Jerry Lee Lewis – Mean Woman Blues

After all of the talk of The Shining yesterday I watched a few more scenes of the movie and then ran across this Jerry Lee Lewis live cut on YouTube. I pulled it up on Spotify and Jerry Lee entertained me while I painted our upstairs bathroom as fast as my arms would go. I combined painting while playing air drums. This could be an Olympic event!

Yes, today I will have to clean some paint on the base boards and on the ceiling…but it was worth it.

The album is called Live At The Star Club Hamburg released in 1964. This album is one of the best live rock albums I’ve ever listened to. The Star Club in Hamburg was one of the most important music venues of the era, having acts like The Beatles just a few years before. It was known for a crowd that demanded high-energy rock and roll, making it the perfect stage for Lewis. The audience was full of businessmen, dock workers, crooks, prostitutes, mobsters, and college kids. They all wanted hard-driving music.

The song was written by Claude Demetrius in 1957. It became famous through its association with several artists, such as Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. Per secondhandsongs it’s been covered 126 times. I heard it first by Elvis but I love this live version by Jerry Lee. In this live version, he was backed up by The Nashville Teens, an English rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962.

If you have time check out the entire live album. You can’t go wrong with Jerry Lee. To show you what the critics thought… magazines such as Rolling Stone, Mojo, Digital Dream Door, Goldmine, and the NME all have this live album listed among the best live albums of all time.

The Killer Live below has the entire Star Club album on it. Click play on Spotify and enjoy your Sunday.

Mean Woman Blues

Hmm, I got a woman mean as she can beYeah, I got a woman mean as she can beSometimes I think she’s almost mean as me

Well, I ain’t braggin’, it’s understoodEverything I do, well, I sure do it goodWell, I got a woman mean as she can beOh, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me, yeah

Well, she’s got ruby lips, shapely hipsBoy, she’d makes ol’ Jerry flipI got a woman mean as she can beOh, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me, yeah

Well, I like a little coffee, like a little teaJerry, Jerry, it’s the thing for meI got a woman mean as she can beOh, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me

Oh, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha-ha, ooh a-haHmm, uhm, uhmEasy now, ahh ooh, brr ha-ha-ha-haYeah, and let’s go one time

Hey, I got a woman mean as she can beYeah, got a little woman as mean as she can beWell, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

29 thoughts on “Jerry Lee Lewis – Mean Woman Blues”

  1. Max alternating between painting frantically and playing air drums – that’s something I would have loved to see captured in a clip! 🙂

    In any case, I’ve heard of this album before. If I recall it correctly, it also was Elvis’ version of “Mean Woman Blues” I heard first – yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah!

    Thanks for including the Spotify link to the entire thing. Based on “Mean Woman Blues”, it sounds like it beautifully captures the crazy energy Jerry Lee Lewis had!

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    1. To show you how good it is to me….it’s up there with Live At Leeds and At Fillmore East….
      Yea the clip would have showed Max with eggshell colored hair as well lol.

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  2. That guy was a force to be reckoned with! I’m sure his live shows were phenomenal to see.

    Mean Woman Blues is such a great song. Roy’s version is my favorite. I’ve posted it before but the Roy version with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra takes it to an entire new level.

    Jerry’s version cooks, like most of his stuff. He was a legend

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  4. While I’ve heard of this album I never listen to it. I’ve sampled a bit and saved it to Spotify. Apologies for being behind on my participation. We have a new grandson as of Friday and we are blissfully preoccupied!

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  6. I like the contrast between this and Roy Orbison’s take on it. I just caught Jerry Lee live on a PBS broadcast of “Revival 69: The Concert that Rocked the World”. The story of how they pulled it off is as great as the concert (which spawned John and Yoko’s “Live Peace in Toronto”).

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