1001 Albums: #14. Little Richard - Here's Little Richard

Little Richard - Here's Little Richard
Specialty, 1957

I think the question isn't "What was the first rock and roll song?" but "What was the first rock and roll song that made rock and roll rock and roll." You always see Bill Haley & The Comets "Rock Around the Clock" touted as the first true rock and roll song, which has a real "It's your cousin, MARVIN BERRY" vibe about it. Honestly with all the Jim Crow stuff it's a real stew of shit when it comes to deciphering the origins of rock and roll music. You have white artists appropriating black music and black artists who aren't allowed a platform to perform their music due to Jim Crow and racism country-wide. You have someone like Little Richard, who on top of being black was also queer, and it almost seems like a miracle that "Tutti Frutti" is such an enduring classic. There is just something so perfect about that opening "Whop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom" that transports you to a place of pure joy. If "Tutti Frutti" isn't the first rock and roll song, maybe it's the first rock and roll song that truly perfected the craft. That's a tune you can still listen to today and feel exactly what it must have felt like hearing that on the radio in 1957. The energy is unimpeachable. There are other great numbers on this record--"Ready Teddy," "Long Tall Sally (The Thing)"--and though a lot of them mine the same sort of sonic turf (many of the songs are effectively variations on the same theme). Regardless, this is what magic sounds like.