Good Golly, He Won't Quit: Little Richard Still Rockin' the 88s

Sunday News
Published: March 2, 2008
By JOHN DUFFY, Correspondent

Little Richard and his band will play American Music Theatre in Lancaster later this week on yet another tour that he claims will be his last. Little Richard has made something of a habit of retiring. At the height of his fame in 1957, his childhood allegiance to the church got the better of him, and he pulled out of an Australian tour to go to a religious college and become a preacher. He was lured back to rock 'n' roll in the early 1960s.

In 2002, when he turned 70, he again said he was calling it quits, but then announced dates in Asia and Europe on his Web site. Last December, he turned 75. Maybe this time it's for real. Little Richard will play at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 8, at AMT, fresh from his appearance at the 50th Grammy Awards alongside Jerry Lee Lewis and John Fogerty. If it is, in fact, his final go-round, it would be the last time to see one of the few remaining rock 'n' roll originals on tour.

Elvis is dead, we think. Chuck Berry is a hermit. Lewis, while still "the Killer" when he sits down at the piano, is prone to assaulting concert patrons with mic stands. And Fats Domino just wants to chill in the New Orleans home he recently finished rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. Of the original mid-'50s rockers, only Little Richard is still touring regularly and performing with even a portion of the original fire. Yet among the aforementioned stars, Little Richard is perhaps the one taken the least seriously.

His image - mascara, eyeliner, cartoonish pompadour, clothes pilfered from Liberace's closet - his Geico commercial, his outrageousness on late-night talk shows, his self-bestowed titles ("the Emancipator," "the Originator," "the Architect of Rock 'n' Roll," "the King of Rockin' 'n' Rollin' Rhythm 'n' Blues Soulin' ") and his uncomplicated music make him easy to pin down as a novelty.

Growing up Richard Wayne Penniman in Macon, Ga., he learned his stage antics and penchant for outrageousness from vaudeville acts and medicine shows, his belting vocal style from the church, and his fierce piano from the honky-tonks and pool halls. Little Richard's waffling between rock 'n' roll and the church is not uncommon among rockers of his generation. His house was a religious one, but his father was a bootlegger.

Even as far back as the 1920s, with the first true Mississippi Delta blues star, Charlie Patton, musicians had struggled to strike a balance, and few found a middle ground. For Little Richard, rock 'n' roll won out, to the delight of his fans. Though he put out some first-rate gospel music during his periods of piety, it never stuck, as if his outrageously rollicking personality could not be contained by the church doors.

Make no mistake: The man could play piano. His left-hand technique was straight Southern-fired boogie-woogie. His right could dance and trill on those upper keys as frantically as any of his peers. Fats might be the king of the triplet, but Little Richard could make it sound like a machine gun. And that kind of thing didn't fly in the church, even in the rowdiest congregations.

His relentless, manic attack on the ivories could only be bested by his vocal power - a combination of gutbucket hollers and moans that was still supremely musical. Little Richard's breakout sides for Specialty, beginning in 1955 and lasting the next two years, were as important to the early sound of rock n' roll as Elvis at Sun or Berry at Chess.

"Long Tall Sally," "Ready Teddy," "Rip It Up," "Slippin' and Slidin'," "Keep A Knockin' " and "Jenny Jenny" are perfect examples of his signature style: 12-bar blues played fast, heavy saxophone, lightning piano runs and lyrics that seemed inconsequential at best.

Little Richard's output on Specialty included lesser hits that prove he was equally adept at (somewhat) slower blues as well. They include "Baby," "Oh Why" and "Can't Believe You Want to Leave." Above all, Little Richard knew then and knows now what he is good at - blowing the roof off the place. In his day, no one could put as much verve, spirit, wild abandon and absolute freedom into a performance as Little Richard. He was the very spirit of rock 'n' roll then, and, by virtue of everything he has helped to create, remains so today.