 Jerry Lee Lewis |
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| Released | 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 4-7 January 1979 | |||
| Studio | Filmways/Heider Recording, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer | Bones Howe | |||
| Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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Recording
After 15 years with Mercury, Lewis made the switch to Elektra in 1978, and the move rejuvenated him.
He had grown tired of formulaic overproduction on his Mercury releases and began recording new material with producer Bones Howe in January, 1979 in Los Angeles.
Howe, who had worked on Elvis Presley's celebrated 1968 Comeback Special and had produced albums by Tom Waits and Juice Newton, assembled an all-star, stripped-down band (including Elvis's former guitarist, James Burton).
The resulting album was the best Lewis had made in years.
Jerry Lee's post-Southern Roots recordings for Mercury are uneven at best, but he still had one more great comeback left in him. By the end of 1978, Jerry Lee had found a new recording sponsor in the Nashville arm of Elektra Records. Upon signing, Elektra executives promptly told him that they would not record him in Nashville.
They were going to change the environment.
During a four-day blowout in the Filmway/Heider Studio in Hollywood, Jerry Lee recorded the terrific Jerry Lee Lewis, which yielded "Rockin' My Life Away."
Mack Vickery's "Rockin' My Life Away" was a wonderful autumnal rocker that immediately became Jerry Lee's statement and all-purpose theme song. The sparkling lyrics vacillated between the obscure and the bizarre, but the feel was right.
What did those words mean?
The first line of the song, after all, was
"14, 95, 19, 48," and the lines rolled out of Jerry Lee's mouth as if with deep meaning.
In fact, Vickery had conceived of the song as a Specialty-era, Little Richard-style rocker, with the first line scooping up tension like a quarterback calling signals before a play.
But in Jerry Lee's music, how something is said is far more important than what is said, which is part of why "Rockin' My Life Away" was so intense and enjoyable.
"Watch me now," Jerry Lee shouted before his solo, and in a few seconds he erased five years of bad memories.
Jimmy Guterman
The single "Rockin' My Life Away," would only make it to number 18 on the Country Charts, but would become an Instant Classic and live favorite for the rest of his career, as well as another in a growing list of Mack Vickery songs written specifically to celebrate Jerry Lee's uncompromising rock 'n' roll attitude.
Rockin' My Life Away
Lyrics
14, 25, 19, 48
I throwed a rock 'n' roll party on my last birthday
Feels good, rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin' and I'm havin' fun night and day
Streamline, fleetline, military brat
I got the general's daughter, but the Killer's top brass
I'm rockin', rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin' and gettin' both night and day
I know a gal from Texas, she's chilli-pepper hot
She knows hot to roll and I knows how to rock
I'm rockin', rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin' and gettin' both night and day
You know, I like to party and I like to have fun
I'd like to kill her, I've got-a rock on
C'mon, rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin' and gettin' both night and day
How about you girl?
You better get up off your rocker, boy you know just what i mean
I like the way you wiggle that ring
I'm rockin', rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin' and gettin' it night and day
I gotta have it one more time girl
1492 to 1998
I threw a rock 'n' roll party on my last birthday
I'm rockin', rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin' and gettin' it both night and day
I'm rockin'
Rockin'
I'm rockin', rockin' my life away
I'm movin' and groovin', I'm gettin' it both night and day
Songwriter: Mack Vickery
Rockin' My Life Away lyrics
© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Another impressive track was "Who Will The Next Fool Be," a gin-soaked Charlie Rich tune which Lewis made his own ("Pick it, James," he oozes to Burton on the instrumental bonephone [sic - i have no idea what the original author meant here and leave it as tribute] break, before rasping, "Play your fiddle, Mr. Lovelace," to long-time band member, Kenny Lovelace).
Sonny Throckmorton, who had written Lewis's last big hit, "Middle Age Crazy," mines similar territory on "I Wish I was Eighteen Again".
Lewis also gave spirited performances on Arthur Alexander's "Every Day I Have To Cry" and "Rita Mae," marking the first time he'd ever recorded a song written by Bob Dylan.
Bob Dylan – Rita Mae
Lyrics
Rita May, Rita May, You got your body in the way. You're so damn nonchalant But it's your mind that I want. You got me huffin' and a-puffin', Next to you I feel like nothin', Rita May. Rita May, Rita May, How'd you ever get that way? When do you ever see the light? Don't you ever feel a fright? You got me burnin' and I'm turnin' But I know I must be learnin', Rita May. All my friends have told me If I hang around with you That I'll go blind But I know that when you hold me That there really must be somethin' On your mind. Rita May, Rita May, Laying in a stack of hay, Do you remember where you been? What's that crazy place you're in? I'm gonna have to go to college 'Cause you are the book of knowledge, Rita May.
This was a ruthless time for Lewis, whose father, Elmo was ailing and would die later that year.
Lewis himself had been hospitalized several times for stomach ailments brought about by his carousing lifestyle, and in the spring of 1979 he was sued for divorce by his wife, Jaren Pate, who accused him of cruelty and drunkenness.
The IRS was also after him for unpaid taxes.
Reception
Jerry Lee Lewis (album) was acclaimed critically but was not a commercial success, peaking at number 23 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart, and limping to number 186 on the Top 200.
Writing in the liner notes for his 2006 career retrospective, A Half Century of Hits, Country Music historian, Colin Escott calls the album "an astonishing return to form," likening Lewis's performance on "Who Will The Next Fool Be" to "a poisoned dart hurled at every woman who had done him wrong."
In his authorized biography, Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, Rick Bragg also praises the album:
"While his voice was showing its scars and the words were frequently obscure, Jerry Lee delivered them with commitment, and the beat was pure Louisiana boogie-woogie."
Track listing
- "Don't Let Go" (Jesse Stone)
- "Rita May" (Bob Dylan, Jacques Levy)
- "Every Day I Have to Cry" (Arthur Alexander)
- "I Like It Like That" (Allen Toussaint, Chris Kenner)
- "Number One Lovin' Man" (Jim Cottengim)
- "Rockin' My Life Away" (Mack Vickery)
- "Who Will the Next Fool Be" (Charlie Rich)
- "(You've Got) Personality" (Harold Logan, Lloyd Price)
- "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again" (Sonny Throckmorton)
- "Rocking Little Angel" (Jimmie Rogers)
Personnel
- Jerry Lee Lewis - vocals, piano
- James Burton - electric guitar, dobro
- Kenny Lovelace - acoustic & electric guitar, violin
- Tim May - acoustic & electric guitar
- Dave Parlato - bass
- Hal Blaine - drums, percussion
- Ron Hicklin Singers - backing vocals
- Bob Alcivar - string arrangements, conductor