Tutti Frutti (song)

"Tutti Frutti" was Little Richard's first hit record in 1955, with its opening cry of "Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bam-boom!" and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also one of the models for rock and roll.

Little Richard had had an unsuccessful career until producer Bumps Blackwell recorded him in New Orleans for Specialty Records. During the sessions, Blackwell heard Little Richard singing a wild song with the sexually adventurous chorus:

Tutti frutti, good booty

Blackwell changed the lyric to

Tutti frutti, aw rooty

replacing the slang for "buttocks" with the slang for "all right".

"Tutti frutti" was a euphemism for a gay male, derived from the name of a confection, making the "good booty" meaning clear. (Richards was openly gay at this time.) The line "a-womp-bam-boom" was originally "a good Goddamn". Despite the toned down language, the song remained plenty wild and Blackwell and Richard had a hit.

The song has been covered by many musicians. After Pat Boone's success with "Ain't That a Shame", his next single was "Tutti Frutti", markedly toned down from the already reworked Blackwell version. Queen regularly played it during their live shows in the 1970s and 1980s. It is also featured during the T. Rex jam session with Elton John during the 1972 rock film Born to Boogie. It is the first song on the MC5 album, Back in the USA.

See the main article on Little Richard for more detail. This song was the cornerstone of Little Richard's career.