YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 144 (Little Richard Covers)
(Originally finalized on June 11, 2025)
Preface: I started last quarter with a theme dedicated to Chuck Berry covers, and while I was researching that other foundational artist in the rock genre, I spontaneously decided to listen to some Little Richard, too. Although Chuck played guitar, and Richard played piano (an instrument that doesn't usually hold my attention), I feel that they approached their music with a similar, unbridled energy. And both were enormously influential among the hit bands of the '60s and '70s.
Monday: The Kinks - Long Tall Sally [released as a single, 1964]
Comments: Our earliest song this week dates all the way back to 1964, and is in fact The Kinks' debut single! But leave it to the band that would shortly record You Really Got Me for their first album to capture the rock 'n' roll energy that Little Richard was known for. It's a suitable alternative to The Beatles' version of the song, recorded the same year.
Tuesday: Johnny Winter - Miss Ann [Second Winter, 1969]
Comments: On Johnny Winter's second album for Columbia Records (ignoring his off-label debut), he covered two Little Richard songs back-to-back. Slippin' And Slidin' (which was originally the B-side to Long Tall Sally) is more upbeat, and probably the more recognizable of the two, featuring his brother Edgar on piano and saxophone. But Miss Ann slows it down and puts the focus on what Johnny does best - play that blues guitar.
Wednesday: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Good Golly, Miss Molly [Bayou Country, 1969]
Comments: Not having collected CCR's albums individually, I'm embarrassed to admit that I only recently discovered this song, but it might be my favorite on this list. It single-handedly convinced me that it would be worth it to dedicate a week to Little Richard covers. Even for a hit band like CCR, can you believe the radio just plays the same 10 or 15 songs over and over, when there are good ones like this being ignored?
Thursday: Ten Years After - Going Back To Birmingham [Positive Vibrations, 1974]
Comments: I don't think Ten Years After was quite played out by 1974, but this album - which would be the band's last until a brief reunion 15 years later - isn't as memorable as (in particular) their last two. However, it contains this energetic cover of a tune written and recorded by Little Richard under the title Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey, which was originally the B-side to Good Golly, Miss Molly in 1958.
Friday: Suzi Quatro - Keep A-Knockin' [Quatro, 1974]
Comments: Before Joan Jett, there was Suzi Quatro - a Detroit native who had got her start playing bass in a band with her three sisters as teenagers. In the early to mid-'70s, she launched a solo career focused on straightforward upbeat rock music, exemplified by this Little Richard cover from her sophomore album.
Saturday: Led Zeppelin - Boogie With Stu [Physical Graffiti, 1975]
Comments: This may be a controversial selection, but hear me out. The track is named for pianist Ian Stewart (a co-founding member of The Rolling Stones) who sat in with Led Zeppelin to record this song. It would seem to be a cover of a Ritchie Valens tune from 1959, by the original title of Ooh, My Head. But here's where things get interesting. Born Richard Valenzuela, Valens was known as the "Little Richard of San Fernando", and the tune in question bears a striking resemblance to Little Richard's (similarly titled) Ooh! My Soul. Valens' version even curiously makes reference to Tutti Frutti, which was Richard's breakout hit from 1955. I don't think that's a coincidence.
Sunday: The Rockets - Lucille [Rockets (Turn Up The Radio), 1979]
Comments: As a parallel to the Georgia Satellites song I had trouble tracking down for my Chuck Berry theme, here's one from a similarly obscure band. Not to be confused with the band that Neil Young recruited to become Crazy Horse, they had a minor hit with a more radio-friendly cover of Oh Well by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. From the same album (which should itself not be confused with the glam metal hit from 1984 by the band Autograph), here's a cover of a song that shares its name with B.B. King's guitar, and was written by Little Richard with a songwriter who shares his name with blues guitarist Albert Collins. (Is your head spinning yet?)
Honorable Mention: Fleetwood Mac - Can't Believe You Wanna Leave [Live At The BBC, this track first broadcast 1969]
Comments: Speaking of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, I was hoping to squeeze them in. Only problem is, most of their Little Richard covers appear as loose and extended live jams on obscure releases (see the full, three disc version of Live in Boston for example), and I wanted to stick to clean studio recordings this week. From their BBC Sessions album, the liner notes credit this song to Fats Domino, but I can't even find it! Little Richard's version (which was the B-side to Keep A-Knockin') seems to be far more prominent.