"Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" is a rock and roll song written and recorded by Larry Williams in 1958. Although identified as a "genuine rock & roll classic", it had limited success on the record charts. Seven years later, the Beatles recorded the song, and John Lennon performed it with the Plastic Ono Band in 1969.
Recording
At the end of 1957, Williams scored with one of his biggest hits, "Bony Moronie". On February 19, 1958, he entered the Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood, California, to record a potential follow-up. He was again backed by some well-known session musicians, including René Hall, who is credited as the band leader and with supplying the distinctive guitar riff. However, it is Williams' vocal that makes the song stand out, according to music journalist Gene Sculatti, "at ease with its own intensity [that is] finally out of Richard's shadow." Both songs were included on Williams's first album, the Specialty compilation Here's Larry Williams (1959).
Personnel
- Larry Williams – vocals, piano
- Earl Palmer – drums
- René Hall – guitar
- Howard Roberts – guitar
- Ted Brinson – bass guitar
- Plas Johnson – tenor sax
- Jewell Grant – baritone sax
The Beatles rendition
In 1965, the Beatles recorded "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" in response to requests from Capitol Records (their US record label) for new material. The song, recorded the previous year by another Liverpool group The Escorts, is included on the UK album Help! and the US album Beatles VI. They recorded it along with another Williams tune, "Bad Boy", on the same day.
Group biographer Ian MacDonald describes the song as "an unprepossessing shambles of ersatz hysteria and jumbled double-tracking".
Lennon later recorded "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" at a performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival on September 13, 1969. The song is included on the Plastic Ono Band album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.
The Beatles personnel
In Revolution in the Head, MacDonald lists the following: