Post by erik on Oct 29, 2022 18:09:47 GMT -5
In honor of rock and roll pioneer and certifiable wild man Jerry Lee Lewis, who passed away on October 27, 2022 at the age of 87, we look at one of his unabashed rock and roll hits from the early 1970's, a time where most of his success was on the C&W side of the hit-making ledger.
DRINKIN’ WINE SPO-DEE-O-DEE (Jerry Lee Lewis; Mercury; 1973)—Having found it nearly impossible to get back into the rock and roll pantheon after the disastrous publicity surrounding his marriage to his 13 year-old cousin Myra in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis, the man known as “The Killer”, somehow found a way back into the spotlight in the late 1960’s on the country charts, with a series of huge hits that included “To Make Love Sweeter For You”, “Another Place, Another Time”, “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous”, “One Has My Name”, “She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye”, and many others. Still, even those seemingly “straight” country records found receptive audiences on the “other” side of the pop/country fence during that period because his distinctive glissando-laden piano playing style could never have been mistaken for anyone else, certainly not Floyd Cramer or even Charlie Rich. And it wasn’t like “The Killer” had abandoned his wild rock and roll persona willy-nilly, given that his version of “Chantilly Lace” not only topped the C&W singles chart in early 1972, but also just narrowly missed the Top 40 on the pop chart. Just a year after that, Lewis hit again with another barn-burning reworking, this time of a 1949 jump blues tune called “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee”, written by Stick McGee and J. Mayo Williams, and first a hit for McGee that year. Other recordings would be made, including one by Lewis’ 50’s rock contemporary Johnny Burnette; but it would be Lewis, with his usual piano-pounding style, that would give it relevance to an audience hungry for the early rock and roll stuff or something close to it in the 1970’s. Partly due to a performance at the Grand Ole Opry that ran off the rails just after the start of 1973, Lewis’ version of “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” only got up to #20 on the C&W chart in March, but it got enough AM airplay to peak at a respectable #41 on the overall Hot 100. Lewis’ country hit-making streak continued into the early 1980’s; but then that dried up, and he ironically found himself back in demand with the rock and roll sect again. A wild persona and behavior that frequently put his health in danger (he had quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1981), Lewis nevertheless managed to keep performing, until a stroke in early 2022 stopped his performing career. He passed away at his home in Memphis on October 27, 2022, just a few weeks after having been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
DRINKIN’ WINE SPO-DEE-O-DEE (Jerry Lee Lewis; Mercury; 1973)—Having found it nearly impossible to get back into the rock and roll pantheon after the disastrous publicity surrounding his marriage to his 13 year-old cousin Myra in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis, the man known as “The Killer”, somehow found a way back into the spotlight in the late 1960’s on the country charts, with a series of huge hits that included “To Make Love Sweeter For You”, “Another Place, Another Time”, “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous”, “One Has My Name”, “She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye”, and many others. Still, even those seemingly “straight” country records found receptive audiences on the “other” side of the pop/country fence during that period because his distinctive glissando-laden piano playing style could never have been mistaken for anyone else, certainly not Floyd Cramer or even Charlie Rich. And it wasn’t like “The Killer” had abandoned his wild rock and roll persona willy-nilly, given that his version of “Chantilly Lace” not only topped the C&W singles chart in early 1972, but also just narrowly missed the Top 40 on the pop chart. Just a year after that, Lewis hit again with another barn-burning reworking, this time of a 1949 jump blues tune called “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee”, written by Stick McGee and J. Mayo Williams, and first a hit for McGee that year. Other recordings would be made, including one by Lewis’ 50’s rock contemporary Johnny Burnette; but it would be Lewis, with his usual piano-pounding style, that would give it relevance to an audience hungry for the early rock and roll stuff or something close to it in the 1970’s. Partly due to a performance at the Grand Ole Opry that ran off the rails just after the start of 1973, Lewis’ version of “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” only got up to #20 on the C&W chart in March, but it got enough AM airplay to peak at a respectable #41 on the overall Hot 100. Lewis’ country hit-making streak continued into the early 1980’s; but then that dried up, and he ironically found himself back in demand with the rock and roll sect again. A wild persona and behavior that frequently put his health in danger (he had quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1981), Lewis nevertheless managed to keep performing, until a stroke in early 2022 stopped his performing career. He passed away at his home in Memphis on October 27, 2022, just a few weeks after having been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.