“Sensational and a one-off”: The Little Richard album that Dave Davies never recovered from
We talk a lot about how Elvis was the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, but how about the man who was ‘The King and Queen of Rock and Roll’, Little Richard?
The self-ordained “innovator, originator, emancipator, and architect of rock and roll”, Little Richard had lightning in his hands, love, laughter and light in his voice and more charisma than anybody else would have known what to do with.
Bob Dylan has referred to the influence that Little Richard had on him again and again over the years. In his 1959 yearbook, Dylan wrote that his ambition was “to join Little Richard”, then said in 1988 that “I don’t think I’d have started out without listening to Little Richard”, and, most recently, in 2020, he shared that Little Richard “was my shining star and guiding light back when I was only a little boy. His was the original spirit that moved me to do everything I would do”.
David Bowie, and The Beatles before him, were infatuated with him, too. Where do you think Paul McCartney got all of those high-pitched “Oohs” that he’s so fond of from? And do you think that Elton John could have donned such flamboyant outfits and get-ups if Little Richard hadn’t paved the way before him?
Prince practically lifted his whole look and persona from him, and each and every one of Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Freddie Mercury, James Brown, and even John Waters all owe a varying level of debt and gratitude to Little Richard, and The Kinks’ Dave Davies is no different.
“Little Richard took my breath away when I first heard him,” Davies told Uncut earlier this month, “And he was always in the forefront of all my music. He was raucous and loud and made you wake up and want to rock.”
The album Davies was talking about, his first introduction to Little Richard, was the 1957 record Here’s Little Richard, and even now, there has barely been a more perfect, raucous and pure collection of rock and roll, or a more perfect explosion of the human spirit, committed to tape. Opening with ‘Tutti Frutti’ and also containing ‘True Fine Mama’, ‘Ready Teddy’, ‘Slippin’ and Slidin’, ‘Long Tall Sally’ and ‘Rip It Up’, neither the young Dave Davies nor anybody else in the world was ready for this kind of seismic talent.
“I’ve been thankful to him for his influence and humour, his music is sensational and a one-off, never to be repeated,” he added. “‘Long Tall Sally’ was inspiring, so we thought it would be a fun cover to do with The Kinks. Ours holds up as a fun and grittier version. I met Little Richard in an elevator once, and I thought he was really funny, but he didn’t say anything about The Kinks’ version of his song. He was very into himself, but I liked that about him. He was quite a character.”
And that character was half of his appeal; Little Richard was the complete package. As great a singer as you could ever hope to hear, and an even more miraculously talented performer and showman, his music has never been matched, equalled, improved upon, or, even to this day, fully appreciated as much as it deserves to be.
