Little Richard: He Got What He Wanted, But He Lost What He Had

He'll be missed.

In Mystery Train, Greil Marcus writes about Little Richard's antics on The Dick Cavett Show. His segment runs from about 1:00 to 1:07...but he interjects himself throughout, expounding on life, love, art, and his big toe (at 1:18, 1:37-1:40 and 1:51).
Ten years or so before this appearance, he'd been on the top of the charts. Then he walked away from it...to go to seminary school.

He returned to show business, guesting in Catalina Caper, which MST3K film critic, Tom Servo, surmised was done while "whacked out on goofballs".
Goofballs or no, he could still rock.

For my part, I caught on at some point in the 80s, after hearing "Tutti Frutti" a soundtrack. I bought a cheap cassette of his Greatest Hits at Woolworth's, not realizing until years later that it was from rerecordings, made in the 1960s for VeeJay.

Normally, these are to be avoided, but not in this case. There is a murk and ragged feel...like Exile on Main St. The energy is all there. The drums rip it up throughout. The tempo is on and there are fills that now seem missing on the Specialty versions. Listen to "Good Golly, Miss Molly" or "Long Tall Sally". It sounds like the drummer's going to break something.
They make the originals....Little Richard's originals...sound tame by comparison. Tame. The covers (Elvis, MC5, Mitch Ryder, Beatles, Elvis Costello), and the rewrites (CCR, Led Zeppelin) all pale in comparison.

Maybe it was the seminary.

Maybe it was the goofballs.

Woooooo!

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