Friday, May 16, 2025

Grits Ain't Groceries (All Around the World) - Little Milton

Grits Ain't Groceries - Little Milton
2:39
Grits Ain't Groceries, 1969
Written by Titus Turner, 1955

Little Willie John released this song in 1955 as "All Around the World."  In it, the narrator professes his love for a girl and gets all Sonnet 116 on us, saying, "Well, if I don't love you baby, I tell ya / Grits ain't grocery / Eggs ain't poultry / And Mona Lisa was a man."  Over shimmering guitar, and muscular drum beat, and blaring horns, Little Milton booms his message out.  It's a masterclass of emotive soul and funk.  The verses are brash, heroic declarations of love and redemption.  Milton's willing to dig a ditch with a toothpick and search the world with blistered feet to win back his woman. In just under three minutes, we get a full arc: boastful devotion, desperate longing, and a confession of past sins from a man who's lost it all, but won't lose her again.

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