‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’: Oscar-Contending Doc On Architect Of Rock N’ Roll Who Struggled To Unify Queer, Religious Identities
deadline.comIn a clip from the documentary, Little Richard: I Am Everything, we hear the young entertainer singing an early version of what would become his signature tune, “Tutti Frutti.” But surprise!
The original lyrics were different than the ones we know today: “Tutti frutti, good booty/Tutti frutti, good booty!” The song, as Richard wrote it, was about gay sex.
In 1955, it would become the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer’s breakthrough hit, catapulting him to mainstream stardom — but only after the words were revised to something much more benign: “Tutti frutti, oh rooty/Tutti frutti, oh rooty!” The sanitized lyrics symbolize the deep conflict between Little Richard’s public persona and his private life, and how he could hit the stage in all his authentic glory, then do an about-face when the spotlight became too white-hot and too controversial — especially in the deep South, at a time when the definition of a wholesome American family was embodied on TV by Ozzie and Harriet. “Richard was not only becoming a star in 1955, but he’s doing so at a time that is fraught with tremendous danger for Black people and queer people, and he is unabashedly himself,” says director Lisa Cortés. “I saw that there were elements for documenting something incredibly powerful.
What were the social and cultural conditions that formed this man? We could not only look at the icon, but all the forces of nature that shaped him, and that he rallied against.” Richard Wayne Penniman — aka Little Richard — died from bone cancer at the age of 87 on May 9, 2020.
