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Jerry Lee Lewis, RIP

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#25
He was, of course, possessed.

It's helpful to remember that he, Mickey Gilley, and Jimmy Swaggart were all first cousins who grew up around each other in Louisiana, where they were, as many poor people were, raised in fire and brimstone Pentecostal churches. Jimmy stayed with it, Mickey was closer to normal than the other two, and Jerry was just ate up with it. His answer to that Southern guilt was to absolutely do anything he could to burn it down and laugh his way into Hell.

All three had amazing talents and listen to all three and you hear the common background. He was no doubt a piano pounder, especially in those earliest days where PA was mostly whatever was built into a theatre's ceiling.

Like Little Richard, he would come back and have his flirtations with religion, try and straighten up, but the gravity was too strong and could not be contained, often to his own detriment. Real often.

I much preferred an older and a little slower Jerry Lee, and he cut a lot of great country sides, including an all-time favorite of mine, 'Another Place, Another Time':



Listen to Mickey Gilley's career record, 'Room Full of Roses', and you can easily hear they drank from the same well: They often lead with a heavy left hand, and then the big flourishes, and those crazy zip!! slides.



He was a powerful force, and often his own worst enemy, as really driven cats can be. They really, really broke the mold after Jerry Lee.
 
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#32
J Wilson said:
He was, of course, possessed.

It's helpful to remember that he, Mickey Gilley, and Jimmy Swaggart were all first cousins who grew up around each other in Louisiana, where they were, as many poor people were, raised in fire and brimstone Pentecostal churches. Jimmy stayed with it, Mickey was closer to normal than the other two, and Jerry was just ate up with it. His answer to that Southern guilt was to absolutely do anything he could to burn it down and laugh his way into Hell.

All three had amazing talents and listen to all three and you hear the common background. He was no doubt a piano pounder, especially in those earliest days where PA was mostly whatever was built into a theatre's ceiling.

Like Little Richard, he would come back and have his flirtations with religion, try and straighten up, but the gravity was too strong and could not be contained, often to his own detriment. Real often.

I much preferred an older and a little slower Jerry Lee, and he cut a lot of great country sides, including an all-time favorite of mine, 'Another Place, Another Time':



Listen to Mickey Gilley's career record, 'Room Full of Roses', and you can easily hear they drank from the same well: They often lead with a heavy left hand, and then the big flourishes, and those crazy zip!! slides.



He was a powerful force, and often his own worst enemy, as really driven cats can be. They really, really broke the mold after Jerry Lee.
Click to expand...



I have the LP box set of all his Sun stuff and they preserved a dialogue in the studio of him and Sam Phillips talking about fire and brimstone religion. He was haunted by it.
 
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