Paul McCartney Pays Tribute To Little Richard
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press
Paul McCartney has paid tribute to Little Richard, who passed away yesterday aged 87.
“‘From ‘Tutti Frutti’ to ‘Long Tall Sally’ to ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly’ to ‘Lucille’,” the Beatle writes via his official Instagram account, “Little Richard came screaming into my life when I was a teenager.”
“I owe a lot of what I do to Little Richard and his style,” McCartney continues, “and he knew it. He would say, ‘I taught Paul everything he knows’. I had to admit he was right.”
He then explains how that prior to having the first hit record the Fab Four would become acquainted with Richard, who they had idolized as teenagers, in Hamburg Germany.
“In the early days of the Beatles we played with Richard in Hamburg and got to know him,” Paul recalls, “He would let us hang out in his dressing room and we were witness to his pre-show rituals, with his head under a towel over a bowl of steaming hot water he would suddenly lift his head up to the mirror and say, ‘I can’t help it cos I’m so beautiful’. And he was.”
“A great man with a lovely sense of humor,” McCartney concludes, “and someone who will be missed by the rock and roll community and many more. I thank him for all he taught me and the kindness he showed by letting me be his friend. Goodbye Richard and a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop.'”
McCartney’s comment follows tributes from Ringo Starr, Sean Ono Lennon, and wife of Geroge Harrison Olivia Harrison.
While Richard’s songs were often a feature of the Beatles live set, they most famously covered ‘Long Tall Sally‘ on 1964 EP of the same name.
“I could do Little Richard’s voice,” McCartney told author Barry Miles in 1997 biography Many Years From Now, “which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing, it’s an out of body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it. You have to actually go outside of yourself.”
More recently Paul McCartney revealed he still listens to Richard’s best known single ‘Tutti Frutti‘ during his daily workouts.
He would select the song as one of his eight “desert island discs” when appearing on a BBC radio segment of the same name in 1982.
From 'Tutti Frutti' to 'Long Tall Sally' to 'Good Golly, Miss Molly' to 'Lucille', Little Richard came screaming into my life when I was a teenager. I owe a lot of what I do to Little Richard and his style; and he knew it. He would say, 'I taught Paul everything he knows'. pic.twitter.com/96bOzphhs8
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) May 10, 2020
