Although country music really saved his career, already in the early 1970s Lewis tried to return to his musical roots. And he did it: in 1971, the successful rock and roll song Me and Bobby McGee was released, and the following year, a cover of a song by The Big Bopper called Chantilly Lace.
The return to rock and roll was completely painless: it turned out that over a decade listeners had missed this genre, and the vintage rock and roll that had already become by that time was in demand. Jerry Lee's new compositions turned out to be very timely: Lewis demonstrated that in a few years he had not lost his rock and roll outrage and energy, which made him a favorite of the public.Perhaps you did not expect to see this famous ballad from The Wizard of Oz in the repertoire of the "Killer" Lewis (this is the nickname he received in the musical environment). It was included in the 1980 album Killer County, which refers to his later work. Over the Rainbow performed by Lewis did not reach the heights in the charts, but it stands out noticeably against the background of other songs on the album.
You won't find any other similar ballads on Killer County (and there aren't that many ballads there – at most, country "slowies" I'd Do It Again and Thirty-Nine and Holding). Moreover, there are not very many such songs in Jerry Lee's work. Instead of dynamic and playful, full of audacious courage, fun and optimism, we hear a completely different Lewis: here his sound is more like typical crooners (this is what representatives of American pop music https://sound-library.net/ with a specific, lyrical manner of performance are called – among them, for example, Frank Sinatra or Perry Como).
Although Over the Rainbow has been sung by hundreds of different musicians, Lewis' version, which suddenly became lyrical, clearly deserves attention: the melodic and somewhat sentimental performance of Jerry Lee bears little resemblance to the classic version of Judy Garland or the famous cover of Israel Kamakavivole.
By the way, Over the Rainbow is far from the only notable cover with Killer County. The album opens with Folsom Prison Blues – Lewis' cover of Johnny Cash's hit, his country music colleague.
Although country music really saved his career, already in the early 1970s Lewis tried to return to his musical roots. And he did it: in 1971, the successful rock and roll song Me and Bobby McGee was released, and the following year, a cover of a song by The Big Bopper called Chantilly Lace.
ReplyDeleteThe return to rock and roll was completely painless: it turned out that over a decade listeners had missed this genre, and the vintage rock and roll that had already become by that time was in demand. Jerry Lee's new compositions turned out to be very timely: Lewis demonstrated that in a few years he had not lost his rock and roll outrage and energy, which made him a favorite of the public.Perhaps you did not expect to see this famous ballad from The Wizard of Oz in the repertoire of the "Killer" Lewis (this is the nickname he received in the musical environment). It was included in the 1980 album Killer County, which refers to his later work. Over the Rainbow performed by Lewis did not reach the heights in the charts, but it stands out noticeably against the background of other songs on the album.
You won't find any other similar ballads on Killer County (and there aren't that many ballads there – at most, country "slowies" I'd Do It Again and Thirty-Nine and Holding). Moreover, there are not very many such songs in Jerry Lee's work. Instead of dynamic and playful, full of audacious courage, fun and optimism, we hear a completely different Lewis: here his sound is more like typical crooners (this is what representatives of American pop music https://sound-library.net/ with a specific, lyrical manner of performance are called – among them, for example, Frank Sinatra or Perry Como).
Although Over the Rainbow has been sung by hundreds of different musicians, Lewis' version, which suddenly became lyrical, clearly deserves attention: the melodic and somewhat sentimental performance of Jerry Lee bears little resemblance to the classic version of Judy Garland or the famous cover of Israel Kamakavivole.
By the way, Over the Rainbow is far from the only notable cover with Killer County. The album opens with Folsom Prison Blues – Lewis' cover of Johnny Cash's hit, his country music colleague.