all the un-adults, to their dreams, pains, schemes, and refrains. It lit the secret night like a clarion call only they could hear and act upon. It understood the addled essence of adolescence, the comedy of errors that was their lot. It promised them a world without constriction where anything could happen, if they took up the call...

In 1955, the future belonged to the young.


© Tym Stevens

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See also:

• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: A Manifesto, A Handy Checklist

• 1950's PUNK: Sex, Thugs, and Rock'n'Roll!, with Music Player!

• CHUCK BERRY: The Guitar God and His Disciples, with 2 Music Players!

• BO DIDDLEY: The Rhythm King and His Disciples, with 2 Music Players!

• BUDDY HOLLY: Rock's Everyman and His Disciples, with 2 Music Players!

• LITTLE RICHARD: The Voice of Rock and His Disciples, with 2 Music Players!

• JIMMY REED: The Groover of Rock, From Motown To Sesame Street, with 2 Music Players!

_________________________

• 1950s Rock, A: The '60s Disciples, with Music Player!

• 1950s Rock, B: The '70s Disciples, with Music Player!

• 1950s Rock, C: The '80s disciples‏, with Music Player!

• 1950s Rock, D: The '90s disciples‏, with Music Player!

• 1950s Rock, E: The 2000s disciples, with Music Player!

• 1950s Rock, F: The 2010s disciples, with Music Player!

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ROCK Sex: "Early In The Morning" - Louis Jordan > Elmore James > Emitt Rhodes > Nilsson > Gap Band

ROCK Sex faces each new day with a song.

Today, another cycle of 'same title, different song'!

_______________


Blues lament by the great Sonny Boy Williamson.

SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON -"Early In the Morning" (1937)



A different song, swaying between Barrelhouse and Mambo, by the devious Louis Jordan.

LOUIS JORDAN -"Early In the Morning" (1947)



Here's a fierce guitar workout of the Sonny Boy Williamson song by Rock pioneer Elmore James.

ELMORE JAMES -"Early In the Morning" (1953)



A Gospel-soaked Pop original by Bobby Darin, that had to compete with Buddy Holly's cover version!

BOBBY DARIN -"Early In the Morning" (live, 1957)



A pretty Folk ode.

PETER, PAUL, and MARY -"Early In the Morning" (1962)



Perfect Pop by Emitt Rhodes and company.

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND -"Early In the Morning" (1968)



A Baroque Pop hit.

VANITY FARE -"Early In the Morning" (1969)



An ethereal cover of the Louis Jordan song by the One-Man-Beatles.

HARRY NILSSON -"Early In the Morning" (1971)



Electro Funk by the mighty dance masters, with Blues licks.

THE GAP BAND -"Early In the Morning" (1982)



A fiery Garage Punk cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's song.

THE GORIES -"Early In the Morning" (1990)



A song as bright as a new day should be.

JAMES VINCENT McMORROW -"Early In the Morning, I'll Come Calling"" (2010)




© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" - Ray Charles > Gerry And The Pacemakers

• "Don't Bring Me Down" -The Animals, The Beatles, Neil Young, WAR, McCartney, ELO

• "I Want You!" - The Troggs, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello +

• "Games People Play" - Joe South > Beach Boys > John Lennon > The Spinners > Alan Parsons

• "Talk Talk!" - The Music Machine > Talk Talk

• "Too Many People!" - The Hollies > The Leaves > Paul McCartney > Pet Shop Boys


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "That'll Be The Day" - John Wayne > Buddy Holly > The Beatles > David Essex

ROCK Sex says seize the day.

Today, "That'll Be The Day" has its day!

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In the classic Western THE SEARCHERS (1956), John Wayne snarls the disgusted phrase, "That'll be the day."

Here's a trailer for the film. The narration is unintentionally comical as it portrays Wayne as Manifest Destiny on legs with hard nationalistic zeal. In truth, this film undermines that '50s jingoism by showing Wayne as an obsessive zealot who might kill his own daughter out of bigotry, and the tension of the film lies in whether he will.

THE SEARCHERS scene, (1956)


THE SEARCHERS had a huge effect on young filmgoers who went on to become major filmmakers, like Spielberg, Lucas, and Scorsese.


Out in Texas Buddy Holly was taken by that phrase and made one of the best Rock'n'Roll songs ever with his band.

BUDDY HOLLY -"That'll Be The Day" (1957)

Local Lads Make Good:
George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney

Over in Liverpool, this became the first song ever recorded by a local combo called THE QUARRYMEN. They had some other great songs afterward and are remembered fondly by many.

THE QUARRYMEN -"That'll Be The Day" (demo, 1958)



The Western film also gave the name to the British Invasion band The Searchers. Here's a lesser-known single with a great touch of fuzz to it. Why does this relate really? Because the original song was recorded by The Hollies who, you guessed it, got their name from Buddy Holly.

(See, everything is connected. By the way, I'm your third cousin. How about a fiver?)

THE SEARCHERS -"Have You Ever Loved Somebody?" (1966)



Bringing it full circle, Buddy's song title inspired a film about the 1950's Rock scene in England. Spurred by the success of AMERICAN GRAFITTI and the debt of Glam Rock to classic Rock'n'Roll, the film stars Ringo Starr (a later drummer for The Quarrymen) and David Essex.

THAT'LL BE THE DAY scene (1973)



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll!

• BUDDY HOLLY: Rock's Everyman and His Disciples, with 2 Music Players!

• THE BRITISH INVASION!, with Music Player!


• "I Fought the Law and I Won!" - The Crickets > Bobby Fuller > The Clash > Metric


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Orgy: "American Pie"

ROCK Sex posts are about how everybody has a part to offer to the whole.

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Sometimes a song is a bit of an orgy of pop celebration. Meaning that it celebrates and refers to many other songs and artists in One Big Shout-Out!

Folk singer Don McLean's "American Pie" is a classic example. It's an emotional narrative spanning Rock'n'Roll from 1955 to 1970. Though the song was a full 8 minutes+, it was a huge hit because it chronicled the arc of the counterculture generation. It was also a lyrical mystery that pop fans loved to decipher.

The song's chronological narrative refers in symbolist terms to many great songs and events in the formation and arc of Rock'n'Roll.

Being a broad narrative it's open to interpretation. McLean seems to be contrasting innocent beginnings with hedonistic endings, more partial to early Rock'n'Roll and Folk, but less so to Psychedelia and lifestyle excesses. Conservatives can fold it into that shopworn narrative of dismissing the '60s generation using Altamont as an arbitrary capstone. Progressives can revel in the anarchic currents that ebb and flow amongst its creative players. Music fans can dig it for its metatext, its melody, and its sheer celebration.

Slice your own interpretation...

DON McLEAN -"American Pie" (1971)




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The Roots of
American Pie


Here are songs that "American Pie" is referring to (specifically or generally) in its lyrical journey.

• "Singin', 'This'll be the day that I die...'"

n 1959, Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash, along with rockers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. This event had a profound effect on Don McLean as a youth.

BUDDY HOLLY And The Crickets -"That'll Be the Day" (1957)


• "Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye..."

Country legend Tex Ritter was the father of actor John Ritter, and grandfather to actors Jason and Tyler Ritter.

TEX RITTER -"Rye Whiskey" (1948)


• "Did you write the book of love?"

THE MONOTONES -"The Book of Love" (1958)


• "With a pink carnation and a pickup truck..."

MARTY ROBBINS -"A White Sports Coat and a Pink Carnation" (1957)


• "And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone..."

Blues giant Muddy Waters interpolated the 1920s classic "Catfish Blues" as "Rollin' Stone (Catfish Blues)", which then inspired the name for The Rolling Stones.

MUDDY WATERS -"Rollin' Stone (Catfish Blues)" (1950)


• "Helter skelter in a summer swelter"

Helter Skelter is a name used for spiraling British fairground slides. The Beatles' roaring song became a template for Heavy Metal, and was misunderstood by Charles Manson as a rallying cry when orchestrating his murder campaign.

THE BEATLES -"Helter Skelter" (1968)


• "With the jester on the sidelines in a cast..."

With his outsider pespective and barbed lyrics, Bob Dylan was the court Jester of the counterculture. In 1966, he had a motorcycle crash that laid him up and change his perspectives on how to go forward. An insightful overview of this can be seen in Martin Scorsese's documentary, "No Direction Home" (2005).

BOB DYLAN -"Highway 61 Revisited" (1966)


• "The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast..."

The Byrds combined Bob Dylan with The Beatles to create the Folk Rock movement.

THE BYRDS -"Eight Miles High" (1967)


"While sergeants played a marching tune..."

Stepping beyond formula, The Beatles opened up the full range of sonic possibility of Rock with their 1967 masterpiece.

THE BEATLES -"SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND" (1967)


• "Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space..."

The counterculture, ridiculed as a fad by the scared mainstream media (still), had the ultimate coming out party with the 1969 Woodstock Festival, with half-a-million people of all persuasions declaring their undeniable presence and unleashing a spiritual nation that continues unabated (still).

CROSBY STILLS NASH And Young -"WOODSTOCK" (1970)


• "Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the Devil's only friend..."

In the spirit of the recent Woodstock, The Rolling Stones held a 1970 concert at Altamont Speedway in California. The naive mistake of choosing the Hells Angels motorcycle gang as security led to the stabbing death of a fan.

In its eternal zealosy to dismiss the progress and impact of the counterculture, the corporate media consistently sells the false narrative that this incident was its end. No.

THE ROLLING STONES -"Jumping Jack Flash" (1968)


• "I met a girl who sang the blues..."

JANIS JOPLIN -"Kozmic Blues" (1969)


• "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast..."

The counterculture embraced varying forms of spirituality, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The latter led to Gospel hits like "Oh Happy Day" and "Spirit In The Dark"; and Gospel-inspired anthems of the turn of the decade, such as "Let It Be", "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; and "Loves Me Like A Rock", and musicals like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell".

THE BYRDS -"Jesus Is Just Alright" (1969)


NORMAN GREENBAUM -"Spirit In The Sky" (1969)


PACIFIC GAS And ELECTRIC -"Are You Ready" (1970)


MELANIE -"Candles In The Rain" (1970)



"And they were singin'..."


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll! -Buddy Holly

1950s Rock, B: The '70s Disciples https://tymstevens.blogspot.com/2015/04/1950s-rock-b-70s-disciples.html • 1950s Rock, B: The '70s Disciples, with Music Player!


• "Killing Me Softly": Don McLean > Lori Lieberman > Roberta Flack > The Fugees

• Cool Ethereal Folk: VASHTI BUNYAN


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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