Long Tall Sally
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"Long Tall Sally" is a rock and roll song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enortis Johnson and Little Richard, recorded by Little Richard in J&M Studios in New Orleans and released March 1956 on the Specialty Records label. It remained 19 weeks on the rhythm and blues charts and was #1 for six weeks.[1] It received the Cashbox Triple Crown Award in 1956.[2]
According to Blackwell, the song's lyrics were aimed at Pat Boone. Because white radio stations would not play Little Richards's previous hit "Tutti Frutti", effectively making Boone's cover version #1, they decided to write a song that was so up tempo and the lyrics so fast that Boone would not be able to handle it. Boone did record it and got it to #8[1]
It became one of the singer's best-known hits and has become a rock and roll standard covered by hundreds of artists.[3]
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[edit] Song
Blackwell was the producer of the recording. The backup was the Dave Bartholomew band and were the house musicians for the recording studio Specialty used in New Orleans. The music was a fast up tempo number with Little Richard's hammering, boogie piano and crashing triplets. Little Richard sang in his raw, aggressive, exhilarating style the lyrics of self-centered fun.[3]
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- Well, Long Tall Sally,
- She's built for speed,
- She's got everything that Uncle John needs.
Although the lyrics are lightweight, Little Richard's style triumphs over content and provides a wonderful vehicle for his enthusiastic exhibitionism.[4]
[edit] Notes on the lyrics
- On the original recording, the opening line states the singer is going to report to Aunt Mary that Uncle John does not, as he claims, have the misery, a Southern expression meaning generalized weakness and illness.
- The line in the original recorded version, "Long Tall Sally is built for speed", is a reference to the proverbial African-American distinction in sexual types: "Built for comfort or built for speed", terms originally applied to passenger sailing ships. When sung rapidly, this line is sometimes rendered built sweet, even by Little Richard in a recorded live performance, though it does not rhyme with need.
- The line on the original record, "Saw Aunt Mary coming and he ducked back in the alley". Richard and Bumps Blackwell spent most of the day before the recording in a hotel room rehearsing the percussive delivery of this line.
[edit] Selective list of recorded versions
- 1956 Little Richard
- 1956 Pat Boone
- 1956 Elvis Presley
- 1963 The Tornados on their Tornado Rock e.p.
- 1963 The Rivingtons on their Doin' The Bird LP.
- 1964 The Kinks
- 1964 The Beatles on their Long Tall Sally EP
- 1965 Tielman Brothers on the 1964 - 1965 Import CD
- 1996 Blind Guardian on their The Forgotten Tales album.
It was also covered live by Led Zeppelin at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, but was omitted from their DVD.
"Long Tall Sally" was covered by John Fogerty during his PNC Bank Arts Center show on August 5, 2006. Bruce Springsteen accompanied him on stage for the song.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Long Tall Sally. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
- ^ http://www.kolumbus.fi/timrei/lre.htm
- ^ a b Gillett, Charlie (1996). The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, (2nd Ed.), New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, p. 26. ISBN 0-306-80683-5.
- ^ Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, p. 189-193. ISBN 0-02-061740-2.
