![]() While it's been interpreted in all sorts of ways, largely from the effect it had on listeners, that cry is actually a vocal approximation of a drum break, making Little Richard not just a rock 'n' roll pioneer, but one of the earliest beatboxers on record too.Īlthough this song contains a great many words with actual meanings, most of which concern a terrific shindig with Lionel Richie and his pals, it's the breakdown section in the middle which deserves special attention. Cleaned up for recording purposes with the jive slang "aw rooty" (which means "how lovely"), the song manages to sound just as racy as ever, thanks in no small part to the explosive holler "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!" which Richard would throw in at key moments. ![]() The original lyric contained a fairly ripe, but relatively coded description of sex with a chorus beginning "Tutti frutti, good booty" that had been going down a storm in live performances. Arguably no other song encapsulates this better than Tutti Frutti - a track that Little Richard can rightly claim as a set text for 20th century pop. It has always hidden its most lascivious impulses in knowing winks and coded language (the term "rock 'n' roll" itself is, of course, a euphemism for sex). Rock 'n' roll is the music of late nights, bad behaviour, wildness and ribald shenanigans.
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