Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023)

Flawed but Fascinating Documentary of the Great Little Richard Penniman - Little Richard: I Am Everything review by PV

Little Richard was great! That is enough. No need for racially-motivated claims he 'invented' rock n roll etc. It was a joint effort. As Howard Goodall has also shown, the roots of blues were not black, rather European - British folk music + British church music with added African influence from some drums (Europeans also had drums of course!) and the banjo etc.

The great weakness of this documentary is its political confirmation bias, in thrall to what I see as quite racist divisive theories, as promoted by BLM and black power in the USA for decades - understandably maybe, as they had slavery and race laws and segregation - the UK never had any of that. The Normans banned slavery in 11th Century and the UK never ever had race laws and had VERY few non 'white' people, only 6000 blacks in UK in 1939 out of 44 million population for example. The UK is not the USA, esp the Deep South.

So we get the usual social studies persons waffling about race pride and queer pride too - very divisive as it arguably is in the USA still.

Music has NO colour. I hate the expression 'black music'. The typical American way of claiming something as BLACK is annoying and in a word racist - to these British ears anyway.

No, Little Richard did not invent rock n roll. Many did - it was a movement which grew from what came before, and many songs recorded by artists were from 1920s and 30s, such as AT LAST and TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS. Teenagers (a word invented by an ad agency in 1948 though teen-age was much older, from 1900) were the new consumers, recording tech and instruments were there and cinema and radio and TV (one could call them 'white' inventions...). The music travelled to the UK, London and Liverpool, and Richard toured Britain in 1963 with the Rolling Stones supporting - Jagger watched Little Richard 30 times from the side of the stage and learnt from him.

The Beatles too loved him, but as Ringo Starr did not join them until late 1963, the use of a photo with him claiming he was with them when they met Richard in Hamburg early 62 is wrong - the drummer then was Pete Best.

Anyway, GREAT music and still so vital, and this film reveals what I already knew - the lewd sexual lyrics of the original Tutti Fruiti. The gayness or not of Richard who did marry late 50s and had at least one other girlfriend is fascinatingly flamboyant! Yes, Richard was inconsistent and maybe hypocritical - because he was human. I hate the way people want to claim him for their team whether TEAM BLACK or TEAM QUEER. Just listen to the music, watch the archive clips of his performances and ENJOY IT.

Though the claim only black artists were ripped off is NONSENSE. All artists were ripped off - the Stones were broke at the end of the 1960s; watch the 2022 ELVIS film to see how he was ripped off. Queen made nothing from their first 3 albums. The Beatles first contract gave all 4 a farthing per record sale between them AND they lost the rights to the songs they wrote (later bought by Michael Jackson who sold em to Sony, why we hear Beatles songs on adverts these days - they earn loads).

So a flawed documentary made by a black film maker wanting to promote a certain racial opinion which I find divisive.

Little Richard was first and foremost a great and influential songwriter, singer, artist and performer - one of several who originated rock and roll in the 1950s.

But without that, the life story of Richard Penniman is superb - his influences, two black male singers especially, both gay, with big hair and that pencil moustache. The swaying of Richard between rock n roll and the church is fascinating, as he quits music several times, first time 1959 to study theology. But he needs money so goes back to the stage.

3.5 stars rounded up. A shame the race politics spoil what could have been a superb documentary.