Little Richard - "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally", & "Lucille" (Information, Videos, & Lyrics)

the rockabillie, Sep 4, 2016

The first major biography of Little Richard, a rollicking, nuanced celebration of the late singer/songwriter’s life and his role in the history of American music―gospel, soul, rock, and more

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - March 18, 2024

This pancocojams post provides information about Little Richard and showcases YouTube videos of three of Little Richard's hit Rock & Roll songs: "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally". and "Lucille".

Information about these songs is also included in this post along with their lyrics.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Little Richard and his band for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT LITTLE RICHARD
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Richard
"Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), known as Little Richard, is an American musician, singer and songwriter.

An influential figure in popular music and culture for more than six decades, Little Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll. His music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. Little Richard influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come, and his performances and headline-making thrust his career right into the mix of American popular music.

Little Richard has been honored by many institutions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" (1955) was included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010, which stated that his "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music." In 2015, the National Museum of African American Music[1] honored Little Richard with a Rhapsody & Rhythm Award for his pivotal role in the formation of popular music genres and in helping to shatter the color line on the music charts, changing American culture significantly."...

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From http://www.biography.com/people/little-richard-9383571
..."Born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard helped define the early rock ‘n’ roll era of the 1950s with his driving, flamboyant sound. With his croons, wails and screams, he turned songs like “Tutti-Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” into huge hits and influenced such bands as the Beatles."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO OF LITTLE RICHARD'S SONG "TUTTI FRUTTI [found above]

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INFORMATION ABOUT LITTLE RICHARD'S SONG "TUTTI FRUTTI"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutti_Frutti_(song)

Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" - Release date October 1955

"Tutti Frutti" (meaning "all fruit" in Italian) is a song written by Little Richard along with Dorothy LaBostrie that was recorded in 1955 and became his first major hit record. With its opening cry of "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!" (a verbal rendition of a drum pattern that Little Richard had imagined)[2] and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also a model for rock and roll itself.[3] The song introduced several of rock music's most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume and vocal style emphasizing power, and its distinctive beat and rhythm.[4]

In 2007, an eclectic panel of renowned recording artists voted "Tutti Frutti" No. 1 on Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World, hailing the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock and roll." In 2010, the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry added the recording to its registry, claiming the "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music".[5][6] In April 2012, Rolling Stone magazine declared that the song "still contains what has to be considered the most inspired rock lyric ever recorded: 'A wop bop alu bop, a wop bam boom!'"[7]"...

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LYRICS- TUTTI FRUTTI
(Songwriters: DOROTHY LABOSTRIE, JOE LUBIN, RICHARD PENNIMAN)

Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom!

Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Wop bop a loo bop a lop ba ba!

I got a gal, named Sue, she knows just what to do
She rock to the East, she rock to the West
She is the gal that I love best

Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti, ooh
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom!

I got a gal, named Daisy, she almost drives me crazy
Got a gal, named Daisy, she almost drives me crazy
She knows how to love me, yes indeed
Boy you don't know what she do to me

Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti, ooh
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Wop bop a loo bop!

Oh tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti, ooh
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom!

I got a gal, named Daisy, she almost drive me crazy
Got a gal, named Daisy, she almost drive me crazy
She knows how to love me, yes indeed,
Boy you don't know what she do to me

Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Tutti frutti, oh rutti
Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom!

http://www.metrolyrics.com/tutti-frutti-lyrics-little-richard.html
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According to the Wikipedia article about "Tutti Frutti" whose link is given above, ""Aw rooty" was a slang expression meaning "All right".

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SHOWCASE VIDEO OF LITTLE RICHARD'S SONG "LONG TALL SALLY"

Little Richard - Long Tall Sally, in color! (1955)

wonderfuloldiesmusic, Apr 26, 2020

Artificially colorized and enhanced video of Little Richard's  hit record "Long Tall Sally" from 1955. Colorization was done with the state-of-the-art DeOldify software by Jason Antic.

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INFORMATION ABOUT LITTLE RICHARD'S SONG "LONG TALL SALLY"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tall_Sally

"Long Tall Sally" -Released March 1956

"Long Tall Sally" is a rock and roll 12-bar blues song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, and Little Richard; recorded by Little Richard; and released in March 1956 on the Specialty Records label.

The flip side was "Slippin' and Slidin'". Both songs were subsequently released in the LP Here's Little Richard (Specialty, March 1957). The single reached number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, staying at the top for six of 19 weeks,[1] while peaking at number six on the pop chart. It received the Cash Box Triple Crown Award in 1956.[2] The song as sung by Little Richard is #55 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[3]
It became one of the singer's best-known hits and has become a rock and roll standard covered by hundreds of artists,[4] including the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

The song was originally called "The Thing", recorded in New Orleans by Little Richard.[5]

HISTORY
Tutti Frutti" had been a big hit for Little Richard and Specialty in early 1956, reaching No. 2 in the R&B charts. Pat Boone's cover version of the song reached No. 12 in the pop charts. Although this meant an unexpected cash income for the Specialty publishing firm, A&R man and producer "Bumps" Blackwell and a proud Richard decided to write a song that was so up-tempo and the lyrics so fast that Boone would not be able to handle it (Boone eventually did record his own version, getting it to No. 8).[1]

According to Blackwell, he was introduced to a little girl by Honey Chile, a popular disc-jockey. Apparently, the girl had written a song for Little Richard to record so she could pay the treatment for her ailing aunt Mary. The song, actually a few lines on a piece of paper, went like this:

Saw Uncle John with Long Tall Sally
They saw Aunt Mary comin'
So they ducked back in the alley.

Not wishing to upset an influential disc-jockey, Blackwell accepted the offer and took the idea to Richard, who was reluctant at first. Nevertheless, the line "ducked back in the alley" was exactly what they were looking for, and Richard kept practicing until he could sing it as fast as possible. They worked on the song, adding verses and a chorus, until they got the hit they wanted.[6] The credit to Enotris Johnson, Richard's adoptive father, was added, probably as an act of benevolence. Featuring a tenor saxophone solo by Lee Allen (as did "Tutti Frutti"), "Long Tall Sally" was the best-selling 45 of the history of Specialty Records."...

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LYRICS: LONG TALL SALLY
Songwriters: (ENTORIS JOHNSON, RICHARD PENNIMAN, ROBERT BLACKWELL)

Gonna tell Aunt Mary 'bout Uncle John
He claim he has the misery but he's havin' a lot of fun
Oh baby, yeah baby, woo
Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah

Well long, tall Sally
She's built for speed, she got
Everything that Uncle John need, oh baby
Yeah baby, woo baby
Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah

Well, I saw Uncle John with long tall Sally
He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley oh baby
Yeah baby, woo baby
Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah, ow

Well, long, tall Sally
She's built for speed, she got
Everything that Uncle John need, oh baby
Yeah baby, woo baby
Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah

Well, I saw Uncle John with bald-head Sally
He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley, oh, baby
Yeah baby, woo, baby
Havin' me some fun tonight, yeah

We gonna have some fun tonight
We gonna have some fun tonight, woo
Have some fun tonight, everything's all right
Have some fun, have me some fun tonight

http://www.metrolyrics.com/long-tall-sally-lyrics-little-richard.html

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SHOWCASE VIDEO OF LITTLE RICHARD'S SONG "LUCILLE"

Little Richard Lucille 1957 Long Version, High Quality Sound

Kaza Rock. Dec 21, 2017

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INFORMATION ABOUT LITTLE RICHARD'S SONG "LUCILLE"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_(Little_Richard_song)

"Lucille" -Released February 1957

"Lucille" is a 1957 rock and roll song which originally recorded by Little Richard. Released on Specialty Records in February 1957, the single reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, 21 on the US pop chart,[2] and number 10 on the UK chart. It was composed by Albert Collins (not to be confused with the blues guitarist of the same name) and Little Richard. First pressings of Specialty 78rpm credit Collins as the sole writer. Little Richard bought half of the song's rights while Collins was in Louisiana State prison (Angola)."...

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LYRICS -LUCILLE
(composers Albert Collins & Richard Penniman)

Lucille, you won't do your sister's will?
Oh, Lucille, you won't do your sister's will?
You ran off and married, but I love you still

Lucille, please, come back where you belong
Lucille, please, come back where you belong
I been good to you, baby, please, don't leave me alone

I woke up this morning, Lucille was not in sight
I asked my friends about her but all their lips were tight
Lucille, please, come back where you belong
I been good to you, baby, please, don't leave me alone, whoa

I woke up this morning, Lucille was not in sight
I asked my friends about her but all their lips were tight
Lucille, please, come back where you belong
I been good to you, baby, please, don't leave me alone

Source: http://www.metrolyrics.com/lucille-lyrics-little-richard.html

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Correcting The Record - South African Boot Dancing Isn't The Direct Source Of Fraternity & Sorority Stepping

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - January 13, 2025

This pancocojams post provides excerpts that help to correct what I believe is a rather widely held belief among African Americans and other Americans that South African boot dancing is the direct source of the African American originated performance art form that are known as "stepping".

The majority of this post consist of excerpts from Elizabeth C. Fine's 2003 book Soulstepping: African American Step Shows.

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The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Elizabeth C. Fine and all others who are quoted in this post.
-snip-

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-origins-of-south-african-gumboot.html for more information about the origins of South African gumboot dancing (boot dancing, isicathulo).

Also read these pancocojams posts for more information and comments about the early history of stepping: 
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/04/when-did-historically-black-greek.html "When Did Historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity & Sorority Stepping Begin?"

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/04/which-historically-black-greek-letter.html "Which Historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity Started Stepping?"

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-military-influences-on-historically.html "The Military Influences On Historically Black Fraternities & Sororities - Book Excerpt & Phi Beta Sigma Website Excerpt"

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EXAMPLES OF ONLINE ARTICLES INDICATING THAT SOUTH AFRICAN GUMBOOT DANCING WAS THE SOURCE FOR HISTORICALLY BLACK GREEK LETTER STEPPING
Judging from a number of online articles and YouTube discussion thread comments, it's becoming a generally accepted belief that the African American originated movement form known as "stepping" directly comes from South African boot dancing. Here are two examples:

Excerpt #1
"The Art of Stepping is defined as a style of dance that utilizes the body as its instrument to produce rhythms & sounds through hand claps, footsteps, and spoken word. Moreover, its history can be traced back more than a century to cultural dance traditions derived from the continent of Africa. Historians most reference the “Gumboot Dance” style from the gold mines of South Africa, its birthplace." http://www.artofstepping.com/about-a-o-s/history-of-art-of-stepping/

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Excerpt #2
"The practice’s [steppings'] origins are also African, and can boast roots in the call-and-response tradition as well as in games played by Congo children and in the gum-boot dancers of South African mines." https://hbcustory.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/this-is-why-we-step-a-history-of-stepping-in-black-greek-lettered-life-culture/
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Read my comment below about the reference to "games played by Congo children".

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Here's a longer available online excerpt from an article that credits gumboot dancing as the source of "stepping":
Excerpt #3
From http://www.cbsnews.com/news/not-dancing-not-marching-its-stepping/ "Not Dancing, Not Marching, It's Stepping", by Caitlin Johnson, CBS, January 7, 2007
..."Black fraternities and sororities were born of necessity on the campuses of historically black colleges* roughly a hundred years ago.

African-American Greek letter organizations, unlike many other mainstream fraternities and sororities, were founded because at the time African Americans couldn't join the other fraternities and sororities," said ["Stomp the Yard" (movie) producer Will] Packer [who was a fraternity stepper himself]. "They couldn't join the white fraternities and they weren't accepted in mainstream America as part of the general society brotherhood so they formed these organizations to create a brotherhood amongst themselves, a sisterhood amongst themselves, and also reach out and give back to those less fortunate than them....

Some of the moves in stepping are said to come from the Welly dance, a traditional stomp that South African laborers would perform in rubber Wellington work boots.

The old Welly dance has been adapted, modified and stylized into stepping."...
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Pancocojams Editor:
*Note that three of the nine historically Black Greek letter organizations that are part of The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) which is colloquially known as "the Divine Nine" were founded on the campuses of predominately White universities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pan-Hellenic_Council

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EXCERPT FROM PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY, INC. ARTICLE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF STEPPING 
In spite of the prevailing belief that South African boot dancing is the source of fraternity and sorority stepping, and in spite of the close similarities between these two movement forms, the historical record of stepping doesn't support the conclusion that gumboot dancing is the direct early source of, or is one of the direct early sources of stepping.

Here's an excerpt from an article on the origin of stepping that was written by some members of the historically Black Greek lettered fraternity Phi Beta Sigma, Inc.
From http://students.washington.edu/pbskl/step.htm
Phi Beta Sigma; Kappa Lamda Chapter - The history of Stepping according to the Temple of Blue
..."Stepping evolved with groups of guys singing acapella, and when groups like the Temptations and the Four Tops were popular in the 50's and 60's brothers started mimicking their steps. This is part of the reason why it is called "Stepping" now. Brothers would try to come up with the best steps while they were singing to please the ladies. If you got the ladies you got more recruits. Much like it is today.

Others say that stepping replaced the doo wop sounds and cardigan sweaters of the 50's. At around the same time as the "Black Power" Movements and Africa centered movements of the 60's, stepping started to flourish with the incorporation of some traditional African ritual dancing and the incorporation of other elements like cheer leading, tap, gymnastics, etc. Over the years stepping has become very intricate and demanding incorporating props, high levels of gymnastics and other elements found in team sports.

Please note that some people want to give the credit to the South African Boot Dance, but it would be unfair to ignore everything that stepping was in the beginning and it is now.

Stepping is an original art form that was influenced by many elements from our past."
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Pancocojams Editor's Note, added October 3, 2016; revised August 21, 2018
I agree with the members of Phi Beta Sigma, Fraternity Inc. who were quoted above that South African boot dancing wasn't the direct early source of the African American originated stepping.

I think that one of the reasons why so many African Americans believe that South African boot dances with historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority stepping is that the ways that stepping are performed now closely resemble South African boot dancing. However, from the Phi Beta Sigma quote given above-and other comments- it wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s that stepping resembled those South African dances.

That said, I believe that the percussive foot work, rhythmic hand clapping, body patting accompaniment, the call & response patterns, and bragging and insult characteristics of stepping and its accompanying chants exemplify Black Americans' appreciation for and cultural retention of African aesthetics.

Furthermore, as a portion of the excerpt given below indicates, it's possible that South African students studying in the United States in the early 20th century could have demonstrated and taught gumboot dancing to African Americans. And it's documented that African American step teams-Greek lettered or otherwise, have traveled to post apartheid South Africa to share stepping techniques and to learn South African boot dancing.

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EXCERPTS FROM ELIZABETH C. FINE'S BOOK "SOULSTEPPING: AFRICAN AMERICAN STEP SHOWS" (University of Illinois Press)
Note that these excerpts are given without the citations that are indicated by the numbers in parenthesis.

"Chapter 1: A History Of Stepping
p.43
Steppers at Howard University began to find a wider audience for their talents in the early in the 1990s. Alpha Phi Alpha stepped in President Bill Clinton’s Inaugural festivities after appearing in a Footlocker commercial in 1992. The Alphas expanded their audience even further when the team traveled to South Africa in 1995. In workshops with children, the step team demonstrated their art and joined South Africans in gumboot dancing, which some believe, may have influenced African American stepping. (46)

....

"Chapter 3: Stepping Out An African Heritage
p. 77
Despite the many claims of stepping’s African origins, not all agree. Michael Gordon, former executive director of the NPHC, pledged the Alpha Phi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi at Virginia State University in 1955. He says that he “disappoints a lot of younger brothers” when he tells them that during this period “there was no great Afrocentric movement”. Indeed, Gordon recalls, “especially in the historically black colleges during that period, Africa was the last thing that people tried to identify with.” Although there “were certain individual people who were a little more advanced than others who cared about or knew about African history and maybe admired W.E. B. DuBois, … most young black people in the colleges in the 1950s were trying to be upwardly mobile and accepted in the mainstream of American society.” Gordon acknowledged that the stepping of that period reflected African movements, such as an African American way of walking, as well as African American songs, such as the spirituals from which may fraternity and sorority songs borrowed their tunes, but maintains that steppers did not self-consciously imitate African movements. Not until the early 1970s at Howard University did Gordon encounter “Omega Psi Phi men who deliberately put on certain movements that recalled their African heritage. And I remember being thrilled about that.” (3)

Confirming Gordon’s assessment that steppers in earlier years did not associate their activities with African influences, Darryl R. Matthews, Sr., a former executive director of Alpha Phi Alpha who pledged in the Delta Rho chapter at the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1972, wrote in an e-mail debate with a younger brother:

When my big brothers did it in the 60s, it was to the doo-wopping style of the r&b artist of the day. There was nothing deliberately African about that. In the 70s we modeled ourselves after the Temptations and the Dramatics. It was syncopated harmony with show business choreography, pure and simple. It was not about anything African.

We did not know anything about this side of Africa. We only knew of the British imposed colonial imperialism and the revolutionaries who were trying to free their physically and mentally enslaved countrymen. To say we were stepping to relate to Mother Africa is disingenuous and inaccurate.

No news, art, dances, nothing was getting in or out of South Africa so we did not know anything about rubber boot dancing. That is recently discovered phenomena. I guess y’all young folks had the serious hook up on the goings on inside the formerly apartheid-ridden regime. Nobody else did, and there was no CNN in those days.(4)

p. 78
The rubber boot or gumboot dancing to which Matthews refers is an excellent example of the complex relationships between African and African American music and dance. Gumboot dancing (isicathulo), one of the first urban working-class dances in South Africa, may have been developed in rural missions by Zulu pupils who were not allowed to perform traditional dances. The word isicathulo, Hugh Tracey notes, means “shoe”. When the students danced the shoes that missions required them to wear created louder sounds than did bare feet. Around the time of World War I “rural, urban, mission, and working-class performance traditions” intermingled in isicathulo, which “as a step-dance” was closely related if not identical to other dance forms that had evolved earlier among farm laborers and inhabitants of the rural reserves.” (3)

Erlmann suggest that isicathulo dancers “frequently indulge in sophisticated solo stepping, prototypes of which had been available to migrant workers, from the mid-1920s through Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire movies as well as touring black tap dance groups.” Indeed, South Africans were exposed to African American music and dance traditions as early as 1890, when Orpheus M. McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers spent almost five years touring South Africa. In subsequent years, black South Africans came to the United States. One, the famous “ragtime composer Reuben T. Caluza, renowned “as a skilled isicathulo dancer”, enrolled in Virginia’s Hampton Institute in 1930 to earn a B.A. in music. Caluza and three other students from Africa formed the African Quartette performing both songs and dances along the East Coast.

They even sang for Franklin D. Roosevelt Quartet member Dwight Sumner wrote that in their summer tour of 1931 the “African Quartette sang Zulu songs, under the direction of Mr. Caluza, and also gave African folk dances.” It is likely that Caluza shared his talents with students. If so, members of fraternities and sororities could have incorporated some gumboot movements into stepping. Caluza went on to earn a masters degree at Columbia University in 1935, where again he could have shared gumboot dancing with students.

Malone notes that during the 1970s and 1980s gumboot dancing “was introduced in North American urban areas and showcased by many of the dance companies that performed styles of traditional African dances.” Evidence from Erlmann, however, suggest the possibility if a much earlier exposure to gumboot dancing and, conversely, the incorporation of African American influences into South African dances. Caluza’s story is only one small example of the continuous interactions among Africans and African Americans that created a complex interaction between music and dance forms on both continents. The founding director of the Soweto Dance

p. 79
Theatre, Jackie Semela, explains that just as South Africans were influenced in their music and dance by touring performers from the United States such as Duke Ellington, so too, did South African display their own dances: “And whenever South Africans travel, they would always show a gumboot dance, they would also show as Zulu dance, they would also show some tradition of South Africa in some of their songs.”. Semela agrees that there is a “likelihood” that Caluza’s interactions with black people in colleges in the United States could have brought a gumboot influence to stepping. (7).

Thus, it is impossible to argue that “pure” African dances directly influenced African American stepping, because the same popular culture traditions that were influencing stepping in American might also have been influencing African dances. As James Clifford observes, identities in the twentieth century “no longer presuppose continuous cultures or traditions. Everywhere individuals and groups improvise local performances from (re)collected pasts, drawings on foreign media, symbols, and languages.” The more recent work of Step Afrika! To exchange American, U.K, and African

p.80
dance traditions in an annual international festival in Johannesburg has only heightened the intercultural mixture of movement traditions. (chapter 5). The step team of the D.C. Coalition of Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. has used “Dun-Dun-Bah”, a West African dance from Guinea, as well as Zulu dances from South Africa in their step shows, Jeff Johnson reports. (8).

Some movement patterns in stepping may have been conscious adoptions of African dance patterns, but it is more likely that movement and communicative patterns from Africa came with the first black immigrants and slaves who adapted those patterns to their new North American environment. A people who had highly developed verbal, musical, and dance traditions in their various cultures would surely find some way to continue them in new contexts, especially when they offered psychological release from the horrors of slavery. These African traditions melded with traditions from other cultures to create the distinctive African expressive genres found in stepping.
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The next section in that chapter is entitled “Patting Juba and Ring Shouts”. Here are the first two sentences from that section:
p. 81
“The characteristic clapping and stomping movements of stepping have their earliest counterparts in African American dances that emerged during slavery. Patting juba, perhaps the best -known of these dances, may have originated in an African dance called guiouba and grown in popularity after slaveholders outlawed drums among slaves for fear they would be used to communicate revolts”

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The Jazz Dance "Truckin" (Information & Video Examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - October 4, 2024

This pancocojams post presents information about and film clips of the Jazz dance step known as "truckin".

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT "TRUCKIN" (DANCE)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Apple_(dance)#Moves
"Truckin: Truckin is a shuffle step variation popularized after the vaudeville era. The right hand is held up (as in a right turn signal) with the index finger extended and wagging. In Harlem Truckin the shoulder is set back. Feet are parallel at all times. With both feet together and facing slight left the right foot scoopes down and brushes the floor, the left foot is then gathered at the right ankle and the right heel twists (this should cause forward movement as the foot scoopes past the other foot). The action is repeated creating a "hearts in the snow" effect from the overlapping steps. At the same time the left hand is placed over the stomach (like a waiter holding a towel) and never really moves. The stomach twistes with the feet therefore, the "stomach rubs the hand". If truckin is being done around a circle the outside hand is always up."
-snip-
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3truck.htm
“Truckin is considered a Harlem dance originating around 1927...It signifies the Strutting Walk done when one is happy or joyful...It’s mainly used in Lindy Hop today after separating from your partner to return later back together again. Truckin can be done as a couple or as a solo...

Truckin is the shoulders which fall and rise as the dancers move toward each other while the fore finger points up and wiggles back and forth like a windshield wiper.”
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From http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/truckin_or_truck_on_down_1935/
"The Big Apple: Truckin
Entry from February 19, 2006
“Truckin‘“ or “Truck on Down” (1935)
The dance "Truckin" or "Truck on Down" was popularized in Harlem in 1935. Various Harlem spots and entertainers took credit for popularizing it."...
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http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/truckin.html
"According to The Golden Road, published Winter 1984.
"'Truckin'' was a popular dance step, and the word is immortalized in a number of '20s and '30s songs, including the blues "Keep on Truckin'" and Blind Boy Fuller's "Truckin' My Blues Away." ...
-snip-
Blind Boy Fuller's Blues song ""Truckin' My Blues Away" was written and performed by that musician/singer in 1936.

[From that same site but credited to the Oxford English Dictionary]
"trucking 2. The action of dancing the truck. slang. 1944 C. CALLOWAY Hepster's Dictionary in Of Minnie the Moocher (1976)
260 Trucking, a dance introduced at the Cotton Club in 1933."

The OED also recognizes the phrase "Keep on trucking":
"to persevere: a phrase of encouragement. 1972. Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 28 Oct. 12 One poster...shows the famous R. Crumb cartoon characters and bears the caption: 'Let's Keep on Truckin'."

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music describes "Truckin'" as a dance step which was incorporated into the "lively and strenuous circle dance", the Big Apple. It describes the "truckin'" step, "with its shuffle step and waving index finger."....
-snip-
http://www.skippyblair.com/dance_dictionary.htm
"...TRUCKIN'' was easy to do in the 1940s because the dancers were already familiar with the movement. It was the same movement as the "subtle bounce" in the Jitterbug & Balboa. Truckin' was part of the "Big Apple" in the 1940's..."

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Radio City Revels 1938



Olivier Cotton, Uploaded on Jun 3, 2010
-snip-
An example of "Truckin" occurs in this film clip at .04-.05
(a woman in the back dances across scene)

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Example #2: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple (1939)



Tanoa Stewart, Uploaded on Jan 25, 2007

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple followed by some crazy Lindy Hoppin'. From the movie Keep Punching, 1939 - Brought to you by the San Francisco Jitterbugs, www.jitterbugs.info
-snip-
I believe that one example of "Truckin" is found at .48-59.

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Example #3: A Day at the Races [The swing]



mind stripper, Uploaded on Sep 1, 2007
The whole beautiful, inspiring dancing scene of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.
-snip-
Black dancers perform "Truckin" -.43-.50

Two Marx brothers perform "Truckin" - 6:56-6:59

Three Marx brothers perform "Truckin" - 7:27
-snip-
Editorial comment about this film clip:
Notwithstanding the skill & creativity of the Black dancers & singers who performed in this film clip, I believe that this scene is full of stereotypical depictions of Black people, including Black people’s interaction with the White lead character who plays the pipes & is referred to as (the angel) “Gabriel”. I also believe that the scene in at the end of this clip is racist. In that scene (7:08-7:36), the Marx brothers apply black axle grease to their skin so that they can merge in the crowd with the Black dancers, thus avoiding being captured by those persons chasing them. This is an example of "blackface".

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Example #4:Truckin - Jumbo70



Mrgreymattr, Uploaded on Oct 12, 2010

Inspired by a popular dance step in the 20's & 30's, Truckin was written and recorded by late 60's rock band Jumbo. Watch legends doing some of the coolest moves on the planet. Visit www.jumbo.com
-snip-
I’m not sure if any of these clips are of the “truckin” dance
step.]

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Example #5: Alphabetical Jazz Steps 2 (Bigger & Longer)

LindyandBlues, Uploaded on Feb 16, 2012
Vocabulary of 84 American vernacular jazz solo movements

A hyyperlinked list of the dances that are ddemonstrated in this video is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbteWH-3QlY, including Truckin [around 9:40]

A shorter version of this video is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEWxdPTCubI

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Example #6: Truckin' Routine at the Swing Brother Swing Festival, Bologna Italy 2011



Sharon Davis, Uploaded on May 11, 2011

Instructors at the 2011 Swing Brother Swing Festival in Italy perform the Truckin' routine, choreographed by Sharon Davis.

Song: Truckin' by Willie Bryant

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BONUS VIDEO
Here's a Soul Train television show clip of Eddie Kendricks performing his 1973 R&B song "Keep On Truckin". I don't know if the dances that are being performed are an updated version of "truckin". As a reminder, the African American colloquial saying "Keep on truckin'" is said to encourage people to keep on going, inspite of difficulties. Another way of saying this is "Keep on keepin on".

EDDIE KENDRICKS - KEEP ON TRUCKING.70S SOUL DANCERS



Raresoulfilms, Uploaded on Jun 6, 2011

WHAT A GROOVE

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RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/ina-ray-hutton-and-her-melodears-doin.html
Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - "Truckin" & "Doin' The Suzy Q"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers and the other dancers in these featured dancers for their dance legacy. My thanks also to the musicians & vocalists who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the producers of these film clips, the the uploaders of these videos and the authors of the information that is quoted in this post.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - "Truckin" & "Doin' The Suzy Q"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about Jazz band leader, singer, and dancer Ina Ray Hutton. Two videos of Ina Ray Hutton and her all female band (Melodears) are showcases in this post. Both of these videos refer to very popular Jazz (Swing) dances of the 1930s.

Information about Ina Ray Hutton's sister, singer June Hutton, is also included in this post for supplemental purposes.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT INA RAY HUTTON
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Ray_Hutton
"Ina Ray Hutton (March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984) was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.

Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent.[1] She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and entertainer in Chicago. She attended Hyde Park High School on the South Side of Chicago. In the 1930s she appeared on Broadway in George White's Scandals and The Ziegfeld Follies.
In 1934 she was asked by vaudeville agent Alex Hyde to lead an all-girl orchestra, the Melodears, which featured musicians including trumpet player Frances Klein, pianist Ruth Lowe Sandler, guitarist Marian Gange, trumpeter Mardell "Owen" Winstead and trombonist Alyse Wells during its existence.[2][3] Hutton and her Melodears were one of the first all-girl bands to be filmed for Paramount shorts...

The group disbanded in 1939. In 1940 she led an all-male orchestra that was featured in the film Even Since Venus (1944); it was disbanded in 1946. During the 1950s, she returned to the all-girl format for variety television programs including the Ina Ray Hutton Show for a local station on the West Coast"...
-snip-
From http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/hutton-ina-ray-nee-odessa-cowan-1916-1984
"Hutton, Ina Ray, née Odessa Cowan (1916–1984)
Ina Ray Hutton led the Melodears, one of the first all-female swing bands to be recorded and filmed. She passed as white throughout her musical career, as the leader of several bands from the 1930s through the 1960s. But when Hutton was a child, United States Census records called her and her family “negro,” and “mulatto,” when the Bureau used that term. Her family occasionally appeared in the society pages of a black newspaper"...
-snip-
Here is a brief clip from the Wikipedia page for Ina Ray Hutton's sister June Hutton:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Hutton
"June Hutton (August 11, 1920 – May 2, 1973[1]) was an American popular singer.

Born June Cowan in Chicago she and her older sister, Ina Ray Hutton, a band leader in the 1930s and 40s, passed as white throughout their musical careers. United States Census records identified her family as “negro,” and “mulatto,” when the Bureau used that term.[2] Though their family occasionally appeared in the society pages of a black newspaper, both sisters had light complexions and by the late 1930s, dyed their hair blonde. Ina Ray Hutton changed her last name to "Hutton" (inspired by heiress Barbara Hutton), and in 1941, her younger sister June joined the band of her older sister, first singing under the name of Elaine Merritt, eventually changing her last name to "Hutton' as well"...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - Truckin'



Jan Klompstra, Uploaded on Aug 14, 2006
All-female dance band of the 30s.
Leader and singer: sexy Ina Ray Hutton
-snip-
Click http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3truck.htm for information about the Jazz dance "Truckin". That website indicates that this dance first originated in Harlem in 1927.

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Video #2: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - Doin' The Suzy Q



Jan Klompstra, Uploaded on Aug 13, 2006
All-female dance band with sexy leader-singer Ina

A commenter on that video's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FvJvcZMn3U indicated that this song & film clip are from 1936.
-snip-
Click http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3suzyq1.htmfor information about the Jazz dance the "Suzy Q". That website indicates that this dance first originated in 1935.

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RELATED LINK
Click http://www.jambalayah.com/node/1146 for a post on my Jambalayah website that includes videos of a number of African American originated jazz dances (from the 1920 through the 1940s), including the Suzy Q and Truckin. A video demonstrating the Susie Q is clearly labeled. Brief demonstrations of the Susie Q step, the Truckin step, and 82 other Jazz dance steps are found in the video that is entitled "Alphabetical Jazz Steps 2 (Bigger & Longer)"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears for their musical legacy. Thanks to the composers of these songs, and thanks to the uploaders of these videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (information & film clips)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about and film clips of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, a very influential Jazz (Swing) American dance group in the late 1930s and early 1940s. A bonus video tribute to Frankie Manning, a core member & choreographer of that group, is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT WHITEY'S LINDY HOPPERS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey's_Lindy_Hoppers
"Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers, started in 1935 by Herbert "Whitey" White. The group took on many different forms, with up to 12 different groups performing under this name or one of a number of different names used for the group over the years, including Whitey's Hopping Maniacs, Harlem Congaroo Dancers, and The Hot Chocolates. In addition to touring both nationally and internationally, the group appeared in a number of feature films and Broadway productions and counted Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr. among their celebrity regulars. By the summer of 1943, with most of its best male dancers got drafted, the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers had pretty much disbanded. The Savoy Ballroom closed in 1958."...
-snip-
From http://www.savoystyle.com/whiteys_lindy_hoppers.html
Archives of Early Lindy Hop -Biographies of Early Swing Dancers

"It is almost 70 years since Herbert "Whitey" White started a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers in 1935. Yet the film clips of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers continue to delight and astonish audiences and inspire new generations of swing dancers...

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was the brainchild of Herbert "Whitey" White. An African-American man known as "Whitey" because of the streak of white in his hair, he was a former boxer who became a bouncer at the Savoy Ballroom. At one time, more than 70 swing dancers were employed by Whitey. He had a good eye for talent and, like a good coach, he knew how to nurture it. He gave many future entertainers their start in show business...

No matter how far their professional careers went, Whitey's dancers were always, first and foremost, social dancers and true jazz dance improvisors, even after they had a number of choreographed routines under their belts. In this they paralleled the musicians of the great Big Bands, who could perform tight arrangements and still blow completely original jazz improvisations night after night.

The interaction between the improvisations of the great dancers and the great musicians made for fireworks! The dancers transposed the rhythms and riffs into movement and the musicians, watching, responded to what they saw with a frenzy of jazz innovation"...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: whitey's lindyhoppers -- history



7roach, Uploaded on Oct 15, 2007

whitey's lindyhoppers
featuring clips from Hot Chocolates and A Day at the Races

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Example #2: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Radio City Revels 1938


Olivier Cotton. Uploaded on Jun 3, 2010

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Example #3: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple (1939)



Tanoa Stewart, Uploaded on Jan 25, 2007

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple followed by some crazy Lindy Hoppin'. From the movie Keep Punching, 1939 - Brought to you by the San Francisco Jitterbugs, www.jitterbugs.info

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Example #4: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers - Hot Chocolate - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - 1941



Juan Villafane, Published on Aug 8, 2013

"Cottontail" Hot Chocolate

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers:

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Example #5: Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Helzapoppin



Uploaded by docludi2 on Sep 7, 2010

Probably the greatest Lindy hop sequence ever filmed. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers from the film Helzapoppin… [1941]



Juan Villafane, Published on Aug 8, 2013

"Cottontail" Hot Chocolate

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers

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BONUS VIDEO
Frankie Manning Tribute Video



swingbud,Uploaded on Aug 25, 2010

We're pleased to present the new video tribute to Frankie Manning, produced by Swing Bud Films, "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Swing." Whether you are a longtime Swing dancer, or new to the dance floor, we hope you will enjoy and be inspired by this introduction to one of America's great dancer / choreographers.

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RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.savoystyle.com/hellzapoppin.html for information about the "Hellzapoppin" dance scene and a listing of other early lindy hop dance scenes.

Also, for a largely non-dance related critique of this film clip and a non-dance related critique of neo-Swing in general, click http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/07/05/race-appropriation-lindy-hop-how-to-honor-our-heroes/ Race, Appropriation, & Lindy Hop: How to Honor our Heroes.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Whitey's Lindy Hoppers for their dance legacy. My thanks also to the musicians and producers of these film clips. Thanks also to the uploaders of these videos and the authors of the information that is quoted in this post.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.