Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Round 8): Keep A-Knockin (But You Cant Come In) (#2)

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Okay, this one might be a bit of an argument, but for today’s song that you might not know was a cover it’s more a case of the version we know and love couldn’t exist without the original. As I’ve said before, some of these surprise even me. This is one of them. #2: Keep A-Knockin’ (But You Can’t Come In) Come on!!! It’s Little Richard!! How on earth can this not be a Little Richard original? Let’s face it, this song is about as Little Richard-y as you can get. Even the best were “borrowers” on occasion. In this case, this song predates even Little Richard (who was born in 1932). This originated in 1928 as a jumping blues song by a guy named James “Boodle It” Wiggins in 1928. Before Little Richard had even gotten out of WOOOOO!!!! Elementary School the song had been recorded by the likes of Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies (one of the forerunners of Western Swing [he was killed in a car wreck before the genre took off, which is why you’ve never heard of him]) and Louis Jordan. With enough “variations” to go around, Little Richard’s version is credited to him as the songwriter. But the origins go back to the roaring 20s. 1920s, that is. Keep A-Knockin’ (But You Can’t Come In) Written by Perry Bradford and J. Mayo Williams Originally recorded by James “Boodle It” Wiggins, 1928 Famously covered by Little Richard, 1957 Also covered by Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, 1936; and Louis Jordan, 1939 The pre-Depression original! Woooo!