Good Golly, Miss Molly
Encyclopedia
"Good Golly Miss Molly" is a hit rock 'n' roll song first recorded in 1958 by the American musician Little Richard
. The song, a 12-bar blues, was written by John Marascalco
and producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell
. Although it was first recorded by Little Richard, Blackwell produced another version by The Valiants, who imitated Little Richard, but sang the song even faster. Although the Valiants' version was released first, Little Richard had the hit. Like all his early hits, it quickly became a rock 'n' roll standard and has subsequently been covered
by hundreds of artists. The song is ranked #94 on the Rolling Stone
magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In the early 1960s the song became a continental hit in Latin America
performed by the Mexican
band Los Teen Tops, whose lead singer was teen idol Enrique Guzman, and sung in Spanish under the title La Plaga (The Plague), which actually is a Mexican Spanish slang word referring to "the gang" (as in the "gang one hangs out with"). It was recorded in 1959, and it was the first single of the band. It's considered one of the first rock in Spanish
hits. Later, it became a hit again for Guzman's daughter, Alejandra (Ale) Guzman on her LP "Bye Mama".
The British
band The Swinging Blue Jeans
skirted the UK Top 10 with their revival issued in early 1964. (HMV Pop 1273)
In 1966 the song again became a hit when Mitch Ryder
& the Detroit Wheels
recorded it in a medley with "Devil with a Blue Dress On
", reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would make "Detroit Medley" a staple of their concerts' encores in the 1970s and 1980s; one such performance is captured on the 1980 No Nukes
album.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
recorded "Miss Molly" in 1969 with slightly changed lyrics. Instead of the result of the gift of a diamond ring being, "When she hugs me, her kissin' make me ting-a-ling-a-ling", John Fogerty
sang, "Would you pardon me a kissin' and a ting-a-ling-a-ling"
The song was also covered by the Meat Puppets
on their album Out My Way
.
The song was covered on The Crests
' first LP album, "The Crests Sing All Biggies" in 1960.
The song is included on the Jerry Lee Lewis
album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
, recorded in 1964.
In the feature film King Ralph
, John Goodman
's title character played the song.
The song has also been covered by The Sonics
on their album Here Are The Sonics
and has also been covered by Screaming Lord Sutch
.
The Deep Purple
song "Speed King
" references the song (Good Golly said Little Miss Molly).
An episode of Hannah Montana
is titled "Good Golly Miss Dolly", a reference to this song.
intro to Jackie Brenston's influential 1951 rock and roll
song Rocket 88
and used it for "Good Golly Miss Molly." "I always liked that record," Richard recalled, "and I used to use the riff
in my act, so when we were looking for a lead-in to 'Good Golly, Miss Molly,' I did that and it fit."
band Los Teen Tops. "La Plaga" has the same melody of Good Golly Miss Molly, but different lyrics. In the Spanish lyrics, "la Plaga" is the most popular girl of the town, "the queen of the place" ("la reina del lugar"), not because she is seen as pretty, but because she is the best rock and roll dancer. "La Plaga" with "La Bamba"
(1958), is one of the first classic songs of rock en Español
(rock and roll in Spanish).
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
. The song, a 12-bar blues, was written by John Marascalco
John Marascalco
John Marascalco is an American songwriter, who is most noted for his collaborations with Robert Blackwell...
and producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell
Robert Blackwell
Robert "Bumps" Blackwell was an American songwriter, arranger, and record producer, best known for his work overseeing the early hits of Little Richard, as well as grooming Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Lloyd Price, Sam Cooke, Herb Alpert, Larry Williams, and Sly and the Family Stone at the start of...
. Although it was first recorded by Little Richard, Blackwell produced another version by The Valiants, who imitated Little Richard, but sang the song even faster. Although the Valiants' version was released first, Little Richard had the hit. Like all his early hits, it quickly became a rock 'n' roll standard and has subsequently been covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by hundreds of artists. The song is ranked #94 on the Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In the early 1960s the song became a continental hit in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
performed by the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
band Los Teen Tops, whose lead singer was teen idol Enrique Guzman, and sung in Spanish under the title La Plaga (The Plague), which actually is a Mexican Spanish slang word referring to "the gang" (as in the "gang one hangs out with"). It was recorded in 1959, and it was the first single of the band. It's considered one of the first rock in Spanish
Rock en Español
Rock en español is the Spanish-language rock music. While the term is used widely in English, it is used in Spanish mainly to distinguish such music from "Anglo rock." It is a style of rock music that developed in Latin American countries and Latino communities, along with other genres like...
hits. Later, it became a hit again for Guzman's daughter, Alejandra (Ale) Guzman on her LP "Bye Mama".
The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
band The Swinging Blue Jeans
The Swinging Blue Jeans
The Swinging Blue Jeans were a four piece 1960s British Merseybeat band, best known for their hit singles with the HMV label; "Hippy Hippy Shake", the follow-up, Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly", and "You're No Good", a Clint Ballard song that provided a change of pace and furnished the...
skirted the UK Top 10 with their revival issued in early 1964. (HMV Pop 1273)
In 1966 the song again became a hit when Mitch Ryder
Mitch Ryder
William S. Levise, Jr , better known by his stage name Mitch Ryder, is an American musician who has recorded over two dozen albums in more than four decades.-Career:...
& the Detroit Wheels
The Detroit Wheels
The Detroit Wheels were an American rock group from Detroit, Michigan. They served as Mitch Ryder's backup band from 1964–1967, and played on all his most successful records.Their original members were:* Jim McCarty...
recorded it in a medley with "Devil with a Blue Dress On
Devil with a Blue Dress On
"Devil with a Blue Dress On" is a song written by Shorty Long and William "Mickey" Stevenson, first performed by Long and released as a single in 1964. A 1966 cover version by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels peaked at #4 on the U.S...
", reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would make "Detroit Medley" a staple of their concerts' encores in the 1970s and 1980s; one such performance is captured on the 1980 No Nukes
No Nukes (album)
No Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future was a 1979 triple live album that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key...
album.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
recorded "Miss Molly" in 1969 with slightly changed lyrics. Instead of the result of the gift of a diamond ring being, "When she hugs me, her kissin' make me ting-a-ling-a-ling", John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
sang, "Would you pardon me a kissin' and a ting-a-ling-a-ling"
The song was also covered by the Meat Puppets
Meat Puppets
The Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980, in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood , his brother Cris Kirkwood , and Derrick Bostrom . The Kirkwood brothers met Bostrom while attending Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix...
on their album Out My Way
Out My Way
Out My Way is a mini-album released by the alternative rock band the Meat Puppets in 1986. It features a more hard rock oriented sound than the band usually has, leading some critics to say that the sound is similar to southern/hard rock stylings of ZZ Top...
.
The song was covered on The Crests
The Crests
The Crests were a New York R&B doo-wop group of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their most popular song was "16 Candles", which rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959. It sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc. The interracial group had three black members , one Puerto...
' first LP album, "The Crests Sing All Biggies" in 1960.
The song is included on the Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
Live at the Star Club is a live recording of Jerry Lee Lewis backed by The Nashville Teens playing at the Star-Club, Hamburg, Germany, April 5, 1964. It is regarded by many music journalists as one of the wildest and greatest rock and roll concert albums ever...
, recorded in 1964.
In the feature film King Ralph
King Ralph
King Ralph is a 1991 American comedy film starring John Goodman in the title role of Ralph Jones. The movie also stars Peter O'Toole as the King's private secretary, Sir Cedric Willingham, Camille Coduri as Ralph's girlfriend Miranda Greene, and John Hurt as the British peer Percival Graves, who...
, John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
's title character played the song.
The song has also been covered by The Sonics
The Sonics
The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...
on their album Here Are The Sonics
Here Are The Sonics
Here Are The Sonics is the debut album of American garage rock band The Sonics. It was released in 1965 on Etiquette Records. It was re-released in 1999 by Norton Records...
and has also been covered by Screaming Lord Sutch
Screaming Lord Sutch
David Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
.
The Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
song "Speed King
Speed King
"Speed King" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple from their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock. The song is one of the loudest from the album, and featured some of the band's greatest amount of improvisation in a studio recorded song, on both the original version and later live versions...
" references the song (Good Golly said Little Miss Molly).
An episode of Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana is an American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on the Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real...
is titled "Good Golly Miss Dolly", a reference to this song.
Song Origins
Little Richard first heard the phrase "Good golly, Miss Molly," from a Southern DJ named Jimmy Pennick. He modified the lyrics into the more suggestive: "Good golly, Miss Molly/You sure like to ball." Little Richard himself later claimed that he took the music from Ike Turner's pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
intro to Jackie Brenston's influential 1951 rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
song Rocket 88
Rocket 88
"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951...
and used it for "Good Golly Miss Molly." "I always liked that record," Richard recalled, "and I used to use the riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
in my act, so when we were looking for a lead-in to 'Good Golly, Miss Molly,' I did that and it fit."
Spanish version
In 1959 the song was a big success in Spanish under the title of "La Plaga" (The Plague) featured by the MexicanMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
band Los Teen Tops. "La Plaga" has the same melody of Good Golly Miss Molly, but different lyrics. In the Spanish lyrics, "la Plaga" is the most popular girl of the town, "the queen of the place" ("la reina del lugar"), not because she is seen as pretty, but because she is the best rock and roll dancer. "La Plaga" with "La Bamba"
La Bamba (song)
"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...
(1958), is one of the first classic songs of rock en Español
Rock en Español
Rock en español is the Spanish-language rock music. While the term is used widely in English, it is used in Spanish mainly to distinguish such music from "Anglo rock." It is a style of rock music that developed in Latin American countries and Latino communities, along with other genres like...
(rock and roll in Spanish).
External Links
- http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/little-richard-good-golly-miss-molly-19691231