PROGRAM #6
Real Wild
Child
JERRY LEE LEWIS GREW UP praising the Lord and playing piano in the Pentecostal Church in Ferriday, Louisiana. His church is known for its ecstatic services, where worshipers who feel the Holy Ghost “speak in tongues.” Much of the emotional abandon in Jerry’s songs comes straight from that experience, yet his fame in the secular music world created a flurry of spiritual conflicts. We’ll tell the story of one of his most beloved songs, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On,” which launched his career in 1957. He had the Sun Records rhythm section backing him up, who were also members of one of the wildest rockabilly acts ever, Billy Lee Riley and His Little Green Men.
Jerry Lee Lewis once aspired to become a preacher. He enrolled in a bible college in Texas, but the dean expelled him for performing a sacred hymn with a boogie woogie beat during a school assembly. Lewis became known for his fiery performances; he often kicked the piano bench to the side and played standing up, pounding the keys on his piano with his heel. When he was 22 years old, he sparked a national outcry by marrying his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown. His raucous 1957 hit, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” inspired the title for this series. The song had its roots in the blues: it was a cover version of a song performed by Tennessee blueswoman Big Maybelle. (Publicity photo, 1958)
