Pat Boone – Tutti-Frutti / I'll Be Home

The squeaky-clean anti-Elvis desecrated a number of rock & roll's early hits with his sanitized Wonder-Bread "I've-got-a-two-by-four-up-my-ass" versions. But this one (Tutti Frutti) has to be the most unintentionally hilarious of them all.

Is it possible to give negative stars? This is the WORST vocalization I've ever heard.

Country seems to be closely related to Rock n Roll. Jerry Lee Lewis made that transition. This disc has both. The UK A-side (and #1 hit), I'll Be Home is Boone's typical vocal style for a country ballad. Tutti Frutti originally recorded (and written) by Little Richard has energy and rhythm in it's own right and listening with 21st century ears is what you would expect of White rock n roll, reminiscent of Elvis at the time. This is a cleaner, more sedate (palatable?) version than the raw frenzied original, clearly more geared to mass audiences of the time (1956). It was still the early days of Rock n Roll in the UK, which is probably why I'll Be Home was the hit. There must have been something in Tutti Frutti that appealed even then though, as his follow up UK hit was also a Little Richard cover: Long Tall Sally to the lesser success of #18.