On This Day – Great Balls of Fire!
Nov 3, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis released Great Balls of Fire on the Sun record label.
One of the great pioneers of rock and roll Lewis came from a poor familly in Ferriday, Louisiana. He bagan playing piano while young with two of his cousins. His passion for the [iano was such that his parents raised a mortgage to buy him his own piano (thank god they did, god bless ‘em).
Lewis was expelled from his school (Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas) into which his mother had enrolled him in the hope that he would learn to play “godly” music. He was expelled for playing “worldly” music. Years later he was asked by an old school friend if he was still playing the Devil’s music. His reply, “Yes, I am. But you know it’s strange, the same music that they kicked me out of school for is the same kind of music they play in their churches today. The difference is, I know I am playing for the devil and they don’t.”
His style came from what he heard on the radio and from the rythms he heard in the local black joints. In those days black musicians could not play for white audiences in the main and the white kids were ready for this rebellious, liberating music. He went to Sun Records in Memphis for an audition but Sam Phillips was away. Even so it did not take Phillips’ engineer, Jack Clement, to recognise his talent. Signed to Sun Lewis began working on session backing all the greats on the Sun label including, Elvis, Carl, Perkins and Johnny Cash among others. His distinctive piano playing can be heard on many tracks recorded at Sun during late 1956 and early 1957, including Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox”.
A great talent later lost to rock when he moved into country music after the scandal of his marriage to his young cousin Lewis helped start what we all enjoy to this day. As someone has said all we dio is to build on the shoulders of giants that went before, Lewis is one of thos giants.
Tags: carl perkins, classic rock music, elvis, elvis presley, jerry lee lewis, johnny cash, love rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues, rock and roll, sam phillips, sam phillips. real rock, sun records
On This day – Great Balls Of Fire
Oct 8, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1957 Jerry lee lewis recorded “Great Balls of Fire” his follow up to “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going’ On”.
As you might have guessed if you have read previous posts I am a great fan of Sam Phillips and Sun Records. Not so much for the individual tracks as such more the effect of Sun Records. Sun changed music. What was essentially black music played for and by black people became music for both black and white. Sun owner Sam Phillips ran no colour bar all he heard was the music (with more than a nod towards his profit of course).
Anyway, Jerry Lee Lewis, often billed as the wild man of rock ‘n’ roll was pioneer of the new popular music that we all love. Someone once said that we build on the shoulders of giants, one of those giants is Lewis.
It is hard to imagine today the hysteria that rock ‘n’ roll caused among responsible adults. They feared subversion, anarchy, revolution, promiscuity, and that the status quo could be challenged. Well, the world certainly changed. A great song and well worth celebrating.
Tags: classic rock music, jerry lee lewis, On This Day, rock and blues, sam phillips, sun records
On This Day – Thanks for the Eggs Dad!
Sep 1, 2009 On This Day
On this day in 1956 Jerry Lee lewis turned up at Sun records wanting to an audition, financed by his father selling 30 dozen eggs to raise the money for the trip! This was not the first time his parents had helped Jerry Lee with his musical ambitions. When he was 8 he showed such promise playing the piano that his parents mortgaged their house to buy him his own piano.
Unfortunately, when Jerry Lee turned up to ask for an audition Sam Phillips was on holiday. Jack Clemment who was the resident producer at Sun Records agreed to let him record 2 demos. One was ‘Crazy Arms’. When Sam Phillips returned from holiday in Florida he was impressed. ‘Crazy Arms’ sold 300,000 copies locally.
Jerry Lee became a studio musician for Sun Records appearing on records by Carl Perkins (‘Your True Love’ & ‘Matchbox’). Back in the recording studio in his own right 1957 became a huge year for Jerry Lee. He recorded and released ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’, ‘Great Balls of Fire’, ‘Breathless’, and ‘High School Confidential’.
‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ was recorded in one take and the vibrancy of the track shows that. It’s vitality took the world by storm. In 1957 Jerry Lee outsold Elvis, he was that big. His career took a nose dive a year later, however, when during a UK tour the British press revealed his marriage to his young second cousin.
‘Revealed’ is not really what happened. The details of the marriage to Myra Gale Brown were not secret. Marrying second cousins was not unusual in the South. The fact that she was 14 scandalised the British press. They did not like rock ‘n’ roll, it was seen as a threat to the natural order of things in society. In any event the scandal forced the end of the tour and nearly ruined Jerry Lee’s career.
Jerry Lee was always a bit loose with the rules about marriage. That his first divorce had not come through did not stop him from marrying Jane Mitcham in September 1953. He was still married to Jane when he married Myra.
Tags: carl perkins, classic rock music, jerry lee lewis, On This Day, rock and blues, sam phillips, sun records
