MUSC 2019 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Long Tall Sally, Bull Moose Jackson, Robert Blackwell
Lecture 3 - Rise in Rock 'n Roll (end), Girls Group
January 15, 2018
8:21 PM
Rock n' roll = controversial
• One of the first genres of music that dealt with issues with sex
• Producers often took music written/performed by black artists, and repackaged them to be a
much 'cleaner' version, and had white artists perform those songs
• Song: Sixty Minute Men by The Dominoes
o About sexual stamina
• Song: Ten Inch Record by Bull Moose Jackson
o Clever ending in verse that ends with "ten inch", a pause, and then jumps into "record…"
Little Richard
• Kicked out of his home at a young age because his father suspected him of homosexuality
• Enotris Johnson, who took in a lot of orphans and homeless children, had taken him in and raised
him
• Moved to New Orleans
• Performed at Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans
o The Inn was in trouble because it was an integrative venue
o Cross-dressing performances were common
• Bumps Blackwell
o Saw a lot of energy from Little Richard, and recorded a song with him
• Dorothy LeBostrie
o The person who changed the lyrics from the original to something else for Little Richard to
sing
• Song: Tutti Frutti
o 12 bar blues
o Would have been a big hit, but larger producers got a white artist (Pat Boone) to cover the
song, and Pat Boone ended up selling more than Little Richard
o Pat Boone
• Covered "Tutti Frutti"
• His version was more popular than Little Richard's version
• Song: Long Tall Sally
o Used to be called "Long bald sally"
o "woo-ooh" is famous, and was integrated into R &B from gospel church
o Pat Boone's cover of this Little Richard's song did not out sell him
• Not as energetic, no grit
• He gave his song writing credit away to Enotris Johnson, the man who took him in
o He learned early on that song writing credit is where a lot of the money could be made, so
giving away his song writing credit of the song "Long Tall Sally" to Enotris Johnson was an
honorable gesture
Working class toughness, and the grit from Rock n' Roll was so different from the popular music at the
time.
Song: Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry
• The lyrics explicitly sets up Rock 'n Roll against the popular music (by "elites")
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