One hit story: Little Richard - Long Tall Sally.

It was in the kitchen of Greyhound Lines bus station that Little Richard's first hits were born... Apart from "Tutti Frutti" and "Good Golly Miss Molly", this includes the famous "Long Tall Sally"... In fact, it's the one we're going to talk about today!

The story of "Long Sally" ...

In fact, the original author is a certain girl who wanted to earn money for her aunt's medical treatment, and from whom producer Robert Bumps Wlackwell bought a sketch of the future hit! True... Little Richard quickly, and rather significantly, rearranged the body of the song, because of which the authorship of "Long Tall Sally" remains with him. The musician later said that all the characters in the song are completely real! Moreover, Richard stated that he knew each of them personally:

"The state of Georgia is a pretty tight place where everybody knows everybody. And when we were growing up, we called the adults our uncles and aunts. And there was actually one guy we called Uncle John who was married to Aunt Mary! Ohhhh... She was a very big and fat lady... I remember she used to sit on the porch and eat watermelon. She was a sight to behold, I'll tell you. We boys in the yard called her "Short Fat Fanny." And on Friday, everyone paid money, so the bars would get alcohol and it was fight time... Anyway, it was fun!"

According to Little, the main character of the song, Sally, was his close friend! As the musician said, she was not distinguished by beauty and manners... However, she still attracted everyone's attention:

"Sally was one of those ladies who liked to drink... When she came to visit us, she was always pretending like she had a cold. I remember her saying: "Oh, Miss Penniman, I've had this terrible cough." After saying this, she would usually mix whisky and sugar - the so-called "toddy". Sally could "toddle" all day long... By evening she was quite drunk and said: "The cold's killing me, Mrs Penniman!"

"Sally was a very tall and very ugly woman... She only had a couple of teeth in her mouth, and they were on opposite sides of her tongue... She also had a terrible squint... It was not a pleasant sight. She was so ugly that people tried not to look at her. The only one who had any sympathy for her was Uncle John. Often they even slept together! And when Aunt Mary caught them in bed, Uncle John had to run away..."

Release

The composition saw the light of day in March 1956. Very soon it became a Billboard R&B leader and also reached number 6 on the national pop chart!

The song later completed the list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Let us enjoy the live sound of Little Richard.....

Interesting facts

Enotrice Johnson is additionally listed as a co-writer - a woman who shared her home with Little after he left home... Many agree that Enotrice did not contribute to the song. It's just that Richard decided to thank her in such an extraordinary way!

Shortly before the release of "Long Tall Sally", Pat Boone recorded his cover of "Tutti Frutti", which brazenly pushed Richard's original off the top of the charts... So Bumps Blackwell rushed Little to release his new hit as soon as possible, and to perform it as fast as only he could! So Boone had no chance... But the plan didn't work out after all!

Thanks to his unique style of performing, Little Richard managed to get around censorship! Rumour has it that an NBC official said: "How can I ban this song when I don't even understand the words?"

The composition about "Long Sally" was, and still is today, in great demand in the film industry! The song became the soundtrack to such films as "Predator", "Red Scorpion" and many others....

Little Richard:

"When I wrote this song, I was just thinking about my own life... All my songs are based on personal life experiences..."