Jerry Lee Lewis Songs

Rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, who died Friday at 87, left behind a series of classic songs that stretch far beyond his 1950s heyday.

“Mean Old Man” starts off slow and grouchy, but builds quickly into a fast shuffling, hiccupping guitar-filled rave up with Lewis’ low, dark vocals flush in the center of the rumbling, warm mix. However, “Whiskey Talkin’” finds the vocalist at his most robustly boastful and lusty. Jerry Lee Lewis always loved a good Kris Kristofferson song — check 1971’s “Touching Home” and his take on “Help Me Make It Through the Night” for a good reference points. Jerry Lee’s songwriting sister Linda Gail Lewis co-wrote this honky-tonk ballad, and the Killer sounds as if he’s having as much of a great time tickling the ivories as he is menacingly sing-speaking its lyrics. Van Eaton (high in the mix) and guitarist Roland James (low in the mix). Only this time, Lewis takes a page from his Sun days’ brethren Elvis Presley, and utilizes the skills of gorgeously opulent, background vocalists The Jordinaires and The Nashville Sounds to pillow Lewis’ craggy voice in a cushion of harmony. The group pummels through “Mean Woman Blues,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and more, and blazing amphetamine vigor of Lewis’ voice, to say nothing of his rapid-fire bluesy piano riffs, is worth the price of admission. A shudderingly low-voiced Lewis could unnerve Jonny Cash with this dark display, and the song itself was suggested by legendary country producer Eddie Kilroy as Lee Lewis’ entrée into a more modern country sound. Owens lent their charms to this pensive, pedal steel-slickened song of love, loss and deep, deep spitefulness. Featured in the 1957 movie “Jamboree,” Jerry is even more confident as a vocalist, taking advantage of rockabilly’s reliance on reverb for quick yodels, whoops and hollers while playing up the stride of his piano with pride. Instead, Lewis uses his own vibrato in a back-and-forth, herky-jerky manner in its first verse, adds guttural growls and whispers along the way and prompts Billy Lee Riley to pluck out one tangy guitar solo before the track races to close. Not only does he add his high, warbling vocals to Presley’s low croon on several duets, Jerry turns wholesome Gene Autry’s “You’re the Only Star in My Blue Heaven” into a near-yodeling hillbilly rave-up far more lascivious than the Singing Cowboy’s even hinted at.