Little Richard

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The “Little” was for his youth when he first heard the call

Good Golly Miss Molly sure like to ball

What did we just hear? Completely absurd

But the Bible is clear, In the Beginning was the Word

Whop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom 

What on earth? A guy with makeup and hair

That stood stiff and high  – six inches or more

Even a child knew something had shifted

Raucous and wild,  can’t help but be lifted

Could this be what life holds in store?

Wonderfully weird to the core and more

sexy before understanding that whole deal

How does it feel?

How does it feel?

Well…. good. 

So felt James Brown who freely admitted

Mr. Penniman forever will reign

Broke boundaries of all that is permitted

No Little Richard, no Purple Rain

No bite to the Beatles, no Rocket Man

And Jumpin’ Jack Flash no way could capture 

Deep Georgia Jesus is where it began 

In Minnesota, Bob saw The Rapture

Compared to Elvis in some people’s books

(well, books that are obscene)

When asked of this he’d give one of his looks:

Hey, he is The King but baby I’m The Queen

The black man who would not be quiet

Electrifying-hip-shaking-gaudy-bawdiness

The white man came to start a riot

But swooned to the siren song of Good Lawdiness

His shows started out one side black one side white

Which inspired him to give all he had

Of course music can’t make everything right

But at least there was movement to plaid

Strip joints, shows (drag and minstrel)

Relatively safe for luscious black men 

From Macon to mayhem, tassel and tinsel 

He got a break and that was when

A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop a-good-Goddam!

Tutti Frutti, good booty

Knocked out manager man

Spread the Gospel God of  black beauty

The God line gets gone though you can’t hide the praise

Of sex unbridled ecstatic 

Booty” becomes “Oh Rutti”, a made up phrase

We catch on despite the static

Of Pat Boone – there for us – his role to tame 

The  rise of revolution with nice easy pieces

This is America land of no soul” but then came

The unvarnished yawp of androgynous Jesus

I hear America screaming  

Freaky, funny passionate prayerful

Silence is violence – he’d give preacher’s glad tidings 

They’d fill his shows,  you had to be careful

Emmett Till echoes  – a fever abiding

Pulpit gravity and pull of the stage

When occasion of sin too many to tally

He’d worship at church till it felt like a cage

And a hymnal  verse became Long Tall Sally

All guys wanted to be thus  – desire unspoken

Little Richard would free us, no longer broken

Eye shadow makeup Gilead balm

Whop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom !!