Electric…that is the best way I can describe Jerry Lee Lewis. From those old black and white clips in the fifties, the Killer was doing just that. Using all of his limbs to pulverize the piano. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK, and #1 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1957. It is one of the most recognizable songs of the 1950s.
This song was written by Roy Hall (using the pseudonym Sunny David) and Dave “Curly” Williams. Hall was a songwriter/piano player who ran a music venue in Nashville and played in Webb Pierce’s band. Lewis’s version sold over 6 million copies. Roy didn’t get to enjoy the money from the song for too long…he had to sign his royalties away to his ex-wife.
“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” was Lewis’s second single, following “Crazy Arms,” which had failed to chart. But Lewis, well aware of his own talent, was pushed by producer Sam Phillips’s work in Sun Studio and brought “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” into the recording sessions confident that it could be a hit. Recording sessions took place in February 1957, in Sun Studios.
Lewis claimed to have heard the song from the singer Johnny Littlejohn at the Wagon Wheel nightclub in Natchez, Mississippi. He was a force of nature… he transformed the landscape of any song he moves through, and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” was no different.
This song was the first of Lewis’ four Top 40 hits, which all occurred in a period of about a year and a half… but he had a huge country career starting in the 60s.
Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On
Come along my baby, whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Yes, I said come along my baby, baby you can’t go wrong
We ain’t fakin’, while lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Well, I said come along my baby, we got chicken in the barn
Woo-huh, come along my baby, really got the bull by the horn
We ain’t fakin’, whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Well, I said shake, baby, shake
I said shake, baby, shake
I said shake it, baby, shake it
And then shake, baby, shake
Come on over, whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Oh, let’s go!
Alright
Well, I said come along my baby, we got chicken in the barn
Whose barn? What barn? My barn
Come along my baby, really got the bull by the horn
We ain’t fakin’, whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Easy now
Shake it
Ah, shake it, baby
Yeah
You can shake it one time for me
Ye-ah-ha-ah, I said come on over, baby
Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Now, let’s get down real low one time now
Shake, baby, shake
All you gotta do, honey, is kinda stand in one spot
Wiggle around just a little bit, that’s when you got it, yeah
Come on baby, whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Now let’s go one time
Shake it baby, shake, shake it baby, shake
Woo, shake baby, come on babe, shake it, baby, shake
Come on over, whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
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A bit of a wild boy! Crazy, man – crazy. And folks though Elvis was a bit radical! Jerry sure kicked some serious ass! 🙂
He WAS the bad boy of the 50s no doubt.
Great Balls of ..oh wait that’s a song title right? Excellent choice. I had not heard that about Roy losing the song credit to his ex!
I get them mixed up…but one is as good as another.
That sucked about him losing all of that. That is a lot of money.
Great tunes he really could rock it out.
If he only would not have married his 15-year-old cousin, his career would have been very different, as Jerry Lee knew how to rock with the best of them.
It would have been different. All the others were no competition anymore…Holly, Elvis, and Little Richard would be gone in 1959.
I think his only real competition came from Chuck Berry.
Oh and he would be gone in 1960 to jail for the Mann Act.
A classic among the real early bits of rock & roll. I think Jim’s right about his career
Yea it would have been completely different.
As controversial as The Killer was, he was just an incredible performer, right up there with Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
I agree…he had so much energy in his performances.
Didn’t he even manage to break piano strings because he hammered the keys so hard?
I have read that before…the man could play.
Perhaps, he should have been a tiny bit more gentle. I guess if you manage to break piano strings, you probably also can break or crack piano keys! 🙂
I would love to have been at one of those early gigs when he set the piano on fire. He was always one of my favourite rock ‘n’ rollers, along with Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
To see him like in the 50s…would have been special.
One of my favorite songs and performers. I never take him for granted. Nobody played rock n roll better. There’s a clip of him in Germany doing this song and the audience is right on top of him going nuts. I wanted to be there.
I’ve listened to that Star Club live album since you mentioned it…man that IS electric.
Doesnt get any better.
Man, whenever you post about this guy it takes me back to 88 when I saw the movie on him at the theatre….
Oh yea….Dennis Quaid did a good job on this. Jerry Lee Lewis would make many of the so called bad boys look good.
Yes very true….
It’s strange but I knew this song only from school bus trips! Fun piano playing!
I thought about one day learning something on piano…there are two songs I would love to know. Let It Be and Lady Madonna.
Another song I would like to learn but it seems to hard by just listening to it is “Martha My Dear” by the Beatles.
That’s one guy who burned not just barn down but the whole damned farm.
LOL….