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Written by: Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, John
Marascalco
Produced by: Blackwell
Released: Feb. '58 on Specialty
Charts: 15 weeks
Top spot: No. 10
Little Richard first heard the phrase "Good golly, Miss Molly," from a Southern DJ named Jimmy Pennick. Richard turned the words into perhaps his most blatant and furious assault on American propriety: "Good Golly, Miss Molly/You sure like to ball." He swiped the music from Ike Turner's piano intro to Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88," recorded by Sam Phillips in Memphis seven years earlier. "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."
Appears on: The Georgia Peach (Specialty)