92 Good Golly, Miss Molly

LITTLE RICHARD 1958

Richard first heard the phrase “Good golly, Miss Molly” from a Southern DJ named Jimmy Pennick. Richard swiped the music from Ike Turner’s piano intro to Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88,” produced by Sam Phillips in Memphis seven years before Richard wrote his own tune. “I always liked that record,” Richard recalled, “and I used to use the riff in my act, so when we were looking for a lead-in to ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly,’ I did that and it fit.” The singer had renounced rock & roll the previous year, but Specialty Records couldn’t leave this classic in the vaults.