The 1957 song Tom Petty called “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll record”
The birth of rock ‘n’ roll during the late 1950s was a light switch moment for culture, giving people reason to get up and dance. Tom Petty was only a kid during this crucial time, but it was enough to make him want to pick up a guitar and follow in the lineage of his heroes.
As much as he greatly admired Elvis Presley during this era, and even had the opportunity to be within his orbit briefly in 1961, Little Richard was the guy, as far as Petty was concerned. While he didn’t spend decades at the top, he was the architect of the genre, and without him, rock ‘n’ roll likely never would be what it is today.
For an insight into how much Petty admired Little Richard throughout his life, when he got married to Dana Griffin in 2001, it was his idol who ordained the ceremony. Little Richard, real name Richard Penniman, trained as a minister after becoming invested in evangelism. Many other celebrity fans of Penniman also recruited his services for their special days, including Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Willis.
Later reflecting on his wedding day, Petty revealed that both he and Penniman were a bag of nerves, telling the Chicago Tribune: “He did yell, ‘Shut up!’ at one point. He was really nervous, but so was I. He gave a long talk about love and its characteristics, and what it shouldn’t do. He was pretty inspirational.”
While Petty’s admiration for Richard stretched beyond his capabilities as an artist, the music remained his first love, and he could talk about it until the cows came home.
Outside of his work with The Heartbreakers, Petty began a sideline on Sirius XM with his radio show, Buried Treasure, which started in 2005 and ran for many years. The programme provided him with a vehicle to play his favourite tracks and his connections to those who made the tracks, such as Little Richard.
During one episode in 2011, Petty played Little Richard’s legendary track ‘Lucille’, and referred to the creation as “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll record ever made”. Coming from Petty, whose knowledge of rock ‘n’ roll was encyclopedic, it was the ultimate compliment reserved for only the most sacred song in his mind.
At this point in Little Richard’s career, it felt like he was pushing boundaries and redefining the limits of what popular music could be with each release. Within a short pocket of years, he also created songs such as ‘Tutti Frutti’, ‘Long Tall Sally’, and ‘Rip It Up’, ensuring that Little Richard is a name that will live on for hundreds of years.
Everyone has their own personal favourite, but the legacy of ‘Lucille, released in 1957, was undeniably impeccable. Its upbeat tempo, compared to other songs of the day, was its unique selling point, making it nothing short of revolutionary.
It could have been very different; however. Initially, ‘Lucille’ was set to be released in a much slower tempo, before Richard thankfully suffered a change of heart and injected it with the energy of 100 Duracell bunnies.
Richard explained his decision to MOJO in 1999, sharing: “The effects and rhythms you hear on my songs, I got ’em from the trains that passed by my house. Like ‘Lucille’ came from a train – Dadas-dada-dada-dada, I got that from the train.”
To express his appreciation for ‘Lucille’, Petty frequently played the song live in concerts with The Heartbreakers, who covered the track on 48 occasions throughout their career. They introduced it into their sets in 1992, and it was then sporadically sprinkled in shows over the next decade before it was retired in 2001, the year that Little Richard ordained his wedding.
Petty’s opinion on the greatest rock ‘n’ roll song matters more than most on the topic, but of course, it’s still not definitive. However, one thing is for certain, and that’s the impact of the blueprint that Little Richard created with ‘Lucille’, which likely played some role, consciously or subconsciously, in the song you believe deserves the accolade.
