Tutti Frutti

The way Little Richard ORIGINALLY sang it was

A wop bop a loo mop, a good god damn! / Tutti frutti, loose booty / If it don’t fit, don’t force it / You can grease it, make it easy

It was an old raunchy ditty (presumably about anal sex) that they cleaned up out of necessity. The clean lyrics mean nothing- the record company liked the catchy music and the enthusiasm with which Little Richard performed it, so they made it suitable for 1950's radio.

The last two verses are obvious and straight forward. It is the first verse that requires analysis and translation which I shall do below.

"Tutti frutti" is the American name for Neopolitan icecream.

"Oh rutti" is a corruption of the French "en route" which means "on the way".

So the first verse sings like so,

Neopolitan icecream, on the way, Neopolitan icecream, on the way, Neopolitan icecream, on the way, Neopolitan icecream, on the way, Neopolitan icecream, on the way,

Then we get to the line, "A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boo"

A "wop bop" is obviously an Italian dance.

"A loo bop" is a dance in the toilet.

So Little Richard is singing about an Italian dance in the toilet.

"A lop bam boom" is obviously complete gibberish.

DarkenRahl makes sense for the most part. However:

1. Tutti Frutti and Neapolitan are not the same thing. Tutti frutti is entirely fruit flavored and often has dried or candied fruit as well as flavoring. Neapolitan is 1/3 strawberry, 1/3 chocolate, and 1/3 vanilla, which isn't even that fruity.

2. "A lop bam boom" isn't necessarily gibberish. Ferdinand Lop was a French presidential candidate in the 1940s, and since he ran right after WWII, Little Richard probably added war onomatopoeia (BAM! BOOM!). It is also possible that instead of "Bam boom," he's saying "bamboo," which would probably be a reference to a love of pandas.

Also, only at the end does he go "A Lop bam boom (bamboo). The rest of the song its "A lop bum bum." The "bum bum" is likely either just a musical segway, or perhaps a reference to the subject of both the original version and many other Little Richard songs (you know what I'm talking about).

it doesn't actually say ''oh rutti'', but in fact says ''all rooty" as in slang for 'all right'. the original lyric was something like "nice booty" but had to be changed for obvious reasons

i laughed so hard when i read some of these comments. cgodfrey is right, but the rest of you have given me a good laugh.... pandas...HA!

mmmmm....tuttie frutti...

Little richard is a tutti frutti.. he likes to blow horses!