You don’t often associate stoner rock with Elvis Presley, but Queens Of The Stone Age once borrowed from the King of Rock and Roll for their song “Little Sister”.
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The band’s fourth album Lullabies To Paralyze arrived in 2005 after a three-year gap between releases. Longtime bassist Nick Oliveri had exited the ever-changing lineup, clearing space for two newcomers, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo.
Singer Mark Lanegan returned, leaving him and band leader Josh Homme as the only remaining members from the previous album Songs For The Deaf. While the changes delayed the sessions, an evolved version of QOTSA emerged.
The arrangements on Lullabies To Paralyze are more direct. With fewer overdubs, the heavy guitar riffs emphasize groove over dense and crushing volume. “Little Sister” borrowed its DNA from Presley’s 1961 Nashville recording. But Homme’s desert rock is unmistakably his own. Still, he’s smitten in “Little Sister” and attempts the King’s old tricks to woo the girl.
The Story Behind “Little Sister”
Homme spent years writing and developing the song. He said he liked “the amalgam of imagery that it puts forward, that throwing a little pebble at the girl’s windows late at night, you know, trying to creep in the back door.”
Van Leeuwen and Castillo helped bring the song to completion. Before QOTSA, Van Leeuwen was a member of Failure and the alt-rock supergroup A Perfect Circle. Castillo’s musical journey includes stints with Danzig, Scott Weiland, and Eagles of Death Metal. But these musicians play like they have years of collective history behind them. One of the most impressive parts of Homme’s rotating band is how cohesive the unit sounds.
“Hey, sister, why you all alone?
I’m standing out your window
Hey, little sister, can I come inside, dear?”
Meanwhile, Elvis Presley’s own “Little Sister” inspired Homme. Presley released it as a single on RCA Victor, reaching no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. In yet another nod to Presley, you can hear a slap echo effect on Homme’s voice. That was an effect John Lennon also made regular use of.
Homme mentioned how Presley used the girl’s big sister to win her over: “Little sister, don’t you do what your big sister does?” His heart breaks because “big sister” has found someone else. But does the King’s manipulation imply bad motives?
“You whisper secrets in my ear
Slowly dancing cheek to cheek
Such a sweet thing when you open up, baby.”
Famous Covers
Presley’s song was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. The rockabilly track also features guitarists Scotty Moore and Hank Garland, and The Jordanaires on backing vocals.
It’s been covered by Robert Plant, Dwight Yoakam, Pearl Jam, and Ry Cooder, among others. Yoakam included “Little Sister” on his number-one album Hillbilly Deluxe from 1987.
More Cowbell
Homme’s “Little Sister” is also one of the best cowbell songs this side of Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”. That’s the same song that led to Will Ferrell’s “More Cowbell” sketch on Saturday Night Live with Christopher Walken.
When QOTSA appeared on SNL in 2005, Ferrell reprised his role as Gene Frenkle on cowbell while the band performed “Little Sister”.
It fits the irony Homme often uses beneath gloomy themes and heavy riffs. Like in Presley’s original, the narrator isn’t hiding his intentions. Presley famously shocked the system of acceptable behavior in the late 1950s and early 1960s. And “Little Sister” is all id.
Parents disapproved of how the King swung his hips, and along with Little Richard, he sent some corners into a moral panic. To limit the frenzy, cameras aimed from the waist up to hide his gyrations from swooning teens watching at home.
If you’ve seen Frenkle smash a cowbell, you’ll also notice his baby tee give way to an exposed midriff. Frenkle shares this twisting impulse with Presley—submitting to a fit of possessed rapture. But Homme is more subdued, letting his doom riffs do the shaking.
A Dark Folktale
About the cowbell: “Little Sister” opens with it, similar to how a drummer counts in the band. But its announcement isn’t just a cue. It signals the kind of danger you might find in Grimm’s Fairy Tales: the sly wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood”, for example.
Homme said he likes to write about “dark or twisted” subjects. Begin with the dark, reach for the light.
You can interpret “Little Sister” as one courting romance. But the rock band version of The Brothers Grimm may present the sinister groove as a warning.
Or he just might be in love.
Photo via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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