May 132020
I’ve been revisiting this 1966 performance by Little Richard the last 2 days. It’s got some great crowd shots, especially starting at 45 seconds in, while the camera focuses steadily and uncomfortably on a young man who looks like he’s tearing up in stunned joy at the proceedings. One minute in, he unleashes with a reaction before the camera cuts back to the stage and what has elicited this response. This is the joy that no digital performance of the future will elicit.
That is just amazing!
Hell of a clip. Glad to see Little Richard finally get his due, even thought it took his passing. Years ago in RTH past, I remember thinking about how, more than any other artist in the history of popular music, he let the gimmick overtake the music and the talent. He stayed in the Little Richard “character” so much that he publicly became remembered more for the act than the song, and out Chubby-ed Chubby Checker in the demanding due stakes.
Except he was right. I think, dating back to one of my favorite threads here, the first “rock ‘n roll” song comes before him, but he codified it all, everything. He’d spend the next 50+ years telling everyone how great he was and calling himself the King of Rock ‘n Roll to the point that you couldn’t take it seriously anymore, but looking back at his ’50s, ’60s, and early ’70s output and performances, damned if turns out he happened to be telling the truth the whole time.
A Little RIchard song that was a new one for me. This clip has a lot to recommend it apart from Mr. Penniman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfRBczxmFec