Tutti Frutti

On a number of occasions, I have asked a question about someone on a Wednesday evening only for them to shuffle off this mortal coil the following day. I am not suggesting any causal link, correlation or even Jungian synchronicity, but it does grab my attention. Last year a round on social work contained the following question:

The 1969 novel The Case Worker by Hungarian author Gyorgy Konrad is about a social worker. What does it have in common with Mrs Dalloway by Victoria Woolf, Saturday by Ian McEwan and Ulysses by James Joyce?

The answer of course is that they are all Circadian novels, set in the course of one day. Within two weeks of the question, Mr Konrad, of whom I had previously been unaware, passed away.

Last week’s quiz included the question:

Which song begins “a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!”?

Sadly, inspirational rock’n’roll great Little Richard died on Saturday leaving behind not only Tutti Frutti, but also Lucille, Good Golly Miss Molly, The Girl Can’t Help It, Rip It Up and a host of others, along with a vital legacy of lipstick and mascara-smeared rebellion. Those influenced are legion. If in any doubt, listen to his version of Keep a Knockin’ from 1957 and then Led Zep’s 1971 track Rock’n’Roll.  The “Architect of Rock’n’Roll” also had a Pentecostal/Baptist background to which he periodically returned and in later life he became the officiator of choice at celebrity weddings and musicians’ funerals.

RIP Little Richard.