In 1964 Jerry Lee Lewis was struggling back home in the US. He had recently moved from Sun to Smash Records, and they had a plan to get him a hit record. Just a few weeks before Landing in -England, Jerry Lee had recorded what many were sure would be his comeback hit: “I’m on Fire”. This great song never good further up than 98 on the charts, the Beatles was the new hot thing.
Jerry Lee traveled to Europe for 14 stops in England & 2 in West Germany. On this short tour Jerry Lee gave some outstanding performances, among them this Manchester TV Special & the Hamburg Star Club concert.
He was that kind of guy. All he wanted to do was get on the damn piano and do his stuff. And it was that kind of immediacy that we were aiming for. It wasn’t controlled. It’s a dangerous thing to do, and you wouldn’t be able to do it now.
~Philip Casson (Director of the TV Special)
Granada TV Studios
Manchester, England
March 19, 1964
Setlist:
- Great Balls of Fire
..Jerry Lee loads up the song with his signature moves — the egocentric first-person references, the theatrically raised arms, the absurd glissandos, the pounding double-time right hand, the long blond hair threatening to bust loose from the pomade — so many moves, and so soon, that “Great Balls Of Fire,” only seven years old, already sounds eternal, and the kids below him, flying around in their hyped-up jitterbug and swing moves, skirts flying, seem to feel that already.
~Joe Bonomo (Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found)
- You Win Again
- High School Confidential
- I’m on Fire
- Your Cheatin’ Heart
just a short clip…
- Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
Jerry Lee Lewis’ performance on March 19, 1964 in Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, broadcast on Granada television, is one of the great rock & roll TV programs of the era, and the first of a three-leg stomp across England and Germany where a bruised Jerry Lee would night after night show what a titan he still could be..
~Joe Bonomo (Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found
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-Egil