I was a little kid when I heard Little Richard. He was playing piano and singing that song," recalls Green before breaking into the opening lines of Richard's "Jenny, Jenny." Even then, he continues, "I knew he was a classic, one-of-a-kind. I never heard (anyone) with that kind of enthusiasm.
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Al GreenLittle Richard
» Little Richard - all quotes »
It's odd but even when I was a kid, I would write about "old and other times" as though I had a lot of years behind me. Now I do, so there is a difference in the weight of memory. When you're young, you're still "becoming", now at my age I am more concerned with "being". And not too long from now I'll be driven by "surviving", I'm sure. I kind of miss that "becoming" stage, as most times you really don't know what's around the corner. Now, of course, I've kind of knocked on the door and heard a muffled answer. Nevertheless, I still don't know what the voice is saying, or even what language it's in.
David Bowie
He was the biggest of them all. And he knew it. ...he wanted everyone to call him 'King Richard'.... He had the biggest, flashiest and with all the best looking players. He also had the greatest parties in his hotel rooms. At least, that's what I was told. They wouldn't let me in, because I was underage." Etta also mentions her first meeting with James Brown, in Macon, Georgia, where this young Dancer/Boxer/Gospel Singer had befriended Little Richard. "He used to carry around an old tattered napkin with him, because Little Richard had written the words, 'Please, Please, Please' on it and James was determined to make a song out of it.
Little Richard
[My mother] said, "Arlo, I was out in the middle of China. And they brought out these school kids, and they started singing us songs, and they started singing 'This Land is Your Land', and I said 'STOP! Stop the song! My husband wrote that song!" She must have drove them nuts! She was driving me nuts about it! It was weeks after she had got back she hadn't slowed down about it one little bit! And I just looked at her and I said, "You know, mom...California.....to the New York Island. What are they singing it for over there anyhow?" She just looked with one of those Mom kind of looks. She said, "Oh Arlo..." She walked away. I was left standing there feeling like my usual self. I knew she was right, but I just didn't know why. After a while though, it come to me. I could see it, just because it said "California to the New York Island", didn't mean it had to go the short way! I could see it going around back! Redwood Forests, Gulf stream waters, around that way! Then the whole world could be singing that song! Except America.
Arlo Guthrie
My idea in "My Sweet Lord," because it sounded like a "pop song," was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was to have the people not offended by "Hallelujah," and by the time it gets to "Hare Krishna," they're already hooked, and their foot's tapping, and they're already singing along "Hallelujah," to kind of lull them into a sense of false security. And then suddenly it turns into "Hare Krishna," and they will all be singing that before they know what's happened, and they will think, "Hey, I thought I wasn't supposed to like Hare Krishna!"
George Harrison
Richard, Little
Richards, Ann
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