Little Richard - Long Tall Sally (cover)

I love this cover. I freakin' love it. I love every single little piece of it.

I love the original, too. I love Little Richard, I love everything from the 1950's rock. Little Richard, Bill Haley & the Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry. Without them there would be absolutely no rock music today. Without them there would be no Beatles, no Rolling Stones, not even Led Zeppelin or Queen. If I said AC/DC is a cornerstone for rock, then these musicians are all icons in the rock and roll places of worship.

My opinion only, but the greatest fact of it all was that Little Richard (and Chuck Berry) back then could win the heart of white people as well. I know it sounds weird (if not even risky) now, but back in those days, in the 1950's it was a miracle. And this speaks volumes about the talent and charisma of these musicians.

The thing is that this song in itself is what it is. A great song, full of groove, boogie and rock that makes you dance and feel great wherever you are.

And as always, Cygnus Rock Band could give even to this fundamental song a load of extra.

That's why I love them. Among many-many other things.

The original song is led by the piano and Little Richard's unique voice - these two together was the secret of his performance: his sweeping piano play with all the antics and his singing. It has got a strong backing by wind instruments, mostly saxophones.

Cygnus Rock Band removed it all. ALL. No piano, no saxes, only guitars and drums.

And something else.

Or rather, someone else.

They invited their old, very dear friend, Jonathan "Jota" Benavides to sing this song.

Jota had been a regular member of Cygnus, at a time he was the band's guitarist, songwriter and singer, too. He has a high-pitched, very powerful voice, that kind which - over here, by local music journalists - is called approvingly as "rock throat". Jota still performs with Cygnus at live shows, though today he is a guitarist and does backing vocals.

It starts with Ruxx's counting; this is also such a great idea for me that they deliberately left this little gesture in the video. It doesn't just give a certain very fresh atmosphere to the song, but - again for me - it has a kind of homey feeling, too, as if you would be sitting right there in the studio with the band, watching them rehearse, play and record, and the drummer gives the counting for the other musicians.

And as these rockers smash the strings (or the head) of their instruments, you realize that those wind instruments and the piano really aren't missing from this cover. The bass subtly leads the song, you can see Deneb paddling in the flood of rock and roll. 

Yes, my soft spot is the bass, because I firmly believe that a good rock band starts with a good bass player and there's that firm-as-rock truth that if the bass player makes a mistake, then everybody thinks they made a mistake. With all my partiality for the stringed part of the rhythm section (while keeping it up that this is just my own opinion) I think that here, in this cover the bass takes over the role of the entire brass section of the original song WHILE doing its own job. And Deneb isn't just doing it great but again he is not afraid of letting his own power load and flood. The bass hits you, hard like rock but you love it and you want more. And you get more, you get much more! What is more, you can see on Deneb, too, how much he enjoys it!

Ruxx doesn't hold himself back, he shows what a great talent he has for this genre, too - but he does add his very own rock/metal style marks, exactly what we love in him. 

What I found amazing, if not shocking was that he makes two absolutely cheeky and bold crashes during the solo. It's him. It's so much him. THIS is what I love so much in his style. This uniqueness, that he is not afraid of doing things others (musicians or listeners) find new or even strange.

A message to these latter people: you should rather keep practicing and/or polishing your own style instead of spreading your opinion that nobody asked for. Alternatively if you have this much free time that you poke your nose into others' businesses, please, lend me some of your leasure time, because for me it would definitely come to hand. Thank you. 

Ruxx has his own style, which he worked very hard for. For this he has all my respect, admiration and support. And for me it feels good every time listening to Cygnus (either their own songs or any of their covers) to see and hear how hard Ruxx is working on himself and his style. It's something I have experienced seldom or rather rare from drummers; many of them are satisfied just to be "the engine" for the band or working as a kind of metronome, but for Ruxx it isn't enough. He wants to be more. 

And the thing is, at the rhythm section it's always a challenge to add your own personality into your play, because you're mostly required to be a strong base, while the other members can flash their ego's. And I think this is Cygnus's greatest secret and their most powerful feature, that they have a rhythm section where both the bassist and the drummer have their very own style AND they can work together flawlessly. That's the moment when the groove kicks in. 💓 

Blu plays with such an elegance and professionalism as if he had played this song back then with Mr. Penniman himself. He perfectly takes over the original song's piano line.

The funny thing is - and it's again a "Cygnus Rock Band phenomenon" that even though the guitar is supposed to be the key and the core of any rock band, it's still a bit difficult to write about the guitar sometimes, while - as you can see - I can write novels about the bass and the drum. I take the risk to say this, while I can't emphasize enough Blu's collectedness, professionalism, great routine, elegance and versatility, that it might be because Blu isn't a regular member of Cygnus and somehow I always had the subtle impression that he was not fully at home in this band. Again and again I have to declare, and I do it with the greatest respect and appreciation that Blu is a wonderful guitarist and he added a LOT to all the covers as well as Cygnus's own songs he took part in, and we can be - and we should be! - thankful only that we got to know him, that we had the chance to listen to him playing and to learn from him. And don't ever take me wrong, what I said is just an opinion, or even less, an impression only and definitely not any kind of accusation.

I fking hate to explain myself like this, but I know very well how many imbecile idiots there are out there who happily see things in my words that I had absolutely no intention to say, and I'm fkin not in the mood to get into any kind of verbal karate with these.

And Jota... Jota is a legend. Jota is dearly missed with his powerful voice for which there's an expression in my mother tongue: we say for such a strong performance that "the singer/guitarist/bassist/anybody put the listeners into his pocket". I just hope Jota has got pockets big enough for all those who give this cover a listen.

I have seen and heard quite a few Cygnus songs (and covers) with Jota singing and this small, innocent-looking man has a surprisingly strong and skilled voice. I admit - even though I probably get some giggles now - that I love those songs Jota sang back then. His voice was full of emotions and passion and all that some people call "Latin fire" appears in his performance flawlessly. 

Jota, if you read this or if this blogpost reaches out to you in any way: keep singing, always!

But the best thing in this cover for me is definitely to see how these musicians all enjoy it. 💓