Li'l Red Riding Hood

For other uses, see Little Red Riding Hood (disambiguation).

"Li'l Red Riding Hood"
Cover artwork from the album Li'l Red Riding Hood
Single by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
from the album Li'l Red Riding Hood
B-side	"Love Me Like Before"
Released	June 1966 (1966)
Genre	Garage rock
Length	2:35
Label	MGM
Songwriter(s)	Ronald Blackwell [1]
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs singles chronology
"Red Hot" (1966) "Li'l Red Riding Hood" (1966) "The Hair on My Chinny Chin Chin" (1966)

"Li'l Red Riding Hood" is a 1966 song performed by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. It was the group's second top-10 hit, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1966. ^[2] Outside the US, it peaked at No. 2 on the Canadian RPM magazine charts. It was certified gold by the RIAA on August 11, 1966. ^[3]

Premise

The lyrics are written in the perspective of the Big Bad Wolf, who sees Little Red Riding Hood walking in the woods, and tries to convince her to let him walk with her to her grandmother's house while he wears a sheep suit. The words of Riding Hood in the original story are instead echoed by the Wolf himself, as he sings lines such as ″What big lips you have″ and ″What full lips you have″. While the story can be taken at face value as a retelling of Riding Hood's first encounter with the wolf in the woods with only superficial changes, it has also been interpreted as ″a courtship dance″ in which ″the wolf pursues the girl not in search of a meal but in hopes of a date.″ ^[4]

Notable cover versions

To promote her movie Red Riding Hood , star Amanda Seyfried performed a cover of the song. ^[5]

Song in popular culture

• It is a prominent plot element in the 1993 film Striking Distance with Bruce Willis. ^[6]
• In season 1, episode 4a (“Who’s for Dinner”) of Rocko’s Modern Life, the song plays in the background when Rocko visits the Wolfe household.
• It is featured in the films Digging for Fire , ^[7] Wild Country (2005), ^[8] and Wolves at the Door (2016).
• A cover by Laura Gibson was in a 2012 Volvo commercial for its S60T5.
• The song appeared in the TV show Grimm , where it was played at the beginning of the season 3 episode "Red Menace" that aired in 2014.
• It appears just after the opening titles of the episode of the British soap opera Coronation Street that aired on the ITV network on October 18, 2021.

Certifications

Certifications for "Li'l Red Riding Hood"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [9]	Gold	1,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "Billboard". 1 October 1966. p. 52. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
2. "Top Music Charts – Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
3. "RIAA Gold & Platinum Search". RIAA. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
4. Orenstein, Catherine (2002). Little Red Riding Hood uncloaked : sex, morality, and the evolution of a fairy tale (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 126–127. ISBN   0465041256.
5. "Breaking Celeb News, Entertainment News, and Celebrity Gossip | E! News". Eonline.com. 14 March 2011. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
6. "Soundtracks for Striking Distance". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
7. "Soundtracks for Digging for Fire". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
8. "Soundtracks for Wild Country". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
9. "American single certifications – Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs – Red Riding Hood". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved July 1, 2024.