Lawdy Miss Clawdy

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy” is a song by New Orleans singer-songwriter Lloyd Price that “grandly introduced The New Orleans Sound”. It was first recorded by Price in 1952 with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew during his first session for Art Rupe and Specialty Records. The song became one of the biggest selling R&B records of 1952 and crossed over to other audiences. “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” inspired many songs and has been recorded by a variety of artists.
While still in high school, Lloyd Price was working for New Orleans radio station WBOK. He provided jingles (music for radio advertisements) for various products, including those hawked by disc jockey James “Okey Dokey” Smith. One of Smith’s catch phrases was “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”, which he used in ad slogans such as “Lawdy Miss Clawdy, eat Mother’s Homemade Pies and drink Maxwell House coffee!” Price’s accompanying tune proved popular with the radio audience and he developed it into a full-length song. In 1952, Art Rupe, founder of Specialty Records in Los Angeles, came to New Orleans in search of new talent. Local recording studio owner Cosimo Matassa introduced him to Dave Bartholomew, who co-wrote and produced many of Fats Domino’s early hit records. Bartholomew invited nineteen-year-old Lloyd Price to audition for Rupe at Matassa’s J&M Recording Studio. The accounts differ on what happened next. According to Rupe, Price spent too much time rehearsing and Rupe threatened to leave if he did not get it together; Rupe then relented and Price turned out an emotional performance of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”, prompting Rupe to cancel his return flight and arrange for a recording session. Price remembered that he auditioned the song for Rupe and although he apparently liked it, he left for New York without arranging to record it; however, two months later Price recalled receiving a call “Art Rupe’s back in town and he wants to record you”