Yeah, today’s the day that dude Columbus rolled into what he thought was the Great Western Round World and claimed it the property of Spain, citing the name of God and all that other 15th century bullshit condensed into a grammar school poem America forces its young minds to remember. But forgetting the politics of that, today is also the anniversary of a fine 1957 moment in the legend of rock and roll, as man of a different relationship with a higher power walked into a famous Memphis studio and recorded one of the pillars of the genre’s panache – “Great Balls of Fire.”
Jerry Lee Lewis was only 22-years-young when he chased the same sinful fame Elvis struck at Sun Studio. Whereas Elvis’ devil-associations lied in his hips, and wasn’t necessarily shared by his performer, Lewis actually believed what post-war America was trying to label the budding new wild genre – the devil’s music – captured in the take-session conversation of the song on this day, with Sun Studios owner Sam Phillips reassuring Lewis that he can “save souls,” Lewis infamously replying, “How can the devil save souls? I got the devil in me!”
The song was actually written by a famous songwriter of the time, Otis Blackwell. And literally takes its title from a Southern expression that defines the unholy experience of talking in tongues. That, combined with Lewis’ brilliantly possessed ivory hammerings should be written into its own biblical text – the bible of rock and roll. Consider the opening verse, before the band clobbers in:
You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane
You broke my will, oh what a thrill
Goodness gracious great balls of fire
