Remarks:
On February 4th 1956, Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”, one of the founding songs of rock music, reached #17 on the American pop charts, his first hit song. But on the very same day Pat Boone’s cover reached #12! (Meanwhile, on the R&B charts, Little Richard reached #2. Pat Boone did not even chart.)
Pat Boone rose to fame and fortune in the 1950s by singing covers of Black American songs in a way that was acceptable to White parents. He did that in at least three ways:
- By being White.
- By being terminally square and “safe”, with no sex appeal.
- By watering down songs – this was the age of Perry Como, when Muzak and White music were pretty much the same, when it was still Elvis who? In this cover, for example, the song is calmer, more restrained – not just the singing, but even the piano. Little Richard’s falsetto ooo’s are gone. Words are changed too – Sue does not “rock”, Daisy is a “real darn cookie, yes sirree.”
On this three-point scale, Pat Boone scores a three, Elvis Presley a one and Little Richard a zero.
Little Richard was not just Black, he also seemed – fruity.
Tutti Frutti was a flavour of ice cream with bits of fruit in it. But Little Richard was playing on the word “fruity” meaning homosexual. He came up with the song a few years before when he was working as a dishwasher at the Greyhound bus station in Macon, Georgia. His words went like this:
Tutti Frutti, good booty
If it don’t fit, don’t force it
You can grease it, make it easy
That could not be played on the radio, so the record company had the words changed just before Little Richard recorded it.
Lyrics:
A whop bop-a-looma a lop bom bom
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
A whop bop-a-looma a lop bom bom
I got a gal, her name’s Sue, she know just what to do
I got a gal, her name’s Sue, she know just what to do
I’ve been to the east, I’ve been to the west
She’s the gal that I love best
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti, whoo,
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
A whop bop-a-looma a lop bom bom
I got a gal, her name’s Daisy, she almost drives me crazy
I got a gal, her name’s Daisy, she almost drives me crazy
She’s a real darn cookie, yes sirree
Pretty little Suzy is the gal for me.
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti, whoo
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
A whop bop-a-looma a lop bom bom
I got a gal, her name’s Daisy, she almost drives me crazy
I got a gal, her name’s Daisy, she almost drives me crazy
She’s a real darn cookie, yes siree
Pretty little Suzy is the gal for me.
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti, whoo
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
Tutti frutti, au-rutti
A whop bop-a-looma a lop bam boom
Abagond 
now THAT’s white!!!!
LikeLike
For comparison, Little Richard singing “Long Tall Sally.”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc92MbyO7wE)
LikeLike
This is a great idea for a post.
It is a perfect example of how whites take black music and revise it to make it acceptable to whites and eventually claimed by whites. At the same time, they can marginalize the success of creative production achievements by blacks.
It might be interesting to compare what needed to be done for Pat Boone vs. what that had to be done for Elvis Presley. I think Pat Boone targeted whites, while Elvis targeted whites with potential cross-back over to blacks. Many of Elvis’s recordings did chart well on the R&B, but not Pat Boone’s.
LikeLike
Pat Boone, LOL! That’s is very white. I mean even his version was just what the white people during that time found acceptable. Because the music of black people was considered to be as the whites termed it “jungle” music. But I love Little Richard and his version was the best. .Whites highjacking black artist creations. Elvis Presley stole “Hound Dog” from that black woman artist. I wonder did he pay her? Pat Boone was just white America. LOL!
LikeLike
Pat. Boone so cornball
LikeLike
Há há , for sure , Abagond , its that time honored white American aproach , that goes back to the banjo, and votes Eminem artist of the decade , into today
Same thing happens in Brazil
Afro diasporic music and dance , are five steps ahead of everyone else, and grate against the other peoples cultures…they at first oppress it, ban it , destroy it, bury it, then , dissmiss it, put it down, then the next generation embraces it, abherates it , and comercialises it
These powers even try to manipulate how that culture should be sold to black people…breaking it down into narrow stereotyped catagories, not really representing the tastes of all the people in the black community
The music business is really just a great big lying hype machine , going for the lowest common tastes in people, saying its all based on sales, when , its really a few people own the ball and make the desicians..
I used to carry in my wallet , a small article from Billboard magizine , that said the big 5 or 6 music corps released above fiftythousand records that year, that sold under five thousand copies…that is a pretty bad average, of desicians that gives people the shot , to get corp machinery behind them…
Its obvious , these small amount of people , sit back and manipulate how music trends will be served up to people on their limited poor nutritioned buffet
The only thing you can say is , sometimes, great talent gets a shot..but huge amounts of monster talent gets left out of any real celebrity recognition status, hades, they create celebrities out of nothing now , what with reality tv and p hilton and kardashians, etc…wow how low can you go…even pat boone has some talent compared to hilton…
LikeLike
Yep. That sure is fruity. LOL
LikeLike
Jefe: I’d like to amend what you said. I think you mean that they take Black music and try to make it palatable for “White children”. I know that as soon as I see elements of Black cultural music in toy and cereal ads aimed at children, that it was time for us all to have a meeting to create a new trend.
LikeLike
White Americans Leiber and Stoller wrote “Hound Dog” as teens. Ironically, considering the way the music business worked, then and now, Leiber and Stoller were ripped off for initial royalties by Black American Peacock label owner and publisher Don Robey. Over time many other people claimed they wrote the song and there were numerous lawsuits over covers and answer songs. Robey was allegedly part of or connected to the underworld and was not someone people wanted to mess with, given a choice. Presley’s publishing bought half of the publishing from Robey before they would record the song. I don’t know who has the publishing rights now. Leiber and Stoller weren’t big fans of Presley’s version but were fans of the $$$ they made from it.
LikeLike
It’s ironic b/c I’ve been listening to a lot of Little Richard’s Specialty recordings of late. Really good stuff. I can’t remember the name now but there is a book by now deceased master drummer Earl Palmer where he explains among other things the sped up rhythms that he was using and the transition between blues or “R&B” to something new. Evidently Little Richard was tough to keep up with on piano thought strangely enough the producer Art Rupe wasn’t always a fan of having Little Richard both sing and play piano on recordings. There is a song called “Directly From My Heart” by Little Richard that is worth listening to. I think that it was sped up and had lyrics altered to become “Lucille”.
LikeLike
Wow! They had to REALLY “sanitize” Boone’s cover of the song, and slooow it way down, too. What would Amerika be w/o black music to consume, denigrate, and appropriate? Probably still listening to Liberace & Boone.
Strange how the trend continues to this day and we keep “giving” it away, seeking approval and validation.
Don’t get me wrong, I like most genres of music, including classical, and I am all for people trying out different styles and incorporating it into their musical repertoire, and paying homage to or acknowledging where it originated, but they don’t, do they? They dumb it down, claim it as their own,and make millions and leave the originators in the dust scratching their heads trying to figure out how and why the shift happened. People never learn from history….
In 50 more years, it will STILL be happening and people will STILL be scratching their heads in confusion and being up in arms that the new version of Macklemore/Boon/Como/Croce/Eminen/Simon just won accolades/awards/contracts with music that was appropriated from them, leaving them in the dust, again…
Abagond, this is one of your best posts, IMHO, contentwise and also topicwise. You took a simple piece of music, and with that, you were able to speak volumes, in 500 words, on cultural appropriation, racism, & exclusionist tactics/practices. Thank you!
LikeLike
“Being square and safe with no sex appeal” HA! HA! LOL!
LikeLike
Ironically, one of the trends I see happening now is black producers actually bypassing black artists and taking their sound directly to white performers. This is essentially what Johnny Wright did with New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, NSync, the Jonas Bros., Britney Spears, and Menudo. Nile Rodgers did it with Madonna, Duran Duran, Adam Lambert and Daft Punk, among others. Robin Thicke and Pharrell, Eminem and Dr. Dre, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake…and the list goes on. I think this is especially troubling given the recent predicament where no Black artists made Billboard’s list of top sellers — the first time that’s happened, in, what, 40 or 50 years?
LikeLike
@grin and bear it:
It’s a case of black producers going where the money is (white performers) with the sad side effect of ignoring and failing to cultivate black talent. If you have the biggest names in the industry ignoring you in favor of performers with easier and quicker marketability, then you’re left with selling your CDs out of backpacks and distributing your songs for free on the Internet just to get your name out there.
It’s probably high time for a new generation of producers to emerge and push fresh talent through, anyways. The established players have already found their wells to drink from and they’re not leaving any time soon.
LikeLike
abagond “By watering down songs – this was the age of Perry Como, when Muzak and White music were pretty much the same”
You made a similar comments in your post on “White American Music”…
“To a large degree White American music is watered-down black music.
The melody or tune is far more important than the beat.
The words do not matter that much.”
Musicians are always playing with and learning from each other. They borrow what they like and discard what they don’t. But it’s a two way street. I don’t even know how one would measure the amount of traffic going each way.
But you’re definitely right about white music being heavier on melody than beat and vocals. Or rather, for whites vocals are just another instrument. For blacks, it’s largely about vocals with the music as a beat in the background.
Studies show smarter people prefer instrumentals like smooth jazz, easy listening, classical and even big band. Hence, muzak. I actually like muzak. At least, I prefer it to most black music. Too much singing and hollering gets on my nerves. I want to listen to music not words. If I wanted words then I’d read. Which, by the way, is why gospel music has so much choral repetition. It was a way to get the message to illiterates.
LikeLike
Repetition of a motif is pretty usual in spiritual music. Getting a message though to illiterates is just human adaptability at work, sounds fine to me.
LikeLike
Da jokah
You mean the study by SATOSHI KANAZAWA? So much for credibility.
LikeLike
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPEfdjvTqE) I prefer Dion to Pat Boone. Although still utilizing the 4-4 backbeat and style of early rockers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, they put their own spin on it and it seems much more genuine rock than Boone had.
LikeLike
Ladies and Gentlemen.. MR. BOBBY DARIN! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVHAQX5sSaU)
LikeLike
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X7b2E_Jq-k)
Everly Brothers
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUoN50lkRi4)
When Bye Bye Love came out Pat Boone could have been their Great Uncle. Pretty sure it’s the same year.
Every beginning guitar player should play some everly bros to start out. imo.
LikeLike
@dave
Oh dave you played one of my favorite songs (Dream Lover). Granted I have a variety of favorites depending on my mood.
LikeLike
sharina “You mean the study by SATOSHI KANAZAWA? So much for credibility.”
Actually, I don’t think much of Kanazawa. While he may be right occasionally his theories tend to be too speculative. In particular, I disagree with his thesis as to why intelligent people prefer instrumentals. Regardless of his thesis, the data he bases it on was conducted independently by two other groups — one in the US and the other in the UK — both of whom found a correlation between intelligence and instrumental music.
The first survey uses data from the 1993 General Sociology Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The second survey uses data from the 1970 British Cohort Study conducted in 1986. Two surveys conducted by two different groups in two different countries several years apart produced similar results. That lends a great deal of credibility to their data.
LikeLike
Da Jokah, your descriptions of black music and white music border on ridiculous
LikeLike
@Dave: I happen to like Bobby Darren. If i had my choice of white male artist of that time he would be one of them. Bobby Darren is so much better than Pat Boone. I think people actually kind of snicker when Pat Boone is mentioned. He was just too corn ball.
LikeLike
Da jokah
Interesting. One of the reason I gave your comment the side eye is because some of your wording was almost word for word the findings in Kanazawa study (at least bases on this source).
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/classical-music-linked-to-high-intelligence-27959/
LikeLike
Does anyone know the history about slaves and their descendants inventing the genre country music? A black guy invented the banjo…crazy huh
LikeLike
I think Pat Boone was misunderstud comedian. 😀
When ever anyone tells me about this or that hard core rock group or singer I put them back to the ground by telling them about Little Richard. If there ever was a guy who invented rock’n’roll it was him. Anybody else can be cathegorised into what ever next label there is: Elvis into country, Chuck Berry into rhythm’n’blues BUT Little Richard is rock. Period.
Being a black gay guy sporting a make up in the South singing jungle music hated by the KKK and majority of the whites, during the time when black men were actually killed for much less, makes him the most rebellious hard core rocker ever in my book. Hands down.
The only group ever getting even close was a young Belfast punk rock band Stiff Little Fingers in the late 70’s who were singing about Alternative Ulster at the time when people were getting shot for being catholic or protestant, dance halls and discos actually were litterally bombed, grenades tossed trough living room windows etc.
As for Pat Boone, he should have keep on singing stuff like Moody River.
LikeLike
This could have been fatal for these kids at that time, just like Long Tall Sally or Good Golly Miss Molly could have been for Little Richard in the 50’s
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci8_git-gXM)
LikeLike