228 Goodbye Jerry Lee Lewis - Chantilly Lace

Chart  entered : 6  May  1972

Chart  peak : 33

1972  wasn't  all  about  toothy  teen  idols  and  glam  rockers. It  also  saw the  flowering  of  a  full  scale  Rock  and  Roll  revival  that  had  been  brewing  since  Rock  Around The  Clock  was  a  hit  again  in  1968. A  number  of  veterans'  careers  were  boosted  and  Jerry  beat  John  Barry's  comeback  record  having  been  absent  from  the  chart  for  over  nine  years.

It's  commonplace  to  read  that  Jerry's  career  was  wrecked  by  the  revelation  about  his  marriage  in  1958  but  while  that  scuppered  his  tour  he  continued  to  enjoy  minor  hits  in  the  UK  right  up  to  the  arrival  of  the  Beatles. After  that  he  toiled  away  on  a  minor  label  Smash  for  a  number  of  years  until  switching  to  country  and  western  in  1968. This  was  a  spectacular  success  as far  as  the  US  country  charts  were  concerned  as  Jerry  had  hits  there  until  1986  though  only  a  cover  of  "Me  And  Bobby  McGee"  in  1971  crossed  over to  the  Billboard  chart  in  a  significant  way  and  the  UK  ignored  him  altogether  until  this  one.

Jerry  toured  Europe in  1972, promoting  his  album  "The  Killer  Rocks  On"   and  performed  this  song  on  The  Old  Grey  Whistle  Test  giving  original  presenter  Richard  Williams  a  hard  time  in  the  subsequent  interview  though  that  obviously  didn't  stop  it  getting  a  chart  placing. He  had  a  beard  during  this  time  in  preparation  for  playing  Christ  in  a  film  to  be  called  "The  Carpenter"  which  never  materialised. While  in  London  he  recorded  an  album  with  guesting  British  musicians  such  as  Chas  Hodges   and  Kenny  Jones  which  was  released  the  following  year.

"Chantilly  Lace"  of  course  is  a  cover, the   rather  risque  signature  song  ( well, there  aren't  many  to  choose  from  actually ) of  his  ill-fated  contemporary J P  Richardson, the  "Big  Bopper". It's  respectful  enough  although  Jerry  substitutes  "The  Killer" for  " The  Big  Bopper"  in  the  spoken  introduction, plays  it  a  lot  faster  and  unsurprisingly  the  piano  is  much  higher  in  the  mix. Jerry  also  has  to  do  some  ad-libbing  to  get  it  to  an  acceptable  length  for  the  seventies  which  has  the  effect  of  making  it  more  lascivious.

Jerry's  next  single  was  a  cover  of  Fats  Domino's  "I'm  Walkin"  in  July  taken  at  breakneck  speed  so  it's  only  just  over  two  minutes  long. It  was  a  very  minor  hit  in  the  US  but  not  here. Jerry  then  played  at  The  Rock  And  Roll  Show  at  Wembley  on  5  August  where  he  was  booed  for  showing  up  late  and  being  obviously  drunk.

In  January  1973  Jerry  made  his  debut  at  the  Grand  Ole  Opry  where  he  declared "I  am  a  rock-and-rollin , country-and-western, rhythm-and-blues  singing  fucker"  before  performing  all  the  rockers  he'd  promised  the  organisers  he  wouldn't  play.

His  next  single  in  March  1973  was  "Drinking  Wine  Spo-Dee-O-Dee"  from  the  London  sessions  , his  last  hit  in  the  US  reaching  number  41. It's  a  great  old-fashioned  rocker  with  Jerry  in  fine  form  on  the  keys  and  Kenny  Jones  on  the  drums  and  Alvin  Lee  on  guitar  making  their  presence  felt.  The  second  single  "Music  To  The  Man"  from  October   is  much  more  of  a  country  strum  though  Albert  Lee  contributes  some  good  guitar  work .  It  had  a  song  called  "Jack  Daniels    Unfortunately  it  was  somewhat  prophetic  as  Jerry's  drinking  was  about  to  get  a  lot  worse  after  the  death  of  his  son  Jerry  Lee  Junior  in  November  when  he  crashed  the  jeep  Jerry  had  bought  him  for  his  19th  birthday.

From  this  point  Jerry  was  confined  to  the  country  charts  and  most  of  his  singles  were  not released  in  the  UK. In  November  1976  he  was  back  in  the  headlines  after he  was  arrested  at the  entrance  to  the  Graceland  complex, drunk  and  waving  a  gun  around. Elvis's  staff  wisely called  the  police  rather  than  grant  him  an  audience  with  the  King. The  incident  informed  his  rueful  song  "Middle  Age  Crazy"  of  the  following  year  which  scores  highly  for  self-awareness.   In  the  UK  he  released  the  muted  rocker  "Old  Black  Joe" on  Charly. In  1978  they  released  an  old  Sun  recording  of  "Save  The  Last  Dance  For  Me "  on  the  grounds  that  it  might  feature  Elvis. Actually  it's  a  very  good  impersonation  if  it's  not  him.

His  contract  with  Mercury  came  to  an  end  and  he  had  a  succession  of  short-term  deals. In  1979  he  was  on  Elektra  who  released  "Don't  Let  Go"  in  the  UK  in  May  , a  sprightly  rocker  which  updates  his  sound  with  some  discreet  synth  bass."Rockin  My  Life  Away"  from  August  is  cut  from  very  similar  cloth  with  a  very  self-referential  lyric . "Every  Day  I  Have  To  Cry"  from  November  is  an  Arthur  Alexander  song  given  a  country  rock  makeover  and
is  quite  good.

Jerry  moved  into  the  eighties  with  a  potted  autobiography  "Rockin  Jerry  Lee"  released  in  February  1980  and  the  danger  of  slipping  into  self-parody  seems  imminent. The  following  year  he  released  "Thirty  Nine  And  Holding"  in  the  US  which  re-visits  the  same  theme  as  "Middle  Age  Crazy"  but  is  much  less  engaging. It  was  the  last  single  to  get  a  high  placing  on  the  country  chart.

In 1981  he  was  hospitalized  for  a  stomach  rupture  which  took  a  big  toll  on  him. His  voice  lost  some  of  its  clarity  ( though  drugs  and  drink  exacerbated  this )  , he  had  to  wear  dark  glasses  on  stage  and  he  started  playing  electric  piano  to  stop  people  expecting  him  to  jump  on  his  instrument.  When  fit  to  record  again  he  signed  for  MCA  and  "My  Fingers Do  The  Talkin"  in  February  1983  was  his  last  new  single  in  the  UK. He  came  over  and  performed  it  on  Wogan, looking  gaunt  and  more  in  need  of  a  cup  of  Horlicks  than  the  hot  loving  he's  singing  about  on  this  tired-sounding  rocker.

Jerry  was  without  a  recording  contract  for  much  of  the  eighties  but  recaptured  some  of  his  fire  on  a  UK  tour  in  1987  and  got  a  temporary  boost  in  1988  when  filming  started  on  his  cartoon  biopic  "Great  Balls  Of  Fire"  starring  Dennis  Quaid  as  Jerry. It  skirted  round  the  paedophile  issue  by  having  the  17-year  old  Winona  Ryder  as  Myra  ( who  was  credited  as  a  screen  writer ) . It  also  gave  an  exaggerated  role  to  Alec  Baldwin  as  Jerry's  cousin  the  evangelist  Jimmy  Swaggart  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact  that  he'd  been  exposed  as  a  user  of  prostitutes  the  year  before. Despite  these  humiliations  Jerry  accepted  the  offer  to  re-record  his  hits  for  the  soundtrack  and  do  the   promotional   rounds  for  the  film  although  characteristically  he  went  off-message  complaining  about Quaid's  diction. The  film  isn't  that  bad  but  performed  poorly  and  the  soundtrack  didn't  sell  so  it  didn't  re-launch  Jerry  to  the  degree  that  he'd  hoped.

By  the  nineties  Jerry  had  aged  visibly  putting  on  a  lot  of  weight  and  since  then  he  has  been  a  sedentary  performer. He   tours  regularly  and  of  course  there's  a  lot  of  interest  in  seeing  one  of  the  last  of  the  original  rock  and  rollers  perform  but  he  does  it  on  autopilot  playing  the  same  songs  year  after  year  despite  releasing  the  odd  CD  of  new  material  in  the  now  wearily  familiar   Johnny  Cash  vibe.

As  Jerry  is  the  youngest  of  the  rock  and  roll  greats at  79   he  probably  will  be  the  last  one  standing.