Cliff Richard - Back from the Wilderness Singles and Albums 1975 - 1995

Apologies, this is one of the few songs I didn't like the first time round, and defiantly the second time round!

 

We agree here.
I love the duet "Drifting" and wish it was a hit, it deserved to be.
Along with Cliff's "Yes He Lives", I do like Shelia's version too. In fact I do like most of the Shelia songs, guess could be a bit biast there though for obvious reasons!
I might have mentioned this earlier, but on one of "The Rock Gospel" shows, Cliff sings "Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music", with Shelia joining him towards the end. This is a great live version of the song, very rocky and has an extended ending to the normal version.

 

He, he. I quite like the Johnny Otis songs. No need to apologise - we all like different aspects of Cliff´s catalog.

 

Glad to know that we can see eye to eye on this one! (Or "these ones" is probably the word. (And not "grease".) I love it, but I do see why other people might not like it.

There are two Sheila Walsh albums I really like, and some I like a few tracks on. "DRIFTING" has many great songs, and I think "TRIUMPH IN THE AIR" is another gem, especially the lyrically superb "NO ALIBI". (Also produced by Cliff.) I know it´s a bit weird for an atheist to love Christian music, but good music is good music - at least to my ears. And I don´t mind religiously themed lyrics - at least not when they are as perfectly written as "I WISH WE´D ALL BEEN READY" and "TURN, TURN, TURN". I´m not that fond of overly simplistic lyrics that seem to be on a missionary quest, like "JESUS IS THE ANSWER". Not for me, it isn´t. (Love the song, not so much the lyrics.)

I hadn´t heard of the live version of "WHY SHOULD THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD MUSIC" where Sheila joins Cliff. That sounds like an interesting one!

And yes, I had high hopes for "DRIFTING" as a single, but I understand that I am in the minority here. Good that you agree!

 

Sorry the 1958 posts have been delayed yet again. The start of school term has been exciting and fun, but very busy. I´ll be back as soon as I´m able.

I won´t leave you "Breathless"...

 

Quality not too good, but I think this is great, the best version of this song.
Live vocals, guess it's a pre-recorded backing track, different to the original track so assume it was done especially for the show.

 

I'm trying to keep quiet on this one! Other than to say, I'm not keen. It can keep on drifting on by for me.

As for the re-makes mentioned of MOVE IT and WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE, I'm pondering if there are any tracks Cliff recorded, then re-recorded years later, where the re-make is better. Maybe DONNA from 1983 is better than the debut album's live version, but generally, the original is best.

 

In general, I agree - the originals are most often better. "MOVE IT" caught lightning in a bottle, and is unique, but I think I actually prefer the 1983 remake. (Mainly because of the improved technical sound quality and Cliff´s mature voice. The original is great, and raw, but still...) I like the reimagined "WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE" - it´s just another way of finding the groove for the song.

But the one I fell vastly improved upon the original is the 1978 B-side version of "PLEASE DON´T TEASE". The original seems slight and forgettable. The "new" version may be a bit plodding, but I think there´s a little more to it than the 1960 version. It sets up a mood, and is, in my opinion, more interesting. (Though it wouldn´t make a great pop single.)

I also like the remakes of "LIVING DOLL" and "TRAVELLING LIGHT". I have never been that keen on "LIVING DOLL". It´s sweet, but that´s it. It´s fluff. The remake with The Young Ones was fun. And the 1974 chamber music version of "TRAVELLING LIGHT" is interesting as an alternative presentation of a great song. I don´t think the remake is better, but I like that I get to choose between two good versions,

Too bad you don´t like "DRIFTING", but, as I said, I do understand. That song is not for everybody. Most people tend to dismiss it, and that´s OK. I like it, and that´s OK, too.

 

A good version, for sure, but I do think the original version is more dynamic and more interesting rhythmically. The rhythm here is a fixed beat, more "programmed". But there are things to like about it. And it is a perfect song for Cliff. Rock´n´roll with a Christian message, expertly crafted by Larry Norman? What´s not to like?

Sheila Walsh´ contribution is hardly noticable, sadly. But nice to see her.

 

For me, the best version of Why Should The Devil is on the Thank You Very Much LP. If only the production wasn’t so muffled...

 

I do agree, in general, not only for Cliff, but other artists too, the original is normally the best.

The song I like that Cliff didn't record later, but sung it live in concert, all be it for a short time, before he reverted back to the original version, is "Do You Wanna Dance".
I really love the slow version Cliff sung, not sure of exact date without looking it up, but think around late 70s time.

 

In it's 9th week, Cliff's 'Stronger Thru' The Years' drops eleven places in the Chart to number 59.

(14 - 25 - 39 - 40 - 31 - 33 - 36 - 48 - 59)

In the 'sales only' chart, the album climbs one place to 30.
In the 'physical sales only' the album drops four places to 29.
In the Scottish album charts (does not include streaming) the album falls nine places from 33 - 42.

 

I have to say I prefer the studio version, but the live version from "THANK YOU VERY MUCH" is fun, and it made it to one of the budget "religious" compilations. So EMI must have realised its potential.

Agree about the sound. It could have done with a good remastering - if that´s possible from the original tapes.

 

I know it was performed at the same concert that gave us the live recordings of "DADDY´S HOME", "SHAKIN´ ALL OVER" and "ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM" with Phil Everly. In other words, a professional recording of this was made, and you can hear the actual recording in one of the four episodes of the 1981 "CLIFF" documentary series.

I did have a 10" unofficial recording of this, but the sound was terrible - probaly taken from a VHS recording of the TV show.

I do agree, though - it´s very good. Might even have been an interesting choice for a single A-side.

 

Thanks again, Anthony, for keeping us up to date. I have run out of words to describe this surprising longevity in the charts for this album. Not a big hit, but it keeps on selling enough to stay in the charts. To be honest, I don´t know how many sales that takes. It would be intersting to read the sales figures for this album. Somewhere between 50 000 and 100 000, perhaps? Or perhaps lower.

 

There won't have been huge numbers in sales, especially now it is January. Maybe 50,000 would be possible as a total so far. Still not bad though, all things considered. It has surprised me throughout its chart run, and I had expected it to drop straight out of the charts as soon as Christmas was over and done with. It is however still lurking in the supermarkets - noticed it still in Tesco at a reduced £5.00. That must be helping.

 

Yes, I realised as I logged off that I was being a bit optimistic. Fewer albums on physical formats are sold now, so I would guess the number would be considerably lower than 50 000. Still, it doesn´t hurt to dream.

This wasn´t a typical Christmas album - thank someone for that! - so maybe it will stick around for a few more weeks. And a reduced price will certainly help.

Although I think of the album as something of a missed opportunity, I still appreciate the fact that it brings a few less well-known tracks to the market, and I suspect that a few tracks - like the "STRONGER" and "ROCK´N´ROLL JUVENILE" ones - might be of more interest to young people than "LIVING DOLL" and "PLEASE DON´T TEASE".

Not that I think young people are overly concerned about Cliff and his music. Why should they be?

 

Single No. -: 1958 June or July 7th - DEMO, not released
A-side: "BREATHLESS" (Written by Otis Blackwell)
B-side: "LAWDY MISS CLAWDY" (Written by Lloyd Price)
NB! It makes no sense to talk of these tracks as A-sides of B-sides - here it just means "one side" and "another side".



First of all, to set out the parametre; I won´t spend any time on writing about Cliff´s background in India, his family or his formative years. It´s not without importance, and I´ll insert some factoids where appropriate. I just think this thread is about his music, and I am only interested in his background as far as it influences his music and career.

Feel free to addinformation about what happened between 1940 and 1957. My advice would be to read Steve Turner´s biography for that sort of information. I´m not saying that his background didn´t have an impact on his life and his attitudes - I just don´t think this is the place for that kind of speculation. I have some opinions about what imprinted Cliff from his early years, but that´ll have to wait for another day.

Cliff likes to trot out the story of how he walked past a car which had a radio blasting Elvis´ "HEARTBREAK HOTEL", and that he was transfixed by that moment. "I didn´t know anyone could sing like that." Clearly, this is more or less a true story, as you could easily tell how much he was influenced by Elvis. (And clearly also by Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and other rockers.)

I should point out that I discovered Cliff in 1979 - before that I had only heard a few songs from my sister´s record collection. (She had the "CONGRATULATIONS" and "SUNNY HONEY GIRL" singles, and one album: "THE BEST OF CLIFF; VOL 2".) I liked those, but I never paid much attention to him - I liked music, but it wasn´t an important part of my life. Yet.

What this means is that my comments on the period 1958-1978 are made in retrospect, as I learned it had happened. I didn´t come up-to-date with his career until the single "WE DON´T TALK ANYMORE". That means that some of you out there have more experiences about what happened because you were there. Perhaps not in 1958, I guess, but some of you must have been interested in Cliff before I discovered him. I would greatly appreciate any comments about how he was perceived by your friends, and what singles/songs were popular/not popular.

Too many words, I know. Sorry about that.

"BREATHLESS" was first a hit for Jerry Lee Lewis on his third Sun single in February of 1958. (See more below.) A great slice of early rock´n´roll, it´s wonderful to hear Cliff throw himself at the song with such enthusiasm. The demo was his entrance to his recording career, and it´s easy - with hindsight - to hear the talent that was clearly there. The band is of equal importance, but it´s the voice that I cherish.

Just a little note on EMI´s release of this in 1997: One of the two tracks was released on "The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963" CD album (1997 June 9 — UK — EMI 7243 8 57881 2 3). The other one was released on the "highlights" vewrsion of the 4 CD set. In other words, you had to buy both to get both tracks.


Robert Porter:
This track has only ever been released in mono format.
"Now Mr. Gangou may not have been a fan of rock 'n roll, but, like any good agent, he could recognise a gold mine when he saw one. He approached the boys [Cliff and The Drifters] afterwards [a live performance], and said that he 'quite liked the act' and if they made a test recording he would take it along to a recording manager he knew. The test recording set them back six pounds they could ill afford. They recorded two rock 'n roll numbers, Breathless (and it was, too!) and Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Cliff proudly played it over to his mother and father, who by now were considerable connoisseurs of rock 'n roll. Their opinion-- 'a dreadful noise'-- came as a bit of a blow. But the opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Webb was not, on this occasion, the crucial one. George Gangou played the disc, presumably decided it reproduced pretty faithfully the mixture that had had such a devastating effect in the Gaumont cinema, and sent it to Norrie Paramor, the recording manager for Columbia. He sent another test recording, of an aspiring operatic singer, at the same time. When Mr. Paramor phoned to say he liked the record, George Gangou thought he was referring to the budding Caruso. Mercifully for Cliff and the others-- the would-be English Elvis was at the moment trying hard but unsucessfully to concentrate on a pile of tedious forms in the offices of Ferguson radio-- they knew nothing of this. At any rate, Norrie Paramor eventually made it clear that it was Cliff Richard and the Drifters in whom he was interested. He would like to meet them and hear them play, and he fixed with George a date for them to visit his office with their instruments and equipment."
David Winter (1967 - New Singer, New Song)

"I liked what I heard very much [the Breathless/Lawdy Miss Clawdy demo] and I said, 'You got a deal; we'll make a record and see how it turns out.'"
Norrie Paramor (1974 - The Music And Life Of Cliff Richard collection)

"The first known studio recordings can be traced back to mid-1958, when Cliff Richard and The Drifters-- with the line-up of Cliff on guitar and vocals, Terry Smart on drums, and Ian Samwell, Norman Mitham and Ken Pavey on guitars-- cut their first demo at the recording studio located on the first floor of the HMV record store in London's Oxford Street. It was here that Breathless and Lawdy Miss Clawdy were recorded, providing Columbia producer Norrie Paramor with demonstration tape that resulted in an audition, and Cliff being signed by EMI to their Columbia label on 9th August 1958. [...] John Foster's parents put up the then-substantial sum of £10 for Cliff to make a demonstration record with cover versions of Lloyd Price's Lawdy Miss Clawdy and Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless at a recording studio in London's Oxford Street."
Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)

"With John Foster as manager, the group decided to see what they could do in a recording studio. At HMV Records in Oxford Street, London, they paid £10 to make a demonstration record. The line-up now stood at Cliff, Samwell, Mitham and Smart, plus a mate called Ken Pavey on additional guitar. They recorded two titles-- Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless and Lloyd Price's Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Cliff recalled: 'We went into a little booth and huddled around the microphone. I sang straight into the mike... and our performance was pressed onto a little acetate disc.'"
Bill Sloan (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)

"[Lawdy Miss Clawdy and Breathless] were the tracks that secured Cliff a recording contract with Columbia Records in late 1958. They were recorded in a small studio above the HMV shop in Oxford Street, London."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)

"[George] Ganjou suggested that Cliff and the Drifters should cut a demonstration record which he could play to his friends in the record industry. Early the next week they recorded two songs at a small studio above the HMV record shop in Oxford street. They chose Elvis Presley's Lawdy Miss Clawdy, written by Lloyd Price, and Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless, written by Otis Blackwell. Although the acetate by Cliff Richard and the Drifters was crude and amateurish by record company standards, that was something about it that convinced [Norrie Paramor] that they should be given an opportunity. He took it home and played it to his teenage daughter Caroline. 'She flipped when she heard it,' Paramor wrote a year later."
Steve Turner (2008 January - Cliff Richard - The Biography (revised edition))

"We made a demo record. I think we did it at the HMV record shop in Oxford Street. I'm sure Breathless, the Jerry Lee Lewis song, was one of the tracks."
John Foster (2008 May - The Bachelor Boy)

"I still have the original acetate that Cliff cut at HMV. It was Little Richard's Good Golly Miss Molly and Jerry Lee Lewis's Breathless. It has Cliff's writing on the label. It's a double-sided 10-inch acetate. A lot of people said he recorded a tape, but he didn't. It was definitely a £5 acetate from HMV."
Ray Mackender (2008 May - The Bachelor Boy)
Editor's Note: the Little Richard song recorded was not Good Golly Miss Molly but rather Lawdy Miss Clawdy.

"We'd been playing around pubs and clubs and stuff like that. And then I guy came and watched us sing one night. [...] What he did was, he went into town and saw an agent. There was a theatrical agent there. In actual fact, he turned out to be a guy who did like clubs and he'd find kind of caberet acts... type people to book. And while my working manager was in town, he said, 'Look, why don't we go to the HMV store. I found out that you can go up on the first floor there and you can make a little demo record.' So we went up there. I remember singing Lawdy Miss Clawdy and-- the Elvis Lawdy Miss Clawdy-- and Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless. I think it cost us five quid."
Cliff Richard (October 2, 2011 - Late Show with Keith Middleton BBC WM)

Running Time: 2:01
Record Date: June 7 or July 7, 1958 (sources contradict)
Record Location: HMV Records, Oxford Street, London
Written By: Otis Blackwell
Produced By: Unknown
Engineered By: Unknown
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals, guitar), Ian Ralph Samwell (guitar), Norman Mitham (guitar), Ken Pavey (guitar), Terry Smart (drums)

 

Jerry Lee Lewis had the original version. Here is the Wikipedia entry:

"Breathless" is a song composed by Otis Blackwell and third record by Jerry Lee Lewis, whose version was released in February 1958 (see 1958 in music) on Sun Records and spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #7 in April 1958. The song also reached #4 on the country chart, #3 on the R&B chart, and #8 in the UK. The B-side, "Down the Line", also charted in 1958, reaching no. 51 on the Billboard pop singles chart. The song was re-released in 1979 as part of the Sun Records Golden Treasure Series as Sun #25 and on the Quality label in Canada in 1958. The song was also featured in the 1983 film Breathless starring Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky as well as the Jerry Lee Lewis song "High School Confidential".

Background
The song was recorded in January, 1958 at the Sun Records studio at 706 Union in Memphis, Tennessee. The personnel on the session were Jerry Lee Lewis on vocals and piano, Billy Lee Riley on guitar, J.W. Brown on bass, and Jimmy Van Eaton on drums.

Other recordings
The song has been covered several times, including versions by Tom Jones, Mickey Gilley, Wanda Jackson, X, Cliff Richard, Albert Lee, Mike Berry, Hal Munro, The Paramounts, Chas & Dave, and Otis Blackwell.

I have to admit that the original has a much fuller sound, and Jerry Lee was definitely a better singer than Cliff at this point. No surprise there. It´s also easy to understand why an energetic performance such as this would inflame Cliff and his fellow band members.

 

Single No. -: 1958 June or July 7th - DEMO, not released
A-side: "BREATHLESS" (Written by Otis Blackwell)
B-side: "LAWDY MISS CLAWDY" (Written by Lloyd Price)



"LAWDY MISS CLAWDY" was one of many hits by Lloyd Price. (I sometimes wish Cliff had covered his "PERSONALITY". It would have fit Cliff´s style, I think.) A slower song than the other song recorded, it´s still typical of Cliff & The Drifters early approach to rock´n´roll. I doubt that Cliff would have considered the lyrics appropriate these days, but it´s a good choice.

Robert Porter:
This track has only ever been released in mono format.
"Now Mr. Gangou may not have been a fan of rock 'n roll, but, like any good agent, he could recognise a gold mine when he saw one. He approached the boys [Cliff and The Drifters] afterwards [a live performance], and said that he 'quite liked the act' and if they made a test recording he would take it along to a recording manager he knew. The test recording set them back six pounds they could ill afford. They recorded two rock 'n roll numbers, Breathless (and it was, too!) and Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Cliff proudly played it over to his mother and father, who by now were considerable connoisseurs of rock 'n roll. Their opinion-- 'a dreadful noise'-- came as a bit of a blow. But the opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Webb was not, on this occasion, the crucial one. George Gangou played the disc, presumably decided it reproduced pretty faithfully the mixture that had had such a devastating effect in the Gaumont cinema, and sent it to Norrie Paramor, the recording manager for Columbia. He sent another test recording, of an aspiring operatic singer, at the same time. When Mr. Paramor phoned to say he liked the record, George Gangou thought he was referring to the budding Caruso. Mercifully for Cliff and the others-- the would-be English Elvis was at the moment trying hard but unsucessfully to concentrate on a pile of tedious forms in the offices of Ferguson radio-- they knew nothing of this. At any rate, Norrie Paramor eventually made it clear that it was Cliff Richard and the Drifters in whom he was interested. He would like to meet them and hear them play, and he fixed with George a date for them to visit his office with their instruments and equipment."
David Winter (1967 - New Singer, New Song)
"I liked what I heard very much [the Breathless/Lawdy Miss Clawdy demo] and I said, 'You got a deal; we'll make a record and see how it turns out.'"
Norrie Paramor (1974 - The Music And Life Of Cliff Richard collection)
"The first known studio recordings can be traced back to mid-1958, when Cliff Richard and The Drifters-- with the line-up of Cliff on guitar and vocals, Terry Smart on drums, and Ian Samwell, Norman Mitham and Ken Pavey on guitars-- cut their first demo at the recording studio located on the first floor of the HMV record store in London's Oxford Street. It was here that Breathless and Lawdy Miss Clawdy were recorded, providing Columbia producer Norrie Paramor with demonstration tape that resulted in an audition, and Cliff being signed by EMI to their Columbia label on 9th August 1958. [...] John Foster's parents put up the then-substantial sum of £10 for Cliff to make a demonstration record with cover versions of Lloyd Price's Lawdy Miss Clawdy and Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless at a recording studio in London's Oxford Street."
Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)
"With John Foster as manager, the group decided to see what they could do in a recording studio. At HMV Records in Oxford Street, London, they paid £10 to make a demonstration record. The line-up now stood at Cliff, Samwell, Mitham and Smart, plus a mate called Ken Pavey on additional guitar. They recorded two titles-- Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless and Lloyd Price's Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Cliff recalled: 'We went into a little booth and huddled around the microphone. I sang straight into the mike... and our performance was pressed onto a little acetate disc.'"
Bill Sloan (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)
"[Lawdy Miss Clawdy and Breathless] were the tracks that secured Cliff a recording contract with Columbia Records in late 1958. They were recorded in a small studio above the HMV shop in Oxford Street, London."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)
"[George] Ganjou suggested that Cliff and the Drifters should cut a demonstration record which he could play to his friends in the record industry. Early the next week they recorded two songs at a small studio above the HMV record shop in Oxford street. They chose Elvis Presley's Lawdy Miss Clawdy, written by Lloyd Price, and Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless, written by Otis Blackwell. Although the acetate by Cliff Richard and the Drifters was crude and amateurish by record company standards, that was something about it that convinced [Norrie Paramor] that they should be given an opportunity. He took it home and played it to his teenage daughter Caroline. 'She flipped when she heard it,' Paramor wrote a year later."
Steve Turner (2008 January - Cliff Richard - The Biography (revised edition))
"I still have the original acetate that Cliff cut at HMV. It was Little Richard's Good Golly Miss Molly and Jerry Lee Lewis's Breathless. It has Cliff's writing on the label. It's a double-sided 10-inch acetate. A lot of people said he recorded a tape, but he didn't. It was definitely a £5 acetate from HMV."
Ray Mackender (2008 May - The Bachelor Boy)
Editor's Note: the Little Richard song recorded was not Good Golly Miss Molly but rather Lawdy Miss Clawdy.
"We'd been playing around pubs and clubs and stuff like that. And then I guy came and watched us sing one night. [...] What he did was, he went into town and saw an agent. There was a theatrical agent there. In actual fact, he turned out to be a guy who did like clubs and he'd find kind of caberet acts... type people to book. And while my working manager was in town, he said, 'Look, why don't we go to the HMV store. I found out that you can go up on the first floor there and you can make a little demo record.' So we went up there. I remember singing Lawdy Miss Clawdy and-- the Elvis Lawdy Miss Clawdy-- and Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless. I think it cost us five quid."
Cliff Richard (October 2, 2011 - Late Show with Keith Middleton BBC WM)

Running Time: 2:09
Record Date: June 7 or July 7, 1958 (sources contradict)
Record Location: HMV Records, Oxford Street, London
Written By: Lloyd Price
Produced By: Unknown
Engineered By: Unknown
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals, guitar), Ian Ralph Samwell (guitar), Norman Mitham (guitar), Ken Pavey (guitar), Terry Smart (drums)

 

Lloyd Price had the original version of the song. Sadly, Lloyd Price is not a household name anymore. If you want some new music to fall in love with, you could do worse than seek out some of his recordings.

Here´s the Wikipedia page on this song:
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a rhythm and blues song by New Orleans singer/songwriter Lloyd Price that "grandly introduced The New Orleans Sound". It was first recorded by Price in 1952 with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew during his first session for Art Rupe and Specialty Records. The song became one of the biggest selling R&B records of 1952 and crossed over to other audiences. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" inspired many songs and has been recorded by a variety of artists.

Background
While still in high school, Lloyd Price was working for New Orleans radio station WBOK. He provided jingles (music for radio advertisements) for various products, including those hawked by disc jockey James "Okey Dokey" Smith. One of Smith's catch phrases was "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", which he used in ad slogans such as "Lawdy Miss Clawdy, eat Mother's Homemade Pies and drink Maxwell House coffee!" Price's accompanying tune proved popular with the radio audience and he developed it into a full-length song.
In 1952, Art Rupe, founder of Specialty Records in Los Angeles, came to New Orleans in search of new talent. Local recording studio owner Cosimo Matassa introduced him to Dave Bartholomew, who co-wrote and produced many of Fats Domino's early hit records. Bartholomew invited nineteen-year-old Lloyd Price to audition for Rupe at Matassa's J&M Studio.
The accounts differ on what happened next. According to Rupe, Price spent too much time rehearsing and Rupe threatened to leave if he did not get it together; Rupe then relented and Price turned out an emotional performance of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", prompting Rupe to cancel his return flight and arrange for a recording session. Price remembered that he auditioned the song for Rupe and although he apparently liked it, he left for New York without arranging to record it; however, two months later Price recalled receiving a call "Art Rupe's back in town and he wants to record you".

Recording and composition
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" was recorded March 13, 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios in New Orleans. Producer Dave Bartholomew used his backing band for the session, which consisted of pianist Salvador Doucette, guitarist Ernest McClean, bassist Frank Fields, drummer Earl Palmer, and saxophonists Herbert Hardesty (tenor) and Joe Harris (alto). The first attempts at performing the song were not successful, reportedly because Bartholomew was dissatisfied with Doucette's piano part. When Fats Domino arrived at the studio, he was persuaded by Bartholomew to sit in on the recording. After one run through, Bartholomew announced "OK, that's it" and Matassa started the tape recorder.
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" opens with Fat Domino's "rolling trills ... in a cascading, horn-like procession". Although Domino had recorded several songs using his trade-mark piano triplets style, Price's hit provided it with its greatest exposure up to that time. Domino repeats his intro for the piano solo. Another key element of the song is Earl Palmer's drumming, described as "loping, midtempo shuffle beats with their busy ride cymbal". This is anchored by Palmer's emphasis on the snare of the second and fourth beats of each bar, which led him to be referred to as "the father of the backbeat". In characteristic New Orleans-style, the rest of the backing instrumentation also contributes to the song's rhythmic drive by "providing different elements of rhythm, in several different patterns ... This complex, layered beat might also be compared to African polyrhythms".
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" follows an eight-bar blues progression and has been notated in 12/8 time in the key of A♭. The song's melody is derived from Fats Domino's 1950 hit "The Fat Man", which he explained "came from an ol' blues tune called "Junkers Blues". Price's song also features most of the same backing musicians as Domino's song.
Price's vocals have been described as "heartbroken wails","expressive, wailing", and "gritty". His lyrics deal with teenage angst over a relationship. A previous take of the song opens:
Oh now lawdy lawdy lawdy Miss Clawdy, girl who can your lover be
Well please don't excite me baby, no it can't be me
On the take that was released, Price confusingly uses a line from a later verse, "girl you sho' look good to me", but it stuck.

Releases and charts
Specialty Records released "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" in April 1952 and on May 17, 1952 it entered Billboard's R&B chart, staying there a total of 26 weeks. The song reached number one, where it spent seven weeks. According to Art Rupe, the single sold nearly one million copies and record distributors reported that it was selling well outside of the usual R&B market, but it did not appear in Billboard's pop charts. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" was also one of the top records for 1952 and the 1950s decade.

Recognition and influence
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" became "R&B Record of the Year" for 1952 in both Billboard and Cashbox magazines; it also earned Price Cashbox's "Best New R&B Singer of 1952" designation. In 1995, it was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". Authors Dawson and Propes discussed "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" among the first rock and roll songs.
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" "set the pattern for the rock and roll years in New Orleans" and its success led many to try to emulate it; one author suggests "for a time, every new R&B song coming out of New Orleans sounded suspiciously like "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". In 1953, singer Tommy Ridgley, a friend of Price's who nearly recorded "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" first, recorded a follow-up tune "Oh, Lawdy, My Baby". In 1958, Larry Williams, who had been Lloyd Price's valet, reworked the song to become "Dizzy Miss Lizzy".
Price's song has also been identified as "one of the first rhythm and blues records to attract the attention of white Southern teenagers, among them Elvis Presley, who cut his own version four years later"] and "becom[ing] a repertoire staple of local country bands".

 

@oxenholme, we have now started writing about the period between 1958 and 1974. Would be great if you could join us.

Go to page 240.

 

The 78s are a little before my time!

This is the earliest 45 that I have - Move It

 

Flip side:

 

High Class Baby