keep a-knockin' (1957)
Little Richard. rock'n'roll/rhythm & blues, Georgia USA.
key: Ab blues
mode: Ab Cb Db D Eb Gb
melody: S L Tə d r mə
form: strophic with interlude
meter: duple
English function names: tonic subdominant
Tagg (modified): home counterpoise (away)
Riemann: T7 V7
Scale degrees: I7 V7
Chords: Ab7 Eb7 Ab7
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Eb7 Ab7
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |We've got another 8-bar blues here, but in a more strict and tight format than what we heard in Ella Jenkins' recording a couple posts back. We'll dig more deeply into what makes the blues in the next post.
I often teach this in G or A, because it's easier for my less experienced charges. And I usually sing it before I have them listen to the original. People these days are not used to hearing voices without some sort of electric intermediary and I want my students to know what it's like to put out the amount of energy you need to be someone like Little Richard. It's not the electricity that makes for the electric performance; it's the humanity. The electricity is only going to amplify what is already there, so if you have a flaccid performance, it's still going to be a flaccid performance, just louder with amplification. Now, I am not a singer of Little Richard's caliber — but I always to try to get there because I want my students to try to get there. You have to try. For Little Richard's sake. For your students' sake. For your sake. You have to really go for it.
And this is a great song for making that attempt. It's a wonderful example of compositional minimalism: two chords, three sentences, all the feels. It doesn't take much in terms of ingredients. But the right ingredients with the right energy and magic happens.
For more reading and listening about Little Richard on the internet, I recommend the following links below. Little Richard had a complex life and the details of his struggles are not always school friendly, but I think it's important to know what life can be like for queer people, black people, and people of deep faith and to find age-appropriate ways to present those nuances.
history of rock and roll in 500 songs
more moistworks (not for kids)
other recordings:
Louis Jordan, At the Swing Cat's Ball, Geffen. Db blues. Straight out of the swing era, more harmonically complex.
Little Richard, Shake It All About, Disney. F blues. Even much later in his career, in the cheeziest possible environment, Little Richard brings it and the raw, unadorned recording of him and his piano is worth studying. (Also, kudos to the producer who was smart enough to leave a good thing alone.)