1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. Hey Heads Up, Guys. 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: This episode, more than any other Disgraceland episode, is about sex, 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: casual sex, predatory sex, sex crime, sexual glory, sexual confusion, 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: and finally, backward attitudes towards sexuality. If sex and depictions 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: of sex aren't your bag or trigger you in some way, 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: then feel free to skip ahead. And if, on the 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: other hand, you're a freak, then buckle up, you pervert. 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: God save Little Richard, Draw, Mellow Draw. The stories about 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: Little Richard are insane. As a rock star, he was 10 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: fueled by angel dust and cocaine. The party was as 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: endless as his manic energy. Backstage orgies were the norm 12 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: for Little Richard's sex was as formative in his early 13 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: years as music was. Before becoming famous, he drove the 14 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: streets of his hometown, Making Georgia with a woman in 15 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: the back seat of his car, soliciting sex from random men. 16 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: He orchestrated group sex and motels dressing rooms wherever, not 17 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: so he could directly engage, but so he could sit 18 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: back and watch. And he always kept the Bible close 19 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: by in case his conscience got the better of him. 20 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: His conscience fueled his relationship with God, a relationship that would, 21 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: at different times in his life, mean more to him 22 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: than sex, drugs, rock and roll, or any of them combined. 23 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: And when it came to rock and roll, Little Richard 24 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: was both the king and the queen. During his reign, 25 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: he made great music, some of the greatest music of 26 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,279 Speaker 1: all time, earth shattering, norm rattling, genre bending, fence mending, 27 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: soul sending, sweet saving, great rock and roll music. And 28 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: that music you heard at the top of the show 29 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from 30 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: my melotron called come on, Diane, Sam was only kidding. MK. Two. 31 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 32 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: rights to Honeycomb by Jimmy Rodgers. And why would I 33 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of wannab Elvis Cheese? Could 34 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: I afford it? Because that was the number one song 35 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: in America on October fourth, nineteen fifty seven, And that 36 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 1: was the day that Little Richard, moved by a fiery 37 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: ball streaking across the sky, threw his eight thousand dollars 38 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: ring into the ocean, an abandoned rock and roll, forsaking 39 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: it for his Lord and savior. Jesus Christ. On this episode, 40 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: backstage Orgies, prowling peep shows, fiery signs from God in 41 00:02:44,320 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: Little Richard. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. When 42 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: Little Richard burst onto the charts in nineteen fifty five, 43 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: it seemed to happen overnight, out of nowhere. One day 44 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,079 Speaker 1: he was nobody, and the next he was known by everybody. 45 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: He sounded like an overnight sensation, urgent, sudden, imfetially confident. 46 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: But it wasn't overnight. It took him a while years, actually, 47 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: and he carefully crafted his image in unique style, in 48 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: true Frankenstinian fashion. From the church. He got the urge 49 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: to testify and the guts to stand up in front 50 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: of a large crowd eager to receive the good word. 51 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: Little Richard's rock and roll shows were sermons. He stood 52 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: up at the piano, He wailed on the piano. He 53 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: lifted his leg up on the stool and climbed on 54 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: top of the piano, all the while that steep pompadoor 55 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: deuce stood rock solids supported by the toothy grin beneath it, 56 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: his press suit bone dry, his face wet with ecstasy, 57 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: his gravelly yaz, followed by breathless ooze, buoyant, weightless. His 58 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: body went up the piano, his voice went up the scale. 59 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: Everything was up, up, up. It was ecstatic, and it 60 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: was repeated again and again for good measure. Whatever he 61 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: needed to do to keep the crowd engaged, to take 62 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: them there, to get them off to that communal plateau 63 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: of mind, body, and spirit. Yogi's call it consciousness, Squares 64 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: call it church. However you describe it. Little Richard was 65 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: a hyper sexualized holy Trinity, and he knew it. He 66 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: knew he could sing, he knew he could entertain, and 67 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: within seconds his audiences knew it too. They felt it 68 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: deep down in their soul. Didn't matter if they were 69 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: white or black. It was pure transcendence and you could 70 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: dance to it. From the traveling medicine shows in vaudeville stages, 71 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: he learned to unchange his inner queen and embraced his 72 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: own idiosyncrasies. It didn't matter what anyone else thought. Little 73 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: Richard didn't give a fuck. Little Richard was camp in carnate. 74 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: The music wasn't the only thing that was amplified. His 75 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: hair was bigger, his rings were gaudier. His perfect pencil 76 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: mustache and mathematically cultivated eyebrows were as orchestrated as his 77 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: song arrangements on stage. He was handsome and he was beautiful, 78 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: all at the same time. He was masculine. He was feminine. Capes, headbands, frills, tassels, 79 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: shirts adorned with tiny reflective mirrors, sleeves with dramatic flowery cuffs, ascots, 80 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: featherhead dresses, leather ge strings. The crowd allowed him to 81 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: be flamboyant, to be over the top, because he owned it. 82 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: It was an inextricable part of him. His outfit was 83 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: as shocking as his voice. Pink shirt, leopard print lapel's 84 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: big rings. The man was iconic from the jump and 85 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 1: the rest he learned from Escarita nineteen fifty Macon, Georgia. 86 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: The Greyhound bus station off Route eighty. Truckers on overnight 87 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: shifts breaking from dodging way stations, transients taking shelter from 88 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 1: the gnaw of the night, perverts, prowling hustlers hustling the 89 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: bus station has long been a safe house for clandestine 90 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: encounters for those looking for some sort of sexual experience 91 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,600 Speaker 1: that deviated from what society at large deemed acceptable, and 92 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty, there was a lot that society deemed unacceptable. 93 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: Despite his conservative upbringing, little Richard was looking for the unacceptable. 94 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: He was nineteen. He'd grown up in Macon's church community. 95 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: He sang at prayer meetings, old folks homes, and church 96 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: retreats with the Tiny Tots. He was a born performer. 97 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: He spent a lot of his formative years looking in 98 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: a mirror. He sang loud, wanted to impress, wanted to 99 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: reach people. But there was more to performing than singing 100 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: spirituals for gray haireds and rocking chairs. As a teen, 101 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: he got a taste to the flip side of the 102 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: performing lifestyle when he joined traveling shows like The Tidy 103 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: Jolly Steppers and the Broadway Follies. He wanted more than 104 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: what Macon had to offer. He knew he had more 105 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: than Macon could handle. On the road, he sang secular songs, 106 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: even dressed in drag, and as exciting as it all was, 107 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: as much as it allowed him to scratch that no 108 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: holds barred performing itch that he had, he felt guilt, 109 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: felt that what he was doing, what he wanted to do, 110 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: was wrong. He was straying far from God, far from 111 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: the Church. In times of spiritual and psychological crisis, he 112 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: relied on the voice of Angel in his head, a 113 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: benevolent voice. Angel moved him closer to redemption, closer to cleanliness, 114 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: away from the temptations that could pervert him, temptations that 115 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: a life traveling and singing on the road and juke 116 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: joints in R and B clubs would lay bare. Angel's 117 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: voice was the opposite of the voice of Evil, a freaky, funky, 118 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: far out contradiction. Evil was a maloe levolent voice that 119 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: led Richard down the path of selfish pleasure, a voice 120 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: in his head that said, if it feels good, do it. 121 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: He had the rest of his life to get right 122 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: with God. Evil said, right now, he owed it to 123 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: himself to live the lifestyle that he wanted, the one 124 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: that felt good, the life that felt right. Richard was torn, 125 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: conflicted from birth. He embodied both the desire to do 126 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: what was expected of him, as well as he urged 127 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: to follow his instincts and the way he talked, the 128 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: way he dressed, the strange things that turned him on. 129 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: As a teen, he lacked confidence, not the confidence to 130 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: join up with a traveling show and wear a dress, 131 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: but the confidence to stay there and make it and 132 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: be like the rest, like the squares. So he took 133 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: a job at the Macon Greyhound bus station, where all 134 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 1: those conflicted feelings of what was supposed to be right 135 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: and what felt right clashed and co mingled in the 136 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: bathroom stalls. On a nightly basis, he washed dishes in 137 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: the greasy spoon kitchen and saying under his breath as 138 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: theos and pants banged out a makeshift rhythm in the sinks. 139 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: After his shift, he would linger in the men's room 140 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: for a while, so long even that he would lose 141 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: track of how long he'd been in there, looking for 142 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: feed underneath the stalls, looking over his shoulder toward the 143 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: guy next to him at the urinal, looking for a 144 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: subtle acknowledgment, a knowing nod, for an invitation to engage 145 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: in the type of men's room encounter he yearned for 146 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: but could never speak of. And then off the bus stepped. 147 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:36,079 Speaker 1: Escarrita Esquarta was a piano playing team three years Richard's junior, 148 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: touring with a traveling preacher and snake oil saleswoman named 149 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: Sister Rosa. At this point, Escurta was still going by 150 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 1: his given name ESQ Reader. When Richard first sam he 151 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: was struck a thunderbolt. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. 152 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: All that sex, all that confidence, those blurred gender lines, 153 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: one part Amazon, one part pin up six feet tall, 154 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: that mouth, it stretched out wide, an effortless smile from 155 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: ear to ear, assassin specks, black, beautiful, chic, cool sex 156 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:13,319 Speaker 1: on fuego, sent from the fiery depths of hell. Richard's 157 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: jaw dropped, his heart pounded. He dropped the dish hees 158 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: racing off into the sink. It crashed, waters splattered up 159 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: onto little Richard's pretty dumb struck face. Richard stared out 160 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: of the kitchen window at Escarita as he walked slowly 161 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: down the steps of the bus and short paraded with 162 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,079 Speaker 1: ultimate sass into the restaurant, passed the seats at the counter, 163 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,840 Speaker 1: straight into the kitchen, right up to the pretty little 164 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: thing working the dirty little dish rag, and slapped little 165 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: Richard clean across the face. Escarita then pivoted abruptly on 166 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: his cuban heels and waltzed out of the kitchen. Little 167 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: Richard was in love in Escarita. Richard recognized a kindred spirit. 168 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: Escarita red Devil's workshop, Vaudeville, Chitlan Carnie. Richard didn't know where, 169 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: but he knew what Escarita was in business, the business 170 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,839 Speaker 1: of show showbiz, in black, young and somehow experienced in 171 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: gay to boot. Obviously, Richard knew it was destined. Knew 172 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: they were supposed to cross paths. Angel or evil had 173 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: put Escarita on that bus, and it was Richard's duty 174 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: to receive him. And they talked, they bonded. Richard noticed 175 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,559 Speaker 1: Escarida's huge hands, His mind wandered. Escarita put them on 176 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: a piano. Richard was lifted. Escarita began to sing. He 177 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: wiggled his head as he did it, and Richard saw 178 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 1: and Escarida an aspirational reflection of himself, what he could become. 179 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: He saw his future in Escarita's raptureus face. He saw 180 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: himself back on the road, a traveling man, singing that 181 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: ass shaking music, unlike anyone else, Ironically, just like Escarita. 182 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: He now knew what he'd looked like, what he'd sound like. 183 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: Even though Escarita was a few years younger, Richard had 184 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,839 Speaker 1: found his rock and roll teacher. He received a crash, 185 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: a crash course in piano playing, but also a crash 186 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:07,320 Speaker 1: course in how to become himself. Evil was in his head. 187 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: She was loud, and she agreed. Evil was taking a 188 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: ride on the pendulum, the one gaging Richard's conscience. Evil 189 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: was straddling it like a young girl straddles a tire swing. 190 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,319 Speaker 1: Evil swung on that pendulum, far away from the right 191 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: side of God, far away from Angel, and far away 192 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 1: from what was deemed acceptable and polite making society. Richard 193 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: didn't care. He swung too, swung right out of town 194 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: and into the big time, into the business of show, 195 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: just like Escarita or he knew he could behave however 196 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: the fuck he wanted to. People were always singing and making. 197 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: Georgia music was everywhere. The town was alive with it, 198 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 1: on paved streets, on dirt roads, on porches some of 199 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: the tongues of residence in Macon's churches. Music was in 200 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: the air in the morning when the sun rose, promising 201 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: another sweltering day, and at dusk, when the gnats would 202 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: come out and get caught up in the kudzu. Born 203 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty two. Richard Pennaman grew up where the 204 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: black and white neighborhoods overlapped in making. His father, Bud 205 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: ran a juke joint called the tip in In. He 206 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: also ran moonshine and the Penamin household. Bud and Leave 207 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: of May and their dozen kids didn't want for much. 208 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: As a young boy, Richard was different in more waste 209 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: than one. He was picked on mercilessly. He was born 210 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,559 Speaker 1: with one leg shorter than the other and thus ridiculed 211 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: for the way he walked long strides twisted up with 212 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: short ones. He was born with one eye bigger than 213 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: the other. It was a giant head that bobbled atop 214 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: his small frame. Kids teased them for that too. He 215 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: was effeminate, and he talked more like a girl than 216 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,560 Speaker 1: a boy, or fodder for the bullies. He powdered and 217 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,319 Speaker 1: perfumed his face in the bathroom mirror, and his classmates 218 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: had a field day with that one too. They called 219 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 1: him names, called him big head, freak, sissy fitt. Richard's 220 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: dad wasn't a fan of his son's effeminate ways. You're 221 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 1: only half a son, he told Richard. My dad he 222 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: had seven sons, and I wanted seven sons, but you 223 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: fucked up that real good just by being born. Richard 224 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: had already done something wrong. And then there were the 225 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: people in Macon who didn't ridicule Richard for the way 226 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: he looked or the way he walked, and the fact 227 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: that he wasn't as manly as the next guy. Instead, 228 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: they saw an impressionable young boy aching to fit in, 229 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 1: and they saw Mark a vulnerable boy, a boy who 230 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: would be easily persuaded. Richard was propositioned at an early 231 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 1: age by older women from around Macon, and they'd ask 232 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: him prying questions, sexual questions. He'd tell them whatever he 233 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: thought they wanted to hear, and then it would be 234 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: on sex. At the age of sixteen with older adult women. 235 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: It wasn't just women. Men white men would pick Richard 236 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: up along with other boys's age, on the side of 237 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: the road, drive them out into the woods, and force 238 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: them to perform oral sex. The scene was entirely fucked 239 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: up and completely dangerous. Richard was one of many who 240 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 1: would get stopped by a couple of older men the 241 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: locals called Madam Oop and sis Henry. If you dilly 242 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: dallied long enough. On your way home from school, Madam 243 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: Oop or sis Henry would catch up to you, waltzing 244 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: through the streets, singing songs the way most making residents would, 245 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: minding their own business. Madam Oop would pop out of 246 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: the shadows, ask you what you were doing, ask you 247 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 1: where you were going, tell you how nice he looked. 248 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: Ask you if you wanted to make a little money, 249 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: wanted some quick cash, All you got to do is 250 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: follow Oop right over there, into the bushes, into the 251 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: woods behind the gas station wherever. Richard didn't like what 252 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: came next, but money was hard to come by, and 253 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: make it, he'd go through the motions. Madam Oop pulled 254 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: his shirt out out of his pants and then slowly 255 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: lifted it up to show Richard the claws to me 256 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: bag on his side. Too much had destroyed his turned 257 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: his thought into what Oop explained with something more akin 258 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: to a floppy old than a working functioning. Biologically, it 259 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: was useless, thus the colostomy bag. But sexually well, the 260 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 1: Lord taketh, but he do giveth too. Oop may have 261 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: no longer had with, but he did now have with. 262 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: It was gross insane. Even the sex scene in Macon 263 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: and Richard wanted out of the freak show. He was 264 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: failing in school and falling in with the wrong crowds. 265 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: Scavenged by the likes of Madame Oop. He wanted to 266 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: do right by God, get on the right side of Satan, 267 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: be good, but feel good too. He felt pulled by 268 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: the evil, felt the whispers from evil blow against his ear. 269 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: The only thing he enjoyed was singing with gospel groups 270 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: in town. Richard loved singing. He sang a prayer meeting, 271 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,040 Speaker 1: sang on people's doorsteps, sang everywhere someone else wasn't already singing. 272 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: So when Doctor Hudson's Medicine Show came through Macon in 273 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, selling snail oil and singing secular tunes, 274 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: Richard saw an opportunity and jumped on board, joined the 275 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: circus as it were, even if the real circus, in 276 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: Richard's eyes, was making he had to get away, and 277 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:21,760 Speaker 1: he was just sixteen. He played with the Medicine Show, 278 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: got hooked up and sang with others B. Brown and 279 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: his orchestra, The Tidy Jolly Steppers, the LJ. Heath Show, 280 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: the Broadway Follies. He joined a vaudeville show called Sugarfoot 281 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: Sam from Alabama, put on a dress and heels and 282 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: performed as his alter ego, Princess Levaughn. His performances soon 283 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: led to attention from R and B DJs, and in 284 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, at eighteen years old, he found himself 285 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: in the studio for the first time. His single Taxi 286 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: Blues with Every Hour on the Flip Side, did well 287 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: in both Macon and Atlanta. Locally, he was making a 288 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 1: name for himself, but the brakes were pumped when Richard's 289 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:03,199 Speaker 1: father was shot and killed street gunned down outside the 290 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,480 Speaker 1: tip in In by Frank Tanner after an argument. Bud 291 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: called Frank out on some bullshit, told him to take 292 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: his big mouth outside. Bud didn't take any shit. Anyone 293 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 1: can tell you that, especially his half son Richard. Bud 294 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: followed Frank outside and Bud was packing like he and 295 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: many residents of Makeing often were like Frank Tanner was. 296 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: Frank turned around and shot Bud dead some real wild 297 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: West shit. Bud didn't even make it to the hospital. 298 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: The rest of the details were fuzzy and there was 299 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:37,199 Speaker 1: no real investigation. Frank didn't serve much time in the 300 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: wake of his father's death, Richard looked to the Lord 301 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: for guidance, but the Lord must have been busy. In 302 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: the absence of any spiritual advice, Richard felt the poll 303 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: of rhythm and blues. The music he had heard and 304 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: sang on the road resonated in his head, and the 305 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: absence of the Lord in his life created a void, 306 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: and Richard filled it with the desire to make the 307 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: kind of music that made people jump around, you know, 308 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: Devil's music. Richard was also filled with another desire, the 309 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: kind of desire that goes hand in hand with that hot, 310 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: sweaty kernel music. A desire for flesh, a desire for 311 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,679 Speaker 1: the things he knew were wrong but that made his 312 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: head spin, so called evil things. And Fanny, Richard's new friend, 313 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: knew of such things. Richard was back in Macon, off 314 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: the road to bury his father. Fanny was Richard's local 315 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: partner in crime, his partner in kink, and Fanny knew 316 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 1: what Richard liked. He'd liked to watch and Fanny liked sex. 317 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: A partnership was born. Richard talked about peeking and hiding 318 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: and ducking back in the alley, some real under the 319 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,399 Speaker 1: radar shit. He had a car he'd drive around town, 320 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: find guys who were ready and willing, and Fanny could 321 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: freak with them in the back seat. Richard Richard would 322 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: just watch they cruised, make it slow. In the early 323 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties at night, on the sidewalks in street corners. 324 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 1: If he knew what you were looking for, it was 325 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: easy to spot strange men looking for late night, strange 326 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: looking for something they weren't going to get at home, 327 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: and Richard had what they wanted right in the back 328 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: seat of his car. Richard was shift into neutral and 329 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: coast over to the side of the road. The night 330 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,400 Speaker 1: so black and dead, all you could hear from blocks 331 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: was the wind, blowing insects, humming, trains whistling. Richard would 332 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: pull over, slow creep, catch the man on the corner's 333 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: eye through the passenger window, make a gesture with his 334 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:32,959 Speaker 1: head towards the back seat, and the man would then 335 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,040 Speaker 1: walk to the rear passenger door, open it, and there 336 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: laying on the back seat was Fanny, legs spread no 337 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,479 Speaker 1: panties on underneath their dress. The man would jump in 338 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,159 Speaker 1: scramble to undo his belt, while Fanny would reach up 339 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: pull a zipper down and the car would lurch from 340 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: side to side, parked and idling on the side of 341 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: the road while Fanny and the man got to know 342 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: each other biblically and Richard Richard would just watch one 343 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:00,919 Speaker 1: hand on the wheel and the other well doing the 344 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: devil's business. His neck craned to fully observe the action 345 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,159 Speaker 1: in the back seat of his own chauffeur fuckmobile. No 346 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:12,159 Speaker 1: money was exchanged. Fanny screwed strange men because little Richard 347 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: told her to. Richard had that swag, he got cocky, 348 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,879 Speaker 1: wanted to double down. He drove the car to a 349 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 1: gas station, did his thing and caught the attention of 350 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: a man standing outside, made the gesture the back seat, 351 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: and the man beat a bee lineer Richard's car. But 352 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: Richard didn't notice that the gesture also caught the attention 353 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: of the gas station clerk, who couldn't help but watch. 354 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: He saw Richard's look, saw the back door open, saw 355 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: Fanny on the back seat, legs spread wide, and the 356 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: man climbed in on top of her and shut the 357 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:47,440 Speaker 1: door behind him. The clerk slowly walked from the gas 358 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: station like he was in a trance. He got closer 359 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: and stole a glance through the back window, and the 360 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:54,639 Speaker 1: guy was going to town on top of the girl. 361 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: Richard was watching from the front seat. The car idled, 362 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: it shook, and the clerk snapped too. His titillation gave 363 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: way to shock, to a muffled gasp, to the need 364 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:06,119 Speaker 1: to do his civic duty and report what was surely 365 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 1: all kinds of broken laws, not to mention a blatant 366 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,160 Speaker 1: affront to God himself. He ran back inside the gas 367 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,200 Speaker 1: station and picked up the phone, and the car was 368 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: still idling, still rocking, when the blue lights flickered on 369 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: behind Richard. The lights startled him, pulled him out of 370 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: a self contained world of sin, and the cop wrapped 371 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,440 Speaker 1: his nightstick on the window and startled Richard even more. 372 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:27,919 Speaker 1: Fanny and the man in the back seat jumped, and 373 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: the guy popped the back door open, fell out of 374 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: the car, and struggled to pull his pants on. Richard 375 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: was out, hands up, turned himself around to face the vehicle, 376 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: and got the pat down. He was going to jail 377 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: after a few days behind bars. They told him to 378 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,919 Speaker 1: leave town. Just as Richard had felt the need to 379 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 1: get out of making making it felt the need to 380 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 1: get Richard out of their community and the feeling was mutual. 381 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: Richard was cast out and there was no going back. 382 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:04,919 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this word word were. Lloyd 383 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 1: Price patted the ridges of his perfectly coffed hair and 384 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,880 Speaker 1: told little Richard that Specialty Records was where it was at, 385 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: specially needed someone like Little Richard, a cat who was 386 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: cut above the norm, a cat who stood out and 387 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: turned heads. Lloyd told Richard to send his demo straight 388 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: to Art Roup in Los Angeles. Tell him Lloyd sent him. 389 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: He patted his hair again, partly to make sure it 390 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: was still as pretty as it was five minutes ago, 391 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 1: partly to reinforce his star time image. Lloyd Price was 392 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:38,120 Speaker 1: a motherfucker of a musician, recording artists for Specialty Records, 393 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,399 Speaker 1: the voice behind the number one song Lottie, Miss Claudie, 394 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: and he would daintily adjust his hair anytime he damn 395 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: well pleased, so you wouldn't forget it. Richard wasn't thinking 396 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 1: of Lloyd's hair. He had his own hair to think of. 397 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: His hair would turn even more heads, but he was 398 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,880 Speaker 1: mostly thinking of Lloyd's recommendation. Richard was desperate to get 399 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,919 Speaker 1: on Specialty's roster, like a hungry dog. That had grabbed 400 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: hold of a big slab of meat and wouldn't let 401 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 1: go until he could drag it away into a corner 402 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: on his own. He wanted some. He knew that Specialty 403 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: would want him to. Richard was used to being wanted. 404 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: They had been grinding it out, playing his excitable R 405 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,399 Speaker 1: and B music to paying crowds all over the South, 406 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: and made some sporadic recordings for RCA, Victor and Peacock Records. 407 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: He opened for Sister Rosetta Tharp and Little Johnny Taylor. 408 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: He cut sides with Johnny Otis. Johnny otis attraction was 409 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: limited when Lloyd Price played Macon and ran into the 410 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: Little Richard performance juggernaut. Lloyd saw the greatness and Richard 411 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 1: played his day. He saw the Frankenstein pieces coalesced into one, 412 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: the Church Zello, the Traveling Medicine Show, Free, the escarita 413 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: inspired virtuoso. Richard took Lloyd's advice and sent his demo 414 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: up to Specialty. For days, he didn't hear anything, and 415 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: then weeks he called and they weren't interested. He waited 416 00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: some more, called again, still nothing. It wasn't until he 417 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 1: got desperate until they started to realize that they needed 418 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: to compete with Atlantic Records and Ray Cheryls for a 419 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: bigger slice of the R and B pile. That they 420 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: decided to give the Making Kid a chance, and they 421 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: returned Richard's calls, and from there it was a blur. 422 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: The label sent Richard to New Orleans. The guys from 423 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: Fats Domino's band waited in the studio, a tiny room 424 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: in the back of Jane an amusement service, a jukebox 425 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 1: operation in the French quarter, sixteen by eighteen feet. Richard 426 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 1: and the others packed like Sardine's and a ten, playing 427 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: like they were trying to bust out of the room, 428 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: tear its walls down, blow its roof off. They cut 429 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:40,679 Speaker 1: track after track after take after take. The room was hot, sweltering. 430 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: Richard played and sang like he was making out for 431 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,359 Speaker 1: lost time, like he had to get the music out 432 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: the ideas down, had the secret code to reinvent the wheel, 433 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,199 Speaker 1: and he was going to bring a room full of 434 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: tempered New Orleans session men along with him, whether they 435 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: liked it or not. And Tooty Freddy was released first. 436 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: It was a smash, peaked at number two on the 437 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: R and B charts. Crossed over to the pop charts, 438 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: where it made it to number twenty one. The song 439 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: sounded like an explosion. It had energy to spare. It 440 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: all hinged on a line of lyrical nonsense that somehow 441 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,400 Speaker 1: made total sense, a wop baba lubab a wop bamboom. 442 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: Like most of Richard's songs, it was coded. It was 443 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,159 Speaker 1: a sex romp. He wrote what he knew, and it 444 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:26,399 Speaker 1: sold a million copies. Richard's live show was just as 445 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 1: explosive as his recordings. With his band, The Upsetters, he 446 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,959 Speaker 1: did the upsetting. He stood up, moving, played the piano, 447 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: but wouldn't be bound to it through his clothes at 448 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: the audience, and women threw their panties right back at him. 449 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,719 Speaker 1: He played seven nights a week with The Upsetters, sometimes 450 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,920 Speaker 1: up to three shows in one night. He had everyone's attention, 451 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 1: sometimes too much attention. In Texas, the police stopped the 452 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 1: show and arrested him on the spot. He had two strikes, 453 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: long hair and the way he danced. The cops weren't 454 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:56,159 Speaker 1: going to wait to see what the third strike was. 455 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: As he dove deeper into rock and roll. It wasn't 456 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: just the way he performed on stage to gut him 457 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 1: in trouble. Backstage behind closed dressing room doors, Richard surrendered 458 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 1: to the temptations of the flesh and the kinky, or 459 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: the setup, the deeper, the thrill. Before a show at 460 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Paramount, Buddy Holly could smell the sex backstage 461 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 1: before he even reached the dressing room. Richard had invited 462 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,400 Speaker 1: Buddy to visit before his set that night. We had 463 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: to have some fun tonight, Richard had promised. Richard said 464 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 1: his girl Angel would be there. That was all Buddy 465 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: needed to hear. Buddy thought of her other worldly dimensions, 466 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: that breathy voice, thought of all the things Angel would 467 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: do for Richard on a moment's notice. And oh boy, 468 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: Buddy Holly was ready teddy. And when he threw the 469 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 1: dressing room door open, the three half naked bodies were 470 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: knotted up in such a way that Buddy couldn't tell 471 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: where one body began and the other ended. Richard Angel 472 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: and Larry Williams Specialty's latest self proclaimed bad boy, Angel 473 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: was living up to a reputation, at least the reputation 474 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: Little Richard was hanging her name on. Her full name 475 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,959 Speaker 1: was Lee Angel, but everyone just called her Angel, an 476 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: exotic dancer. Angel had first caught Richard's eye because of 477 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: her cartoonish build. He bragged about her fifty inch bust 478 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,160 Speaker 1: an eighteen inch waist, curvy in all the right places 479 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: made his big toe shoot up in his boot. And 480 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: she was still in high school when Richard met her, 481 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,359 Speaker 1: and he was twenty four. Angel would do whatever Richard 482 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:25,680 Speaker 1: asked her to. She'd have sex with other men while 483 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: Richard watched. She'd have sex with other women while Richard watched. 484 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: Sometimes Richard would get involved, other times he'd just sit 485 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: in the corner, lurk in the shadows eyes Why dick 486 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: Hard Richard the watcher? But right now he wasn't just 487 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: a watcher. He was an active participant. The Pancake thirty 488 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,000 Speaker 1: one makeup ran down his flushed face while a pair 489 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: of hands ran up his thighs whose hands, Buddy couldn't tell. 490 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: Larry Williams tagged out and Buddy Holly tagged in. He 491 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 1: wasn't gonna let a red hot threesome pass him by 492 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: before he was called to the stage. In these moments 493 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: of sexual ecstasy, Richard would feel God pulling on him, 494 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: pulling him out of the filthy pit of depravity. He 495 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: was so drawn to and away from, the carnal axe 496 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: he felt compelled to perform and receive. From an early age, 497 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: he heard the familiar voice in his head and knew 498 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: it was angel. Not the angel who was sucking on 499 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: his nipple in the dressing room, not earth angel, but 500 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: another angel, a heavenly angel, an angel who spoke to 501 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: him in his times of spiritual and psychological crisis, an 502 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,680 Speaker 1: angel who motioned him closer to redemption. But the voice 503 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: of evil chimed in too, and reminded him why he 504 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 1: deserved to be twisted up with two other sweaty naked 505 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: bodies on the floor backstage at the Paramount. Little Richard 506 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: is the greatest evil tot him. Little Richard is the 507 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,080 Speaker 1: king of rock and roll, the Queen of rock and roll. 508 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: And he was the holiest, the godliest, the freakiest, the deakiest. 509 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: The voice of Angel wouldn't be deterred. Richard had all 510 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: but abandoned God, traded in a truly pious life for 511 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: rough and tumbled music in rough, tumbling sex. But Richard's 512 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: angel wasn't deterred. She'd find another way to get through, 513 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: and so it was while headlining a tour of Australia 514 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: with Eddie Cochrane and Geene Vincent, that little Richard stood 515 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: at his piano at an outdoor show in Sydney and 516 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: arched his neck towards the night sky. He saw a 517 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: red streak burn through the air far above where he stood, 518 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: knees bent and fingers hammering. The ivory. Angel was out 519 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: of his head now and was sending a harrowing message 520 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: of death and destruction straight towards him. It would set 521 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: fire to Sydney into him, and it would all be 522 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: his fault. That struck the piano so hard with his hands, 523 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: he wondered if his rings would shatter. He hit the 524 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: piano harder to distract himself from the terror he felt, 525 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: to the imminted danger he knew he was in. He'd 526 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 1: hurt himself just to make it all go away, but 527 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't going anywhere. He had to go somewhere, and 528 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: that was it. He was done. He walked off that 529 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,360 Speaker 1: stage and he wouldn't go back. He asked Angel to 530 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: tell God that this was it, this was the last show, 531 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: and begged her to stop sending him flaming balls of 532 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: chaos and disorder, he'd nned it. Tonight to prove himself, 533 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: he ran to the Sydney Harbor and threw his eight 534 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: thousand dollars ring in the water. Left the tour with 535 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: ten days of shows, remaining half a million in canceled bookings, lawsuits, anger, outrage. 536 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: He went back home, locked himself in a room with 537 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: a Bible and didn't talk to anyone. And the flaming 538 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: red ball of fire that he saw burn up the 539 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 1: night sky in Australia wasn't a sign from God. It 540 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: was Sputnik, the Soviet satellite that had just been launched 541 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: into space. But even if you told Little Richard the 542 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: truth in the moment, he wouldn't have believed you, because 543 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: he had been sent a message. He was reminded of 544 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: the awesomeness of God and the vengefulness of God. Should 545 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: Richard give in to the earthly evil path made possible 546 00:31:53,120 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: through rock and roll, they said he was dead, that 547 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: he had taken his own life. Some said he had 548 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: been committed forced into the looney bin. And the rumors 549 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: weren't true. But the ones where Little Richard got married 550 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: to a woman and traveled the country preaching the word 551 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: of God. Those rumors were dead on five years, that's 552 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: how long Little Richard lasted without rock and roll. He 553 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: did the revival tenthon Seminary Circuit, recorded gospel albums with 554 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: Quincy Jones, But to cut rock and roll out of 555 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 1: his life completely, that was a bit much everything a moderation, 556 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,440 Speaker 1: Wasn't that the phrase the true words to live by 557 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: little by little. In the mid nineteen sixties, he came 558 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: back back to his throne, toward his own songs, hired 559 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: and then fired Jimmy Hendrix by the end of the sixties, 560 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: Inspired partly by Jimmy's fashion and style, he wanted to 561 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: break the cycle of being his own touring impersonator. Little 562 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,920 Speaker 1: Richard wasn't no rehash of the same old shit. He 563 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:04,640 Speaker 1: was the real thing, brother, and he was going to 564 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: get deeper into that rock and roll. And so in 565 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, at the Atlantic City Racetrack in May's Landing, 566 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: New Jersey, just weeks before Woodstock defined a generation, audience 567 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 1: has witnessed the rebirth of the rock and roll savior, 568 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 1: Little Richard. He told the crowd at the Atlantic City 569 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: Pop Festival that he was the best thing to come 570 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: out of making Forget about Otis Redding, forget about James Brown, 571 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: and there was only one King, and then he proved it. 572 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: He closed the festival like the royal supernova that he 573 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: was zero residual. Nineteen fifties Kitch, two drummers in a 574 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: horn section sent songs like Lucille into the jam band stratosphere. 575 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: Tempos were furious, the interplay between musicians inspired, and Richard 576 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: jumped from the top of the piano, ripped his mirrored 577 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,360 Speaker 1: shirt from his sweaty body, fell to his knees to 578 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: testify he was back, baby with a return to that 579 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 1: rock and roll lifestyle meant to turn to temptation, occupational hazards. 580 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,560 Speaker 1: Rock and roll meant sex, lots and lots of sex, 581 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: and now on a second pass through the music business. 582 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: In the late sixties and seventies, rock and roll also 583 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: meant drugs, not just weed, PCP, heroin, cocaine. Richard was 584 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: way beyond bad and didn't even realize it. He was 585 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 1: singing and screwing at a feverish pace or concerning than 586 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: the sex was his drug habit. Most days he was 587 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: so messed up he couldn't feel anything, couldn't feel his 588 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 1: bare feet on the shag carpet, couldn't feel his hands 589 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 1: running down a naked thigh, couldn't feel enough to get hard. 590 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,160 Speaker 1: He was draining one thousand dollars a day on his 591 00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: drug habit. He went through money so fast that he 592 00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: had to borrow it. He hit up his friend Larry Williams, 593 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 1: the singer songwriter that specialty had brought in when Richard 594 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,719 Speaker 1: threw his ring in the Sydney Harbor. Larry was just 595 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: out of the slammer, having done time for drug dealing. 596 00:34:56,719 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: It was working on a musical comeback of his own. 597 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: Larry lo and Richard a pretty penny. It wasn't just 598 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,120 Speaker 1: a drop in the bucket, It's the whole bucket. Larry 599 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: came around to Richard's place looking for a general idea 600 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 1: of when he could get repaid. He didn't get any answers. 601 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,319 Speaker 1: He oi found a disoriented Richard wasted on his cash. 602 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,279 Speaker 1: Larry was fed up. He wanted answers. More importantly, he 603 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:22,320 Speaker 1: wanted his money back. Where's my fucking money? Richard? Richard 604 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: said nothing. Zocked, Larry pulled a thirty eight stubnose revolver 605 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: from his jacket and pointed it directly at Richard's bare chest. 606 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 1: Richard put his hands up, shook where he stood. The 607 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,359 Speaker 1: sweat beat it around his exquisite mustache, his pompa door 608 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 1: once a thing of wind sweat beauty, flopped over his 609 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,160 Speaker 1: forehead like a deflated wig. I swear to God, Richard, 610 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,800 Speaker 1: you sober your ass up and find me my goddamn money. 611 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: Larry Williams was thundering now. He cocked the pistol for 612 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:51,839 Speaker 1: good measure. Richard heard the hammer pull back and fell 613 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: to his knees. He Little Richard, the originator of the 614 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: King the Queen. He wrote the damn rules of rock 615 00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:58,879 Speaker 1: and roll, and yet he had no money to show 616 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: for it. On the drugs. Blame it on the bad contracts. 617 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,959 Speaker 1: Blame it on the lawsuits. Blame it on the first 618 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:05,560 Speaker 1: time he walked away from it all at the height 619 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: of his success. Blame it on the times. Nobody was 620 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,800 Speaker 1: interested in Little Richard anymore. Even the voices of angel 621 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: and evil had gone silent. He was coked up, alone, broke, 622 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 1: and damn near close to getting his head shot off 623 00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: by Larry Williams. Richard was sure Larry would pull the trigger. 624 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,880 Speaker 1: Larry was fucking crazy. He had that look in his eyes. 625 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 1: Richard had seen that look before, seen it in the 626 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:29,520 Speaker 1: eyes of the men skulking for kicks on the streets 627 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,040 Speaker 1: of making, and the eyes of the women backstage who 628 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,680 Speaker 1: needed a thrill. Seen it in the eyes of Buddy Hawlly, 629 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,120 Speaker 1: another angel. Dusted orgy goer is desperate, sweaty, horned up. 630 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: Larry Williams would pull the trigger, blow Richard's head wide open. 631 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,720 Speaker 1: Richard squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the shot, 632 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 1: waited for the fatal clang of the pistol's hammer to 633 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 1: deliver him from evil. A womp bob alu bob, A 634 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:55,719 Speaker 1: womp bamp. Richard opened his eyes. Larry Williams, lowering the 635 00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: pistol to his side, Get me my money, Richard, next 636 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,840 Speaker 1: time one of us walks out here. The voice of 637 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: Angel may have stopped talking to Richard, but she was 638 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 1: showing him, showing him what would happen. Richard knew how 639 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: close to death he was. Knew Larry Williams wasn't fucking around. 640 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:17,080 Speaker 1: Richard pulled the scratch together and repaid his debt, and 641 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,440 Speaker 1: then once again denounced rock and roll as the Devil's 642 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,920 Speaker 1: music said it was demonic said it descended from voodoo, 643 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,520 Speaker 1: said that it was voodoo pure evil. He called homosexuality 644 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: a sickness, a sickness that he had suffered with from 645 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: an early age, a disease that he had to cure. 646 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: There was no balancing the duality for Richard. He couldn't 647 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,279 Speaker 1: be gay and be godly. He couldn't sing two dy 648 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: Fruity on a Saturday night and then sing church hymns 649 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: on a Sunday morning. It was one or the other, 650 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,719 Speaker 1: black or white, good or bad, angel or evil. The 651 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: little Richard does to sing the devil music no more, 652 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: and that is a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in This 653 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: is Disgrace, Lad. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and 654 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,719 Speaker 1: is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this 655 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: episode can be found on the show notes page at 656 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:25,120 Speaker 1: disgracelampod dot com. 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Visit disgracelampod dot com slash membership 664 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 1: for details, Rate and review the show, and follow us 665 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,920 Speaker 1: on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelampod and on 666 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgrace Lampod rock 667 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:10,279 Speaker 1: a Rolla. He's a bad bad man, h