Lloyd Price & Little Richard - Lawdy Miss Clawdy (information, lyrics, YouTube examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about and lyrics for the hit 1952 Rhythm & Blues song "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy".

This post also showcases a sound file of Lloyd Price singing his composition "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and a video of Lloyd Price & Little Richard performing that song.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Lloyd Price and Little Richard for their musical legacies. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
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The subject of this post was inspired by former FBI Director James Comey's "Lordy, I hope there are tapes" statement during his Senate Intelligence hearing (June 8, 2017). That statement was in reference to Donald Trump's tweet that he taped the dinner conversation that he had with Comey in January 2017.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-comey-calls-for-release-of-memos-possible-recordings-of-white-house-conversations/

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "LAWDY MISS CLAWDY
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawdy_Miss_Clawdy
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a rhythm and blues song by New Orleans singer/songwriter Lloyd Price that "grandly introduced The New Orleans Sound".[1] It was first recorded by Price in 1952 with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew during his first session for Art Rupe and Specialty Records. The song became one of the biggest selling R&B records of 1952 and crossed over to other audiences. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" inspired many songs and has been recorded by a variety of artists.

Background
While still in high school, Lloyd Price was working for New Orleans radio station WBOK.[2] He provided jingles (music for radio advertisements) for various products, including those hawked by disc jockey James "Okey Dokey" Smith. One of Smith's catch phrases was "Lawdy Miss Clawdy",[3] which he used in ad slogans such as "Lawdy Miss Clawdy, eat Mother's Homemade Pies and drink Maxwell House coffee!"[4] Price's accompanying tune proved popular with the radio audience and he developed it into a full-length song.[2]...

"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" follows an eight-bar blues progression and has been notated in 12/8 time in the key of A?.[9] The song's melody is derived from Fats Domino's 1950 hit "The Fat Man",[10] which he explained "came from an ol' blues tune called "Junkers Blues".[11] Price's song also features most of the same backing musicians as Domino's song.[12]...

Releases and charts
Specialty Records released "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" in April 1952 and on May 17, 1952 it entered Billboard's R&B chart, staying there a total of 26 weeks.[13] The song reached number one, where it spent seven weeks.[13] According to Art Rupe, the single sold nearly one million copies and record distributors reported that it was selling well outside of the usual R&B market,[5] but it did not appear in Billboard's pop charts.[13] "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" was also one of the top records for 1952 and the 1950s decade.[14]"...

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LYRICS- LAWDY MISS CLAWDY
(music and lyrics by Lloyd Price)

Well now lawdy, lawdy, lawdy, Miss Clawdy
Girl, you sure look good to me
Well, please don't excite me baby
Know it can't be me

Because I gave you all my money
Girl, but you just won't treat me right
You like to ball in the mornin'
Don't come back till late at night

I'm gonna tell, tell my mama
Girl I'm gonna tell what you doing to me
I'm gonna tell everybody
That I'm down in misery

Well lawdy, lawdy, lawdy, Miss Clawdy
Girl you sure look good to me
You just wheel and rockin' baby
Just as fine as you can be

Well so bye, bye-bye, baby
Girl, I won't be comin' no more
Bye darlin', I'm dying
Down the road I go

Source: https://genius.com/Lloyd-price-lawdy-miss-clawdy-lyrics
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"Lawdy" is an African American Vernacular English form of the word "Lord" (meaning "God"). In the context of this song, "Lawdy" means "My Lord" and "My Lord" means "My Goodness".

"Clawdy" is probably a nickname for "Claudine".

I can recall saying -and hearing other people say - "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" when I (and they) really meant "Oh, my goodness" or a profane way of saying the same thing.

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YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Lloyd Price "Lawdy Miss Clawdy"



blacksoul1969, Uploaded on Apr 15, 2008

"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a song by Lloyd Price. It was first recorded by Price at the New Orleans recording studio of Specialty Records in March of 1952. It was released under the Specialty label in April and was number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart for seven weeks and stayed on the chart for six months. An 8-bar blues with a rolicking piano backup, with the words written by Price, but the melody adapted from the older Junker Blues (Champion Jack Dupree, 1941), it became the biggest rhythm and blues hit of the year and sold over one million copies by crossing over to the white record-buying market. It was the first hit from New Orleans to be accepted into rock and roll.The word lawdy means lord.
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This is a re-recording of the original song which may be from the 1970s (as indicated in a comment from another clip of this same song.) Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYNluUqmJew for a sound file of the original record which is rather scratchy.

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Example #2: Little Richard & Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Live 1994)



James Power Published on Aug 18, 2014

Words & Music by Lloyd Price (1952)

Broadcast: March 23, 1994

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