Little Richard – Tutti Frutti

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  General Comment:i laughed so hard when i read some of these comments. cgodfrey is right, but the rest of you have given me a good laugh.... pandas...HA!

  Flag Usernamewastakenon May 08, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:The way Little Richard ORIGINALLY sang it was
  
  A wop bop a loo mop, a good god damn! / Tutti frutti, loose booty / If it don’t fit, don’t force it / You can grease it, make it easy
  
  It was an old raunchy ditty (presumably about anal sex) that they cleaned up out of necessity. The clean lyrics mean nothing- the record company liked the catchy music and the enthusiasm with which Little Richard performed it, so they made it suitable for 1950's radio.

  Flag cgodfreyon November 12, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:DarkenRahl makes sense for the most part. However:
  
  1. Tutti Frutti and Neapolitan are not the same thing. Tutti frutti is entirely fruit flavored and often has dried or candied fruit as well as flavoring. Neapolitan is 1/3 strawberry, 1/3 chocolate, and 1/3 vanilla, which isn't even that fruity.
  
  2. "A lop bam boom" isn't necessarily gibberish. Ferdinand Lop was a French presidential candidate in the 1940s, and since he ran right after WWII, Little Richard probably added war onomatopoeia (BAM! BOOM!). It is also possible that instead of "Bam boom," he's saying "bamboo," which would probably be a reference to a love of pandas.
  
  Also, only at the end does he go "A Lop bam boom (bamboo). The rest of the song its "A lop bum bum." The "bum bum" is likely either just a musical segway, or perhaps a reference to the subject of both the original version and many other Little Richard songs (you know what I'm talking about).

  Flag Metalsandman999on August 31, 2007   Link

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    I like the way Metalsandman thinks.

    Flag DarkenRahlon July 13, 2010  
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  General Comment:it doesn't actually say ''oh rutti'', but in fact says ''all rooty" as in slang for 'all right'. the original lyric was something like "nice booty" but had to be changed for obvious reasons

  Flag im_no_supermanon February 01, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:The last two verses are obvious and straight forward. It is the first verse that requires analysis and translation which I shall do below.
  
  "Tutti frutti" is the American name for Neopolitan icecream.
  
  "Oh rutti" is a corruption of the French "en route" which means "on the way".
  
  So the first verse sings like so,
  
  Neopolitan icecream, on the way,
  Neopolitan icecream, on the way,
  Neopolitan icecream, on the way,
  Neopolitan icecream, on the way,
  Neopolitan icecream, on the way,
  
  Then we get to the line,
  "A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boo"
  
  A "wop bop" is obviously an Italian dance.
  
  "A loo bop" is a dance in the toilet.
  
  So Little Richard is singing about an Italian dance in the toilet.
  
  
  "A lop bam boom" is obviously complete gibberish.

  Flag DarkenRahlon September 11, 2006   Link

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    This is the best explanation of this song ever. Lol.

    Flag Wackieston May 23, 2010  
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  General Comment:Little richard is a tutti frutti.. he likes to blow horses!

  Flag jld_slickon June 25, 2004   Link

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  General Comment:mmmmm....tuttie frutti...

  Flag ZinbobDanon April 28, 2003   Link

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