![]() “She’s been skinned,” says Greg Ericson, his manager, who has joined us. “Oh, don’t you worry about her,” Judith says, smiling. “He was very sick, so in taking care of him and talking about the way we grew up, we fell in love with each other.”Īhead of me, by the grand piano, is a mountain lion, eyes sharply focused, teeth still gnashing, now reduced to a tawny rug. She started nursing him when he was in bad health six years ago, then things grew from there. They had much in common – they both grew up in the south, with the snakes and swamps, the sweltering heat, the Pentecostal Christianity and fear of sin. She and Lewis have known each other for a quarter of a century, and are now into their fourth year of marriage. Meanwhile, Judith returns to play the hostess. Lewis is accompanied by his road manager of 40 years, JW Whitten. As I am shooed into the den, I peek out of the window and see the Killer climbing out of the Corniche, walking with a stick and smoking an e-cigarette. “Don’t let Jerry see you.” She explains that he won’t want anybody to see him before he is fit for presentation before he becomes the great Jerry Lee Lewis. Eventually a white Rolls-Royce Corniche carrying Jerry Lee Lewis rolls up to the mansion. From the kitchen, we hear a car humming up the huge drive, past the private lake, the barking guard dogs and the Jeep parked outside (registration Killer8). Above it, in 18in-high capital letters, are the words THE LEWIS RANCH. As I discover, it’s almost impossible to separate fact from fiction when it comes to Jerry Lee.Ī black piano is sculpted into the huge iron gates outside Lewis’s home in Nesbit, near Memphis. Why, depends on who you listen to and when. Lewis has been known as the Killer since school. He rarely wrote his own songs, but few interpreted them like the Killer. Lewis could play anything brilliantly on that piano – blues, jazz, country, you name it. Photograph: David McClister for the Guardian Lewis playing his piano at home at his ranch in Nesbit, near Memphis. John Lennon kissed his feet when they met. ![]() I can’t really describe how much it meant to me to have your music on board when we were 240,000 miles from home and the Earth had shrunk to a tiny ball.” Lewis was in the first group of artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “Dear Mr Lewis, Our most heartfelt thank you for the tremendous tape you cut for me to take on Apollo 14. On the wall is a letter from astronaut Stuart Roosa, dated. His music has been played around the world, and further. And Lewis, growling and yelping, beating seven bells of hell out of that piano with his hands, feet and elbows, snakes of hair falling over his forehead, is one of its most memorable performers. Sixty years on from the birth of rock’n’roll, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On and Great Balls Of Fire remain two defining songs of the 20th century. Jerry Lee Lewis is preparing for his final tour to the UK next month, to coincide with his 80th birthday. “You can ask about me, but as far as all his wives and stuff goes, he doesn’t like to talk about personal stuff,” Judith says. Myra was the most controversial, because she was only 13 years old when Lewis wed her. And don’t mention any bad words, and nothing negative,” says the formidable Judith, a former basketball player, and ex-wife of the brother of wife number three, Myra. Greg X.“OK, you have to talk loud and slowly to Jerry.'Cause it's never too late to change your mind Although this version also featured several new verses, it was lyrically closer to Argent's original version than Petra's.īut where will you be when the music's gone The song was further popularized in 1991 when the band KISS released a remake of it titled "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II". #WHO OWNS GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU FULL#As opposed to the full versions of the song, this one lasts barely over a minute. It features only the chorus and the closing part of the song, without any of the verses. ![]() An abridged version of the song was also part of Petra's live set featured in the album Captured in Time and Space, which was released in 1986. Petra recorded the song again in 1985 for their seventh album, Beat the System. This was a radical notion, especially in the minds of the leaders of conservative churches." Wes Yoder, president of Ambassador Artist Agency said about the song: "It was the boldest statement anyone in Christian music had made until that time. ![]() ![]() There's also a brief reprise of the song featured as the last song in the album.Īlthough Ballard is credited, Petra's version features completely different verses with a more spiritual angle than the Argent version. Petra released it in 1977 as part of their second album, Come and Join Us. The band released it first in their 1973 album, In Deep. "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You" was originally written and composed by Russ Ballard for his band, Argent. ![]()
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