I don’t know what it was, it’s been a stressful week and I’ve had to hold it together, but I heard the news about Jerry Lee, and I was sitting at my desk, during the work day, and I dissolved into tears. Sobs, really. I don’t really cry anymore. I don’t know if it’s because of the drugs I’m on, but I rarely cry. Sometimes a movie makes me cry, but … not really. So it was alarming, and then I was like, “Fuck it, I really need to cry.” So I cried and cried about Jerry Lee, AS I was listening to “Who’s Gonna Play This Old Piano”? which I linked to in the piece before this one. But here it is again:
I’ve been talking to Cal Morgan, the biggest Jerry Lee Lewis fan I am personally aware of, and he’s been posting all kinds of clips, the majority of which I have never seen. Jerry Lee Lewis recorded so much, there are entire sessions – gospel and otherwise – which are to this day hard to find, and much of it has never reached a streaming platform.
Cal sent me this clip – the one at the very top. It’s basically an outtake. Or … not even a formal recording, Jerry Lee Lewis just sitting at the piano in between doing other things. Early 70s, maybe? And this is what happened.
Cal said it’s one of his favorite Jerry Lee performances ever – and so – because Cal knows everything – I immediately listened. And I immediately understood why Cal said what he said.
Jerry Lee went through a major conversion experience – which you can clearly hear in his fervent voice – but … wait until the end, when he segues into “I Long to See Jesus”. Something else starts happening. Mourning is there, a beautiful open sadness, which is semi-unique in his massive discography. This is off a very rare album which you can’t find anywhere – not an “official” recording – but tracks of it are on YouTube.
I was so BUSY at work yesterday so I’m doing my official job, blasting Jerry Lee Lewis gospel tracks, and sobbing openly.
I have such a sense of loss. A link with the past is gone. The Killer took his last breath.
You are at peace now, Jerry Lee.