Tag: #SisterRosettaTharpe

The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History…Song #155: Strange Things Happening Every Day by Sister Rosetta Tharpe

This list of songs is inspired by lists published by radio station KEXP-FM from Seattle in 2010, as well as the latest poll taken in 2021 by Rolling Stone Magazine. For the most part I will faithfully countdown from their lists, starting at Song #500 and going until I reach Song #1. When you see the song title listed as something like: Song #XXX (KEXP)….it means that I am working off of the official KEXP list. Song XXX (RS) means the song is coming from the Rolling Stone list. If I post the song title as being: Song #xxx (KTOM), it means I have gone rogue and am inserting a song choice from my own personal list of tunes I really like. In any case, you are going to get to hear a great song and learn the story behind it. Finally, just so everyone is aware, I am not a music critic nor a musician. I am a music fan and an armchair storyteller. Here is the story behind today’s song. Enjoy.

RS: The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History.

Song #155: Strange Things Happening Every Day by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

There are a great many people who consider the beginning of the Rock n’ Roll era to have been when Elvis, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones burst on to the music scene. But, in interviews with all three, they all point out the fact that they were influenced to begin playing by black Blues masters such as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, B.B. King and so on. Those great players all played a searing, soulful version of The Blues that, as it turned out, laid a strong foundation for others to follow and, in time, helped create a musical style or sound that became known as “Rock n’ Roll”. But, as it turns out, those early innovators and influencers were, themselves, influenced by the one who really started it all……the original purveyor of Rock n’ Roll…..the one they call The Godmother of Rock, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. This is her story. Buckle up!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born in 1915!!! She was a pioneering, trailblazing person in a multitude of ways. For instance, she was a black performer who played for inter-racial crowds, long before desegregation was ever a twinkle in any law-maker’s eye. She was a female who commanded the stage; belting out songs with a powerful, preacher-like energy and cadence, at a time in society before it was common for a woman to don such a forceful public presence. Finally and, most importantly, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was more than just a singer, she was the very first major stage performer to play the electric guitar and to do so in a manner that we now recognize as playing in a rock n’ roll style. She did all of this in the 1930s and 40s, long before the likes of Robert Johnson ever thought about playing The Blues.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the very first Blues performer to release a song that sold a million copies. That song was, “Strange Things Happening Every Day”. Although she had many songs to her credit such as “Rock Me”, “This Train”, “Down By The Riverside”, “Didn’t It Rain?” and “Up Above My Head”, it is “Strange Things Happening Every Day” that many musicologists claim as being the first true rock n’ roll song ever recorded. As such, Sister Rosetta Tharpe deserves more recognition than she has received because, after all, she was “rockin’ and rollin'” long before anyone else. She is the one who started it all. She is the true originator and innovator. All others followed in her wake.

At first, like many performers of colour, Sister Rosetta Tharpe began her performing career in churches, singing Gospel-inspired songs of Joy and praise to The Lord. Word of her skill travelled fast and soon, offers began arriving from the owners of nightclubs and concert halls for her to come and perform there. And, so she did. The mere fact that she began singing in establishments where “the Devil was known to reside” caused some in her church to cast scorn upon her but, like so much in her life, Sister Rosetta Tharpe used their distain as fuel for her independence. By singing in nightclubs and concert halls; especially, to multi-racial audiences (which was very rare for the times), Sister Rosetta Tharpe came to the attention of record executives and soon, she was signed to a recording contract. At the time when she began releasing records, her sales totals were recorded on a chart that, because of her, became known as the “Rhythm and Blues” chart, which we still use today. Her records were included in selections sent to the troops during WWII, which caused her popularity to increase. After the war, she began touring with fellow Gospel superstar, Mahalia Jackson. Their form of Pop-Gospel and Blues-Gospel took the world by storm. Eventually, in the 1950s, young men such as Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and so on, all began coming to her concerts and watching her play. Jerry Lee Lewis, auditioned for Col. Sam Phillips at Sun Records Studio by singing some of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Gospel songs. Johnny Cash always claimed that Sister Rosetta Tharpe was his favourite singer. Little Richard had his live, concert debut on a stage with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, as well. A few years later, in the early 1960s, she toured England and ended up playing for teenage boys named John Lennon, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney in Manchester and in Liverpool. To a man, they each say that their desire to play rock n’ roll guitar was stoked by seeing Sister Rosetta Tharpe play for them live. A final note, along the way, Sister Rosetta Tharpe got married. For her wedding, she sold tickets and ended up with over 25, 000 people in attendance. After she exhanged her vows, she performed for the crowd, as only she could, in full wedding regalia.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her song, “Strange Things Happening Every Day” could very easily have been the #1 song on this countdown list; a result that would have been very hard to argue with. For now, I place her here. Doing so, in no way, is reflective of any dimished sense of admiration for her or her accomplishments. I think she is incredible, in all regards. As well, I am not the only one who feels that way. In a recent performance as musical guest of Saturday Night Live, the sensational Lizzo paid homage to Sister Rosetta Tharpe during her song by having her female guitarists dress like Sister Rosetta and use the exact same white Gibson guitars as she did throughout her career. It was a gesture by Lizzo that did not go unnoticed. I shall include a video of that performance in the comments section below. It is important to know your history and to honour those who paved the way for others to follow. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is definitely someone who has earned every kudo that she is accorded. There is only one Godmother of Rock n’ Roll and her name is Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

So, without further delay, here is a audio-only video of the song credited with being the first ever rock n’ roll song, “Strange Things Happening Every Day”. I will, also, include a live video of her performing “Didn’t It Rain?” so you can actually watch her perform. The Lizzo ode to Sister Rosetta Tharpe will follow at the end. As will the induction speech given for her at The Rock n’ Roll hall of Fame.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is Sister Rosetta Tharpe! Enjoy.

The link to the video for the song, “Strange Things Happening Every Day” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, can be found here.

The link to the video for the song, “Didn’t It Rain?” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, can be found here.

The link to the official website for Sister Rosetta Tharpe, can be found here.

The link to the video for Lizzo and her ode to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, as shown on Saturday Night Live, can be found here.

The link to the video for Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s induction into The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, can be found here.

The link to the official website for Rolling Stone Magazine, can be found here.

The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History…Song #115: Long, Tall Sally by Little Richard (RS)

This list of songs is inspired by lists published by radio station KEXP-FM from Seattle in 2010, as well as the latest poll taken in 2021 by Rolling Stone Magazine. For the most part I will faithfully countdown from their lists, starting at Song #500 and going until I reach Song #1. When you see the song title listed as something like: Song #XXX (KEXP)….it means that I am working off of the official KEXP list. Song XXX (RS) means the song is coming from the Rolling Stone list. If I post the song title as being: Song #xxx (KTOM), it means I have gone rogue and am inserting a song choice from my own personal list of tunes I really like. In any case, you are going to get to hear a great song and learn the story behind it. Finally, just so everyone is aware, I am not a music critic nor a musician. I am a music fan and an armchair storyteller. Here is the story behind today’s song. Enjoy.

RS: The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History.

Song #115: Long, Tall Sally by Little Richard.

To be perfectly honest, I think the most valuable part of this entire post might be video I will be posting at the end. This video is a live recording of Little Richard and his orchestra in the mid-1950s. What makes this such a revealing video, at least to me, anyway, is that all of my initial encounters with Little Richard were when he was well past his early days as a pioneer of Rock n’ Roll, well past his days of discovering Christianity and becoming an ordained Minister and well past the days when The Beatles opened for him on European tours. I first saw Little Richard in the 1970s and 80s, when he was already approaching middle age. At that time, I took more notice of the make-up and outrageous frocks he wore; his antics, more attention-seeking than groundbreaking. I never knew the Little Richard who filled every room he entered with a sense of boundless energy and charisma. I never knew just how powerful a singer he was. I guess I never really realized why he is was so revered by so many of the greatest performers of all-time such as Elvis, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who wrote in his HS yearbook that his ambition in life was to sing like Little Richard.) until I watched this video. And then, I knew.

Little Richard was “discovered” by the true originator of Rock n’ Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Little Richard grew up singing in churches, like so many people of colour did. One day, he managed to invite himself into a church where Sister Rosetta Tharpe was set to perform. She heard him singing away, prior to the show and invited him to sing a few songs before she came on stage. He did so and she paid him for his efforts. That was Little Richard’s first paying gig and, because of it, he came to harbour the desire to be an actual performer. Through the mentorship of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and other legends of the Gospel circuit, like Mahalia Jackson and Pops Staples, Little Richard learned how to hone his singing skills, as well as, learning how to perform and sing in front of an audience. The one thing no one had to teach him was how to emote on stage. Little Richard came armed with an outgoing personality and a natural sense of charm that endeared him to audiences that were comprised of, both, black and white folks. Along with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Little Richard became one of the very first black entertainers to de-segregate his audiences.

It wasn’t long until his Gospel connections led him to sign an official recording contract. Right out of the gate, Little Richard had hits with songs such as “Tutti Frutti”, “Long, Tall Sally”, “Good Golly, Miss Molly” and many more. One of the things that appealed to audiences most, when it came to Little Richard, was that while he certainly was a charmer, he was, also, a rascal and could get away with singing highly suggestive songs that were, definitely, not the norm at the time in the 1950s. It is amazing that network censors aimed their ire at songs like “Wake Up, Little Susie” by The Everly Brothers but never touched song such as “Long, Tall Sally” which contains lyrics that describe Richard’s uncle cheating in an alley with Long, Tall Sally, doing who-knows-what but certainly, whatever it was, it was illicit and sexual. But, Little Richard sang about it all with a smile and a swagger that seemed to disarm everyone and, by doing so, Rock n’ Roll was born. It is no wonder that young men such as Elvis, John Lennon and Keith Richards were so drawn to what Little Richards was doing on stage, in front of mixed-race audiences and selling millions of copies of his singles, to boot!

The video that I will play for you is mesmerizing. Little Richard had a voice that was louder, stronger and more powerful than I had imagined it would be. The energy he emits in captivating; it is almost like watching a tornado in mid-screen. He is riveting. I am thankful to have written this particular post because it helped push me past the legend of Little Richard in the superficial sense that I used to know of him. I am happy to know more than I did because, by knowing more, I now know what all of the fuss was about. The sass! The charisma! The rhythm and driving beat! But, most of all, the energy! It is all there is this video. So, without further delay, here is the man, himself, Little Richard, with his second release, “Long, Tall Sally”. Enjoy!

The link to the video for the song, “Long, Tall Sally” by Little Richard, can be found here.

The link to the official website for Little Richard, can be found here.

The link to the official website for Rolling Stone Magazine, can be found here.