45 RPMS 70: Smiley Lewis ~ Shame, Shame, Shame

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Smiley Lewis ~ Shame, Shame, Shame 

45 RPM label, side 1

photo by Styrous®

I was cruising around YouTube the other day and came across a song I hadn't heard in decades. Smiley Lewis is known for some of the great rhythm 'n blues songs ever written but for me, his recording of Shame, Shame, Shame is at the top of the list!     

 

I first heard the song in the 1956 film, Baby Doll, which was directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams. The score for the film was composed by Kenyon Hopkins who would later score Eleven Against the Ice produced for TV in 1958, The Fugitive Kind with Marlon Brando in 1960, and The Hustler with Paul Newman in 1961.                   

 

 

Smiley Lewis

 date & photographer unknown

 

The personnel on the song is brilliant! Accompanying Lewis's vocal and guitar is Dave Bartholomew doing a fantastic job on trumpet, Huey "Piano" Smith on piano; Smith would release the wonderful Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu a year later when I was in high school and it was one of my favorite songs to dance to.    

 

Then there is Lee Allen wailing away on sax and the hit of the song for me (I've always been a sucker for the sax). Shame, Shame, Shame was recorded on the 11th of August in 1956.   

 

The thing about this record is I like the "B side" better (that's happened a lot over the years). Where Shame, Shame, Shame is fast and furious, No, No, is slow, laid back, pensive and bluesy. With it's tinkely piano intro by Smith and barroom feeling it transports me to a time long gone that was exciting.      

             

Smiley Lewis ~ No, No

45 RPM label, side 2

photo by Styrous®

        

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Shame, Shame, Shame, written by Kenyon Hopkins, Ruby Fisher - 1:55

Side 2:

B - No, No, written by  D. Bartholomew*, Pearl King - 2:05

Companies, etc.

    Published By – Remick Music Corp.
    Published By – Reeve Music Co., Inc.

 Credits:

 

Smiley Lewis - vocal, guitar    

Dave Bartholomew - trumpet     

Lee Allen - sax        

Huey "Piano" Smith - piano

 

Notes:

From the Warner Bros. Picture Baby Doll

Barcode and Other Identifiers        

        

    Rights Society (Side A): ASCAP
    Rights Society (Side B): BMI
    Matrix / Runout (Side A (Etched)): Δ5-IM-1100 5418
    Matrix / Runout (Side B (Etched)): Δ5-IM-1033 5418

Smiley Lewis – Shame, Shame, Shame / No, No
Label: Imperial – X5418
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1957
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Rhythm & Blues        

        

        

        

Viewfinder links:       

         

Lee Allen       
Dave Bartholomew         

Marlon Brando         

Kenyon Hopkins            

Elia Kazan            

Smiley Lewis        

Paul Newman         
     
Net links:       

         

Taming the saxophone ~ Lee Allan interview      

TIMS ~ Lee Allan         

Wbbs Media ~ Lee Allan         

     
YouTube links:      
        
No, No        

Shame, Shame, Shame         

Shame, Shame, Shame (Baby Doll soundtrack)       

Huey "Piano" Smith ~ Rockin' Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu   
        
         

        

        

Styrous® ~ Thursday, June 30, 2022

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Lee Allen-1980

photo by Lionel de Coster

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

 

 

 

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Goodbye, Little Richard!

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Little Richard 

date & photographer unknown

Richard Wayne Penniman (aka Little Richard) died today, Saturday, May 9, 2020. He is one of my "immortal" loves (link below) to pass on.     

I will always remember hearing Tutti Frutti for the first time in 1955 when I was a teenager. What a fun and joyous song; never realized the original version of it was X-rated (John Waters link below)!   

But it will always be Lucille, which came two years later in 1957, that will be my favorite song by him. However, it took me decades to find out it is, "I asked my friends about her but all their lips were tight" and not, ". . . all they did was fight", which never made sense to me! After Lucille my next favorite song by him is The Girl Can't Help It from the film of the same name. The film also introduced me to that blond bombshell, Jayne Mansfield.      

He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll", and history would seem to bear out Little Richard's boast. More than any other performer – save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll.      

—Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Little Richard was born on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, his father was a church deacon and a brick mason, who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn. His mother was a member of Macon's New Hope Baptist Church.     

Gifted with a loud singing voice, Penniman recalled that he was "always changing the key upwards" and that they once stopped him from singing in church for "screaming and hollering" so loud, earning him the nickname "War Hawk". As a child, he would "beat on the steps of the house, and on tin cans and pots and pans, or whatever" while singing, which annoyed neighbors.           

While in high school, he got a part-time job at Macon City Auditorium for local secular and gospel concert promoter Clint Brantley. He sold Coca-Cola to crowds during concerts of star performers of the day such as Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder, and his favorite singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.    

In October 1947, Tharpe overheard 14-year-old Penniman singing her songs before a performance at the Auditorium. She invited him to open her show. After the show, she paid him, inspiring him to become a professional performer.           

He joined Dr. Hudson's Medicine Show in 1949; during this time he performed in drag under the name "Princess LaVonne." In 1950, he joined his first musical band, Buster Brown's Orchestra, where Brown gave him the name "Little Richard".      

Disillusioned by the record business, he returned to Macon in 1954 and, struggling with poverty, settled for work as a dishwasher for Greyhound Lines.      

At the suggestion of Lloyd Price, Penniman (Little Richard) sent a demo to Price's label, Specialty Records, in February 1955. In September of that year, Specialty owner Art Rupe loaned Penniman money to buy out of his Peacock contract and set him to work with producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell. Upon hearing Penniman's demo, Blackwell felt Penniman was Specialty's answer to Ray Charles, however, Penniman told him he preferred the sound of Fats Domino. Blackwell sent him to New Orleans where he recorded at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios, recording there with several of Domino's session musicians, including drummer Earl Palmer and saxophonist Lee Allen.         

Blackwell and Penniman went to relax at the Dew Drop Inn nightclub. According to Blackwell, Penniman then launched into a risqué dirty blues he titled Tutti Frutti. Blackwell said he felt the song had hit potential and hired songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to replace some of Penniman's sexual lyrics with less controversial words. Recorded in three takes in September 1955, Tutti Frutti was released as a single that November and, as they say, the rest is history.          

Tutti Frutti became an instant hit, reaching No. 2 on Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart and crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and overseas in the United Kingdom. It reached No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in America and No. 29 on the British singles chart, eventually selling a million copies.

Little Richard appeared in some of the earliest rock-and-roll movies: Don’t Knock the Rock (1956) which starred Bill Haley & His Comets (link below) . . .

Don’t Knock the Rock movie poster 

. . . and The Girl Can’t Help It, which introduced me to the blond, bombshell, Jayne Mansfield (link below), (1956) and Mr. Rock and Roll (1957).           

Jayne Mansfield - 1966

The Girl Can’t Help It movie still 

Little Richard was among the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's first class of inductees in 1986. He received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy and performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1992. The Library of Congress added “Tutti Frutti” to the National Recording Registry in 2010.

He was in Tullahoma, TN when it was announced that his death was related to bone cancer. He was 87 years old.    

   

Viewfinder links:
             
Immortal Loves   
Little Richard           
Jayne Mansfield         
     
Net links:
   
Billboard ~ Little Richard Grappling With His Sexuality & Religion       
CBS News ~ Little Richard, rock 'n' roll pioneer, has died at 87 
The Guardian ~  
         Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom 
         When John Waters met Little Richard       
NPR ~ Little Richard, The 'King And Queen' Of Rock And Roll      
NY Times ~ Little Richard, Flamboyant Wild Man of Rock ’n’ Roll     
RollingStone ~ Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock, Dead at 87 
       
YouTube links:
     
The Girl Can't Help It              
The Girl Can't Help It (film clip)          
Long Tall Sally - Tutti Frutti (1958 film)  
Lucille (1958 film)    
Tutti Frutti    
          
     
          

"God gives us the ability, 
but rock 'n' roll was created by men."
                        ~ Little Richard

      
       

Styrous® ~ Saturday, May 9, 2020
   
     

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