Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. He is known by the nickname “The Killer”.
One of the band’s softest and most tenderhearted ballads (and their only ballad to go Number One), “Angie” was written by Richards while he was being treated for heroin addiction at a clinic in Switzerland. “Once I came out of the usual trauma,” he recalled, “I didn’t feel like I had to shit the bed or climb the walls or feel manic anymore. I just went, ‘Angie, Angie.’ ” Completed during the Goats Head Soup sessions in Jamaica, it became a gently strummed benediction with a processional piano by Nicky Hopkins and strings arranged by Nicky Harrison.
– Rolling Stone Magazine
The Rolling Stones performing “Angie” at the Los Angeles Forum, California, USA on Sunday 13th July 1975, part of the legendary Tour of the Americas (TOTA). The track is from the album Goats Head Soup (1973). Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and produced by the Glimmer Twins, the song went straight to number one in the US charts when it was released.
Well kiss me baba, woo-oooooo….it feels good
Hold me baba
I want to love you like a lover should
Your fine, so kind
I got this world that your mine mine mine mine-ine
From Wikipedia:
Released
November 11, 1957
Recorded
October 8, 1957, Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre
Rock and roll, Rockabilly, Country
Label
Sun 281
Writer(s)
Otis Blackwell (under the pseudonym Jack Hammer)
“Great Balls of Fire” is a 1957 song recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell (under the pseudonym Jack Hammer). The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone. The song is in AABA form.
From Rollingstone.com (500 greatest songs):
With Lewis pounding the piano and leering, “Great Balls of Fire” was full of Southern Baptist hellfire turned into a near-blasphemous ode to pure lust. Lewis, a Bible-college dropout and cousin to Jimmy Swaggart, refused to sing it at first and got into a theological argument with Phillips that concluded with Lewis asking, “How can the devil save souls?” But as the session wore on and the liquor kept flowing, Lewis’ mood changed considerably — on bootleg tapes he can be heard saying, “I would like to eat a little pussy if I had some.” Goodness gracious, great balls of fire, indeed.
From allmusic.com – Cub Koda:
Written by African-American songwriter Otis Blackwell under the pseudonym of Jack Hammer, this was Jerry Lee Lewis’ third release and second consecutive hit. There are only two instruments on this recording, Lewis’ piano and J.M. Van Eaton’s drumming, with the echo from the Sun studios working as a third instrument. The song is over in a little more than a minute and a half and yet is perfectly realized with probably Jerry Lee’s best solo to recommend it and a vocal that borders on lascivious. You can do many things with “Great Balls of Fire” but most covers stick damn close to the original Jerry Lee strut and arrangement, so perfectly realized and empathetically played.
The song is best known for Jerry Lee Lewis’s original recording, which was recorded in the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 8, 1957, and released as a 45rpm single on Sun 281 in November 1957.
The song title is derived from a Southern expression, which some Christians consider blasphemous, that refers to the Pentecost’s defining moment when the Holy Spirit manifested itself as “cloven tongues as of fire” and the Apostles spoke in tongues.
I like this town, it’s really great. They’ve put me in The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. This town is about music. It’s about the kind of music I like.
~Otis Blackwell
I used to go down every year for the remembrance of Elvis’ birthday. Memphis State College invited me to sit in the auditorium and speak to the people for one of those Elvis days.
~Otis Blackwell
Blackwell’s songwriting style is as identifiable as that of Willie Dixon or Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller. He helped formulate the musical vocabulary of rock & roll when the genre was barely breathing on its own.
~Bill Dahl (allmusic.com)
All Shook Up – Elvis Presley:
Great Balls Of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis:
Wikipedia:
Also known as
John Davenport
Born
February 16, 1931
Origin
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died
May 6, 2002 (aged 71)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres
East Coast blues, rock and roll,R&B
Occupations
Singer, pianist, songwriter
Instruments
Piano
Years active
1950s–2002
Labels
RCA, Groove, Atlantic
Otis Blackwell (February 16, 1931 – May 6, 2002) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist, whose work significantly influenced rock and roll. His compositions include Little Willie John’s “Fever”, Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless”, Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel”, “All Shook Up” and “Return to Sender” (with Winfield Scott), and Jimmy Jones’ “Handy Man”. He should not be confused with another songwriter and producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell.
Fever – Little Willie John:
Awards:
Otis Blackwell was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986
in 1991 into the National Academy of Popular Music’s Songwriters Hall of Fame
Blackwell’s crowning moment came in the late 1980s when the Black Rock Coalition, a prominent organization of black rock musicians, led by Vernon Reid, the lead guitarist of the band, Living Colour, held a tribute for him at the Prospect Park Bandshell in his native Brooklyn. Many prominent musicians and singers took part including Blackwell himself, who performed an assortment of his best songs, including “One Broken Heart for Sale,” “Black Trail,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Daddy Rolling Stone.”
Blackwell was named one of the 2010 recipients of Ahmet Ertegun Award in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This category encompasses those who primarily work behind the scenes in the music industry.
“You’re in rock’n roll heaven, man”
– Keith Richards
We can hardly wait, this is really the stuff of legends. The new documentary, “Muscle Shoals” will soon be released, it was shown on The Sundance festival 26th of January. The film was inspired by a magical visit to the town of the same name in Alabama. Camalier a self-taught filmmaker expresses his passion using his instinct, sensibility, and great appreciation of the art form. His original approach to this music documentary is clear in the mystical and evocative way he tells the story of Muscle Shoals.
From Rolling Stone Magazine:
Filled with interviews with a wide array of artists and never-before-seen footage, Muscle Shoals tells the story of this Northern Alabama town and the many hits that came out of its legendary recording spaces: Rick Hall’s FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, which was started by FAME’s former rhythm section, the Swampers. “Being there does inspire you to do it slightly differently,” says Mick Jagger in the trailer. “It was really funky; you know, that was the whole idea of it.”
The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was formed in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 1969 when musicians Barry Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums), Jimmy Johnson (guitar) and David Hood (bass) (called The Swampers) left FAME Studios to create their own studio. The Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, as they became known, was the first rhythm section to own its own studio and, eventually, its own publishing and production companies.
The distinctive accompaniment and arrangements have been heard on a tremendous amount legendary recordings, including those from Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and the Staple Singers among others. Many artists have recorded hit songs and complete albums at the studio. (read more on Wikipedia)
A short clip of director Greg Camalier explaining why he made the movie:
Back in 2008, he was driving from the East Coast to New Mexico with a friend when Camalier saw a road sign for Muscle Shoals. Camalier was a music fan who had heard bits of information about the place for years, but didn’t know much about it. They decided to spend the night in Muscle Shoals, and he and his friend talked about why they had never seen a film about that small yet crucial slice of music history.
FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios are located at 603 East Avalon in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have been an integral part of American popular music from the late 1950s to the present. Artists who recorded there included Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Duane Allman, The Hour Glass, Clarence Carter, Candi Staton, Mac Davis, Paul Anka, Tom Jones, Etta James, Andy Williams, The Osmonds, Shenandoah, and many others. The studio was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997. (read more, Wikipedia)
