“Grits Ain’t Groceries (All Around the World)”
Little Milton
Checker 1212, 1969
Born James Milton Campbell in September 1934, Little Milton was a blues singer and guitarist. Except when he became a towering titan of smouldering soul on “Grits Ain’t Groceries (All Around the World).”
Maybe it’s the same difference–the blues, R&B, soul. Or maybe there are detailed technical definitions that tell us what makes one song a blues and another song a soul cut.
What makes “Grits Ain’t Groceries” a soul song to me is also what makes it such a remarkable two and a half minutes of music–it’s definitive, declarative, certain. There’s not a journey in the song, and the singer isn’t ruminating on the state of his relationship.
“You know I love you, baby,” Milton sings in the pre-chorus. That’s what he says, and that’s what he means. He may be searching for his baby; he may feel like he has to convince her of how certain he is. He does that with what is, for my money, one of the greatest lyrics in the history of popular music:
If I don’t love you, baby
Grits ain’t groceries
Eggs ain’t poultry
And Mona Lisa was a man
“Grits Ain’t Groceries” was first recorded as “All Around the World” in 1955 by Little Willie John, written by Titus Turner. The original has a pleasant swing, but that great lyric seems wasted as a throwaway gag in the chorus. Little Milton builds his version completely around those lines, and it transforms the song from a searching uptempo R&B jump to a desperate soulful plea.
If the original is a sexy slow Cadillac cruising down the street in the early summer evening, then Little Milton gets behind the wheel, points his car at his baby, and smashes the accelerator to the floor. His version hit #5 on the R&B chart and #73 on the Hot 100 in 1969.
Next time: Bleeps and bloops and eerie melodies
Great comparison! Was never aware of Little Willie John's original, recorded in the year of my birth! And, I was only vaguely aware of Little Milton's '69 version...I was 14, and may have heard it on Houston's hit radio, KILT-AM once or twice! Hard to forget the "grits ain't groceries" line, even if I wasn't sure what grits even were!