If you are at all familiar with me, you know that I don't watch Conan O'Brien, unless there is a real good reason. Why? Because the man isn't funny, that's why! But tonight, it was advertised that Jerry Lee..."the Killer" would be on to sing, and play the piano, so I did watch. I have made it no secret that I still tune in and watch Jimmy Swaggart, who is his first cousin,and that the two of them together used to play the piano and sing like two balls of fire in their youth,to the point that both were world class piano players, singing not only Gospel music, but that which grew into being "rock-a-billy" music, and then both were offered contracts to cut records. Well, Jerry Lee, naturally took them up on it, and Jimmy turned them down, in favor of dedicating his music to the work of the Lord. That is when they went their separate ways, but still kept in touch,and maintained family ties. So while Jimmy was preaching on street corners and driving around from church to church to preach, Jerry Lee was making hit record after hit record.
To make a long and involved story short...(too late!)..to the world it may have looked as though Jerry Lee had chosen more wisely than his cousin, making a a big name for himself, and lots of money, while Jimmy and his little wife struggled to make ends meet while he pursued his work for God.
The last I heard about Jerry Lee, was the movie made about his life,and then there were rumors of drinking and assorted other problems,and he basically dropped from sight. Meanwhile, Jimmy has been going on his way, and working his way back after his fall from grace, and looking and sounding really good. He speaks with a clear strong resonant voice,filled with authority and power, preaches with the same restless verve and passion, and is still singing and playing his grand piano with the same undiminished fluidity of movement he has always had,and is still recording new Gospel songs all the time...and might I add here that through the years he has sold millions of records, cassette tapes, and now Cd's,and every dollar he has made has gone back into the ministry, to pay for air time on television and radio air time around the world,as well as to fund crusades across the globe as well. Now, I know that Jerry Lee and Jimmy are about the same age...which is over 70, and I had a tape set up to record Jerry's appearance on Conan's show, knowing that it might be the last chance I would ever have to catch a live performance of him. But I wasn't prepared for what I saw. When Conan introduced him, they switched to a shot of a man already seated at a baby grand piano, wearing a red shirt and blue jeans, with iron grey hair, and rather thick set. His legs were apart to accomadate a microphone stand set right in front of him at the piano, just inches from his mouth.He began to play, barely moving, and he did sing, but they had to mic him up so badly,and even that was not helpful enough to instantly recognize the song, which was "Crazy Arms",one of his wildest hits, but the wild man wasn't singing tonight. My heart just sank. I knew after the first few bars, there would be no jumping up and kicking back the piano bench tonight...no standing up and playing the keyboard with crazed abandon, no rippling hair flying around his smiling face as he pounded the ivories,no smokin' keys, no fear of setting the piano on fire, or of it falling through the floor from the insane beat of his furious rhythm. Jerry just sat there, playing the tune, but much slower and softer than I ever recall him doing,and mouthed the words, but you could tell he could barely carry the tune. If you looked at him long enough, you could see it was Jerry Lee, but under that smooth pink skin, he looked puffy and tired. Fragile. It was obvious his movements were limited by pain,because when he finished the song, he didn't even attempt to stand up and bow. He remained seated, while Conan came to him, stuck out his hand to shake Jerry's, and then announced a break. Back from the break, Conan again put Jerry's Cd up,which ironically is called, Jerry Lee lewis, "Last Man Standing'" and introduced Jerry again, to do another song, which was " You're gonna be in love before the night is over". And even though it was a different tune, with different words, the performance was the same. This hunched over little man with a thin quavering voice carefully played the correct notes, while Max Wineburg backed him on the drums, and two or three others accompanied him on their instruments. The Jerry Lee of old would have sneered at the notion of needing any other musicians on the stage...All he ever needed before was the Piano. Nobody ever heard anything but his piano anyway! This was the man who went out and played his piano with reckless abandon, threw the piano bench on the floor, set the piano and the crowd on fire and then went off stage and challenged the " Star Attraction" of the night," There! Follow that!!"
But tonight, he needed them. It's sad, really. To see a man who started out with such promise,totally equally gifted with his cousin in every way...but one. He had the bravado, confidence, talent,and the robust health to have kept apace with Jimmy throughout their lives, but when the time came to make a choice between the Lord, or the world, Jerry Lee turned away from God, and said, I can make it on my own! Not just that original time, but time after time, Jimmy would get a call, Jerry Lee needs you...and Jimmy would drop everything and run after his cousin, do whatever it took to sober him up, or whatever the case, take him home, he and Francis would nurse him back to health, and then Jimmy would make that invitation again, and as Jimmy has told us over the years, it would seem that Jerry was ready to accept the Lord, and Jerry would look at Jimmy and say something like, " The music business has been awfully good to me,Jimmy..."and once again, turn away from God. With all his burden for seeing souls saved, I know the one thing that causes him the most pain is knowing that Jerry Lee has yet to accept the Lord. How do I know he hasn't? Well, as I said, Jimmy has talked about Jerry Lee over the years, and told us some things he has gone through. He loves his cousin like a brother...they are that close. So if Jerry had, whether he would appear in church with his cousin or not, there would have been an announcement, and a huge celebration, a praise and worship service thanking God that his dear cousin was now truly his "Brother in the Lord" and had finally come into the fold! I know he would. At bible study Wednesday night, Jimmy told us all about Jerry being honored, and how he had invited all these other people to be on the show with him, and even joked about he was going to call Jerry and chew him out for not asking him...of course, he knew that wasn't going to happen, because Jerry knew, if Jimmy was invited, he would have sung Gospel music! We all laughed at that, and so did Jimmy. He's got a great sense of humor, and often makes jokes...even though it was as serious as it gets about Jerry,still, the way he said it, it would have been funny to see Jimmy go on a rock and roll show, and sing Gospel. And thrilling. Couldn't you just see how amazing it would be for the Holy Spirit to turn that rock and roll show into a revival?
Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have seen Jerry Lee walk off Conan's stage tonight, revived by the power of God, instead of being helped off the stage by Conan?
OUI?
Posted by: Phoenix | October 06, 2006 at 05:04 PM