Jerry Lee Lewis – Rockin’ My Life Away

Jerry Lee wasn’t called The King or The King of Pop. No, his nickname was …The Killer. He took no prisoners, and his fifties live performances are among the best. He was the original punk and did exactly what he wanted. He had that rock and roll spirit like no other. He wasn’t universally loved because of it, but that is the point!

This song came from an interesting period in the career of Jerry Lee Lewis. By 1979, Lewis had already been through the wild Sun Records years, country chart success in the late 1960s and 1970s, and years of heavy touring. That kept him working even when trends changed around him. Elektra Records signed him during that time and released the self-titled album Jerry Lee Lewis in 1979. The record tried to bring Lewis back toward a tougher rock and roll sound while still keeping his country roots. This song fit him perfectly.

The song was written by Mack Vickery. The recording sessions happened in Los Angeles in 1979 with producer Bones Howe. Lewis was backed by a great group of session players that included Elvis’s ex-guitarist James Burton (love the solo in this one by Burton) and drummer Hal Blaine. Instead of smoothing out Lewis’s sound too much, the sessions kept things driving. Lewis attacked the piano hard, and his vocal sounded rough in that Jerry Lee way.

The arrangements mixed rockabilly, country, and straight rock and roll without trying to modernize him too much for the late 1970s. That was probably one reason the track still holds up well today. It didn’t have that late-seventies smooth professional sound that was big in LA. Although the album was not a massive commercial success, it brought a lot of attention, and this song became one of the songs people remembered most from the record.

The song sounds like Lewis singing about himself. Years later, when another genre discovered Jerry Lee Lewis through documentaries and the Great Balls of Fire! movie, this song found a new audience. The song peaked at #18 on the Billboard Country Charts and #34 in Canada in 1979.

Rockin’ My Life Away

Fourteen ninety-five, and nineteen fourty-eight
I threw a rockabilly party on my last birthday
But it was good, rockin’ my life away
I just movin’ and groovin’
And gettin’ it both night and day
I got a gal called Milly, she’s chilly pepper hot
She know how to roll, and she know how to rock
I’m rockin’, rockin’ my life away
Oh, and a boogie woogie baby
I like to do it both night and day
Ah ah oh

Steamliner, fleetliner, military brass
She knows the general’s daughter but the killer’s got brass
I’m rockin’, rockin’ my life away, ah ah
I’m just movin’ and a-groovin’
And rockin’ both night and day

And I’m rockin’, rockin’ my life away
I’m just movin’ and groovin’
And boogyin’ both night and day
I’m just rockin’, rockin’ my life away
I’m just rockin’ and rollin’ my life away
My name’s Jerry Lee Lewis and I’m damn sure here to stay

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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.

38 thoughts on “Jerry Lee Lewis – Rockin’ My Life Away”

  1. Man, I remember going to see that movie Great Balls of Fire and thinking this dude was whacked out of mind. lol. But the cat could play thats for sure…

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  2. Pingback: Jerry Lee Lewis – Rockin’ My Life Away – MobsterTiger

  4. Wow, I had no idea he recorded that late on. Sounded like something out of his ’50s catalog though. I learned my something new for the day already!
    Gonna be late getting to read/comment on most posts today

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  6. You know it’s Lewis right away. He’s one of my favorite piano players never mind the rest of the package. He was one cocky guy but he backed it up. A saint he wasnt but a rocker he was. This cut pumped some new blood into him and listeners. I jut keep hitting repeat. on it. I caught him at the same time the live clip was shot. Thanks for posting the lyrics because I had no idea wat he saying half the time.

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  7. Could be straight outta 1958. I imagine he would not be someone you’d want to live with on a tour bus for very long though, he lived life fast and loose. There IS an edge to that guitar solo , especially towards the end , it gets nicely nasty.

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      1. Yeah, he was the real deal all eight, he didn’t play by the rules, he must have been absolute hell to manage. Colonel Tom might have tamed Elvis enough to put him in sweet nothing make-a-million bucks flicks like ‘Roustabout’ and ‘Harum Scarum’ but you wouldn’t, couldn’t rope the Killer into doing one of those movies. OK, maybe he’d be the right fit for ‘Kissing Cousins’ but that would be about it.🙄😬

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  8. Pure rock and roll. Regardless of his personal habits, he deserves all the praise as far as the music goes. The late 70s must have been a fertile time for comebacks. I’ve been listening to an album from Lonnie Donegan that I came across from 1978, called Puttin ‘On The Style, and another song recorded at the same time, “I’m Just A Rolling Stone”. He has Elton John and Rory Gallagher playing with him, and some others that slip my mind. Really good stuff. Elton outdoes himself.

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      1. I think it’s really good. I came across it by accident on YouTube. Not sure if it was officially released. It says something about “lost album”.

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    2. Wow…I would have never guessed it was him! I am listening to the album now from Lonnie…YouTube has the album…so I’ll finish it up…like I said…I would have never guessed!

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      4. He influenced so much more than I would have believed. In that time frame though…he was playing skiffle and everyone with a washboard, guitar, and some nerve could play.

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