Editor's note: Today is Jerry Lee Lewis's birthday.
Jerry
Lee
by
George Fish
Lewis
The Killer signature rock ‘n’ roll piano
Great
Balls of Fire! There always was A Whole Lotta
Shakin’
Goin’ On when you rocked the piano and
sang
your inimitable, raucous way and those live
shows!
your long hair tumbling down your face
climbing
atop the piano bench and the piano itself
playing
the piano with your feet! It was an open
secret
you incinerated the piano and the rock
whenever
you came on stage and that’s no
High
School
Confidential! you scorched-earth your
career
when you married your 13-year-old cousin
languished
in rock ’n’ roll wasteland after that
but
you always had your diehard fans, no matter
what
then you went country and middle aged,
sang
about Middle-Aged Crazy while not
becoming
middle-aged crazy, just being the same
Jerry
Lee as ever! And yes, What Made
Milwaukee
Famous could make a fool out of you
but
you rocked and boogied on and were always
loved
for your music then came 2007’s Last
Man
Standing duets
with greats who wanted
to
play
with you
from George Jones to Mick Jagger
from
Buddy Guy to B.B. King Merle Haggard to
Bruce
Springsteen Keith Richards to Rod
Stewart
Eric Clapton to Ringo Starr and more
ending
with you and the Poet Laureate of country
music,
Kris Kristofferson, doing his
song so
reminiscent
of you,
“The Pilgrim” “From the
rockin’
of the cradle to the rollin’ of the
hearse/The
goin’ up was worth the comin’ down”
and
now you are indeed that Last Man Standing,
from
that famous photo of the Sun Records
supergroup
of 1957 Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny
Cash,
all gone but you still standing tall in your
eighties,
and always—forever rock on, Killer!
George
Fish is
a self-described punk rock poet who lives in Indianapolis. He also
does Lenny Bruce/George Carlin-inspired stand-up comedy.