The Truth About Little Richard's Most Famous Song

So what exactly do Tutti Frutti's "nonsense words" actually mean? According to the Library of Congress, the song began as an "old, slightly obscene ditty he had often performed as filler in his nightclub dates" and was filled with Richard's "soon-to-be trademark 'woos,' howls and scat-like singing" as well as raunchy lyrics — "tutti frutti / aw rootie" was originally "tutti frutti / good booty." Richard's drummer Charles Connor told Drumsmack T.V. in a 2014 interview that the lyrics then went on: "If it's tight / It's all right," and so on from there. When Dorothy LaBostrie came in to rework the lyrics, she changed "good booty" to what the Library of Congress called "a slang adaptation of all righty" and reworked some of the dirtier sections to "relatively innocent odes to girls named Daisy and Sue." 

 As for the most memorable line from the song, "A-w*p-bop-a-loo-bop-a-w*p-bam-boom!", Rolling Stone reported that Richard came up with the phrase while bored washing dishes, while other sources such as This Day In Music note that it was "intended to be an onomatopoeic parody of a drum intro." Regardless of its meaning, its legacy of kicking off what Mojo magazine called "the most influential and inspirational recording ever made" lives on.

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