B-side "All Around the World" Format 7" single Genre Rock and roll | Released December 1956 Recorded October 16, 1956 Label Specialty Records | |
"The Girl Can't Help It" is the title song to the film The Girl Can't Help It, with words and music by songwriter Bobby Troup. It was performed by Little Richard and was released in December 1956 (see 1956 in music). In
the US, the song peaked at #49 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart and #7 on the R&B Best Sellers Chart. Overseas, "The Girl Can't Help It" peaked at #9 in the UK. It was included on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #413. Originally, Fats Domino was lined up to record the track, which was not written as a rock song.
Cover Versions
The Animals covered it on both their US debut album The Animals, MGM Records – SE 4264, and their UK debut album also called The Animals, Columbia (EMI) 33SX 1669, in 1964. In 1965 by The Everly Brothers, in 1969 by The Flamin' Groovies, in 1970 by Led Zeppelin, in 1975 by Mick Ronson, and in 2001 by Babes in Toyland.
American singer Fergie sampled the song for her 2007 single "Clumsy" and the cover by House DJ Duo, LMFAO, also the title of the original Little Richard song "Girl Can't Help It".
The tune of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's song "Are You Ready Eddy?", from their 1971 album Tarkus, is based on "The Girl Can't Help It." The lead line was also used in The Fratellis' song Stragglers Moon on their album Here We Stand.
The song was also used in commercials for Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The advertising slogan was "You just can't help chewing".
The music appears in the 1972 film Pink Flamingos directed by John Waters and starring Divine.
A gender-reversed version, "The Boy Can't Help It", appears on Bonnie Raitt's 1979 album The Glow.