Song 418: After hearing about Little Things last week, this week's playlist track centers on a specific little one, in a very entertaining way: Li'l Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, written by Ron Blackwell, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. During the stretch when this novelty number graced the airwaves in the summer of 1966, my family did our warm-weather visit to the Ohio relatives, which during that decade had changed from the yearly routine it had been in the 1950s to being an even-numbered-year outing. Our stay in 1966 included my cousin treating me to my first motorcycle ride, and also him spinning If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears for me and my brothers in a sparkling bedroom of the uncle's newly-completed house — the family had previously lived in the building's basement for at least ten years. Then one sunny afternoon, a bunch of us played miniature golf at a nearby course that featured background music courtesy of the local Top-40 station, and hearing this hit made the game even more fun. I always savored the word play about the wolf wearing his sheep suit, and the way the singer ends by making a wolf sound followed by a sheep sound. Since he had such a big heart, the better to love her with, perhaps she (Red) really would have seen things his way before they got to grandma's place.
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