Good Golly Miss Molly Quotes

Context

This line was sung by Little Richard in the song "Good Golly, Miss Molly," written by John Marascalco and Robert Blackwell from the album Little Richard (1958).

With his colorful outfits and the flashing spotlights at his live show, Little Richard made the young genre of rock'n'roll a big deal in the late 1950s. One of his first hits was "Good Golly, Miss Molly," and in what has become a pop music tradition, he stole that line from a DJ named Jimmy Pennick. At least he attributed his source and didn't plagiarize like Vanilla Ice did.

The meaning of "sure like to ball" has puzzled music aficionados for decades, and different fans and journalists have come up with different meanings, depending on how deep their mind is in the gutter. It certainly has nothing to do with basketball because the NBA was only 12 years old when this song was released.

But even if the true meaning of this song eludes us, "Good Golly Miss Molly" has a catchy chorus and a fun piano intro perfect for toe tapping.

Where you've heard it

If you ever had to do one of those awkward 1950s dances in high school, this song and probably a million others by Little Richard were on the CD, cassette tape, or iTunes playlist.

Additional Notable References:

• Rolling Stone voted this song #94 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It's before "Blue Suede Shoes" and just after U2.
• Artists as disparate as Southern rockers Creedence Clearwater Revival and British metalheads Def Leppard have recorded covers of "Good Golly, Miss Molly."

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

This quote isn't very pretentious, but if you use it, be prepared to see a lot of shrugs and hear a lot of questions because it's not 1958, and no one will know what you mean.