I've never heard about Little Richard or Esquerita doing any Gay - themed "Love" songs , even early on. Of course , "Tutti Frutti , Good Booty , if it don't fit , don't force it , you can grease it , make it easy - WOOOOOO"" (Even THAT could be interpreted as being about straight or Gay sex. But , not so much in The 50's.).....was how he originally sang it in the clubs , tho' I'd hardly call that a love song. Esquerita might have done similar novelties ,I don't know....But , I met Don and Dewey (GREAT guys , God bless 'em.) , once , and asked them if they had a hard time with White audiences in The Deep South. They said they did'nt play there very much because "Here we were , not just two Black guys , but , two GOOD LOOKING Black guys , they were afraid we were going to steal their women ! Now , Richard would have had the same problem , as good looking as he was , but , he was sort of "Gay" , so , they did'nt bother him.". Members of The Upsettrs and Richard himself all admitted they camped it up heavily to keep the White guys at bay . Then , they'd invite these women backstage , whether they were White or Black , because their Boyfriends would inevitably decide they were "Sissies", and the wild sex parties began ! Even if the most Richard did , sometimes , was WATCH !
IDON MINE said:
HA! I like it with some guts! Check the comps MOTEL LOVERS and DOWN AN OUT on TRIKONT for some great gems of ballsy Soul.
On a side note, off topic: I'd love to hear some of the Esquerita and Little Richard queer love songs, they did early on before they had to be rewritten, so they wouldn't get them killed and could actually be released.
John Battles said:
I'd forgotten about those lyrics to " Davey "....I KNOW IT'S NOT TO COOL TO LIKE SOUL MUSIC THAT HAS SOME BALLS , BUT , I'VE ALWAYS LIKED JOE TEX. Of course , like a lot of his peers , he was around before they called it "Soul" , doing what most people would just call R'n'B. THE LIST OF FUTURE SOUL STARS WHO STARTED OUT DOING GREAT LITTLE RICHARD KNOCKOFFS GOES ON AND ON - Joe Tex , James Brown , Otis Redding , Don Covay .....
IDON MINE said:Joe is one of the weirdest out there! His early rough soul tracks make me wonder someone ever had him record a love balad. PNEUMONIA also come to mind, where he is love sick and says he's "gonna blacken both of her eyes!" He has some other really psycho ones, can't think of them now.
G'DAMN CREEP!
swt said:
Ona recent episode of The Big Enchilada, I played "Davy, You Upset My Home" by Joe Tex. It's about a guy who's jealous because his girl is really into Davy Crockett. (I think this is from the late '50s when Davy Crockett was a very popular TV show.)
The girl even buys Davy Crockett false teeth because, Joe sings, "I punched her in the mouth last night."
Another line: "I whipped her so until she went insane. And now she wants to buy herself a Davy Crockett brain."