Whole Lotta Shakin’

 When I first heard the news, one image emerged in my mind. I saw my neighbors house and then the back bedroom that my neighborhood friend shared with his older brother. There, on top of Ricky’s dresser was what I was most excited to see. It was a 45 copy of Jerry Lee Lewis’ mega hit Great Balls of Fire. We had to wait for Ricky to return before we could beg and plead with him to play it for us.

I lived the records label The gold and brown colors on those original Sun records really popped. Jerry Lee was something we’d never seen before. Like Elvis, he was colorful, mercurial and completely unpredictable. It was like a guilty pleasure. This was no Pat Boone. If Jerry Lee appeared on TV, all hell broke loose. Something was happening to the post war culture of this country and as teenagers, we were right in the middle of it.

It didn’t take long for Jerry Lee to establish himself as a rock and roll bad boy. Marrying his 13 year old cousin sealed the deal. But with his fellow musicians on the Sun roster, American music would never be the same. It’s hard to believe that Sam Phillips stable at Sun contained Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny Cash, and the likes of Howlin’Wolf and Charlie Rich.

Eldridge Cleaver once said that Elvis taught white America how to shake its ass. Jerry Lee did too.

As the world remembers and celebrates the life of Jerry Lee Lewis, there is one thing that will largely go unnoticed. Ironically, it is something that both Jerry Lee and Elvis share. Quite simply, both these rock icons owe their success to blues performers who recorded versions of the songs that brought them fame earlier than they did. Elvis got “That’s Alright Mama”from Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup who first recorded it in the late 1940s. And, Big Maybelle put out “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” a full two years before Jerry Lee’s version. As you might imagine, both blues performers never got the royalties or the recognition they deserved. 

High Prices

 Woody Guthrie once told an audience:

     "High prices! You talk about high prices, I went into my store to buy some eggs and the man charged me 59cents for a dozen.  I went in a week later and the price was 63 cents.  So I went in there today, and he charged me 79cents for a dozen.  I  went in there  today, and  he was there, but this time he had his money up on the shelf and his eggs was in the cash register!"

Funny, but not too funny today as we seem to be experiencing the same kind of encroaching price rises with everything from a gallon of gas, to a quart of milk.  Don't even think about the cost of a college education.  

In my lifetime, I recall what some prices were as a kid and then a teenager, and then growing into an adult.  I'm almost embarrassed to say what I paid for my college education from one of the finest universities in the country.  Usually, I only say that I paid for it myself by working summers and then part-time while a student.  That would be impossible today.  

Do you remember your mother or caregiver sending you to the local store to get a quart of milk?  That required only one or two quarters when I was a kid.  How about a haircut? 75cents to $1.25 for years, then maybe two dollars by the time I reached high school.  That pair of Levis 501"s I recently bought on sale for $60.sold for $5. when I wore them in high school.  

I recall how brilliant the advertisements for the Volkswagon Bug were in the late 60s and early 70s. One, in particular, was just a picture of the bug with the price listed in bold numerals at the bottom of the page: $1695.

I recently bought a harmonica for $89 dollars. Not this was a real instrument, not a child's toy.  The Marine Band variety by Hohner sold for about $10 when I first started playing blues on one in the late 60s.  Today, they run about $60.  I recall a music store going out of business when I was a college senior.  All Marine Bands were just a dollar each.  I bought every key.

We can't play the record albums we bought for $3.95 back then unless we retained our turntables.\, receivers, and speakers.  How quickly many of us jumped into CDs and gave up our tape cassettes in favor of digital music.  

One of these days I'm going to buy one of those all-in-one turntables, speaker, CD, record player things and dig out two big boxes of vinyl I still have and have a party enjoying many sides I haven't heard in years.  I could care less about the sound quality, which I expect will be fairly good.  I'll sit in my $75 dollar Levis and drink a $5. beer and have a ball.