#rockabilly wife | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

izzyspussy · 6 months

Text

white collar crime au where stede bonnet's father is a retired white collar fbi agent who fell in love with and married the wealthy heiress whose stolen painting he once recovered, but they were ultimately incompatible due to their differing up-bringings and lifestyles and eventually got divorced and he got half of her assets and stede, who he resents for having the same born privilege as his ex-wife and that he himself is still obsessed with gatsby style

stede grows up learning all about criminals and in particular of course white collar and organized criminals, as per his father's area of expertise. he gets landmark and cold cases instead of bedtime stories, his father reliving his own glory days and the romanticized glory days of his heroes, who he fantasizes he could have become like if he hadn't let love and fatherhood ruin the more important things in life.

of course, stede is meant to also be glorifying the so-called good guys. but he resents his father right back, and resents his mother too for leaving him with the man, so he doesn't particularly feel for nor identify with the victims either. and so the only characters left to admire are the thieves.

as stede grows up, he obviously chooses not to follow in his father's footsteps, and yet still keeps abreast (as well as he can as a civilian, but his father's name does get him quite a bit of favor, especially when wielded in combination with his mother's wealth) with the most glamorous white collar cases. and he becomes obsessed with the devious blackbeard and his mysterious nameless partner in crime.

the legends say the duo can steal from anyone, forge anything, escape from anywhere. there are rumors that blackbeard himself is not quite fully human, harkening back to the most glamorous periods of crime of all - rockabilly bank robbers, wild west outlaws, golden age pirates. he can walk through walls, travel by shadow, shapeshift, put a curse on a troublesome lawman with merely a look. of course, all but the most superstitious fence or beat cop knows none of that is true, including stede, but isn't it a romantic tale to tell anyway?

eventually, stede finds himself falling into his father's steps. he resents his wife, his children, his lack of career. and he can't bear to become any more like him, and he convinces himself it's for the best for mary and the kids too - after all his dad was hellish to live with, worse to be raised by, so it's a blessing if stede abandons them before he can treat them badly, right? so, equipped with enormous wealth and more connections to the underbelly of society than a law abiding citizen should reasonably have, stede manages to run away as a nearly fifty year old man in the modern world.

and, well, he's already doing that so he might as well get into a little crime too. so he starts trying to live out his romanticized fantasies of robbery. he tries to be - drum roll please - a gentleman thief.

in the process, he crosses meets blackbeard, whose real name is ed teach, and his partner izzy hands. (in this version, izzy's derogatory nickname is "sticky hands" instead of "dizzy izzy" because unfortunately the white collar crime world is actually very nearly as stuffy and classist as the world they steal from, and while the two of them have handily obscured edward's background such that he seems to have sprung fully grown from the head of a stolen diamond or whatever, they've not done that for izzy and as such having grown up poor he is branded as a petty thief, no better than a shoplifter, despite the fact he can and does rob circles around the rest, even now at two or even three times their ages.)

ed tells stede, "you know, the whole gentleman thief thing, that's just in tv shows, mate." and stede tells ed, "until now!" and well... being a regular art thief was fun when it was a challenge, when there was still anyone bothering to try to catch them (the newest classes out of quantico don't even believe they're real, just a moniker all the unsolvable cases get thrown under). back when ed was taking all the low expectations society had of him and turning them into something high out of reach of anyone else. it's boring now, he's done it all, and it never satisfied him. never made him feel any better.

but maybe the gentleman thing could freshen it all up again, make it interesting. add a new challenge. wear suits and be charming and don't hurt anyone. maybe even pull some type of robin hood shit...

that could be fun.

#jack facts #ofmd #blackhannet #stede bonnet #ed teach #izzy hands #hc

42 notes · View notes

clocktower3iso · 5 months

Text

5'9" Rockabilly guy: yo daddy-o er, sorry lil miss, where can a cat talk to man about a horse in the joint yaknowhatimean?

Me, staring at his chubby triple D cup having betty page bangs wife: I need you

21 notes · View notes

critrolestats · 11 months

Text

Media References and Puns of 3-059 Somewhere Out There

Thanks to @revel-arts for this art piece!

A pun so nice she said it thrice.

Media References

(0:34:58) Marisha: Slough on, slough off. (Karate Kid)

(0:36:40) Marisha: Stick with CrossFit.

(0:40:44) Aimee: She’s got a Monroe piercing that looks like a diamond beauty mark.

(0:40:51) Aimee: Her vibe is very much like my Nuyorican cousin meets a rockabilly sort of girl meets a mob wife meets “Real Housewives of Staten Island.”

(0:52:32) Marisha: Just Flashdance.

Read more at critrolestats.com

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role puns #media references #c3e059

54 notes · View notes

artzychic27 · 10 months

Text

I can't not make a Clone High au

Marinette: Clone of a peasant turned royal tailor from ancient China who created fabulous garments for royalty and received praise for her work until her untimely demise when the jealous wife of the emperor poisoned her food

Adrien: Clone of a former beloved Parisian mayor from the 70s who won the hearts of all with his charisma, good looks, and natural charm… Then he got assassinated after he signed a bill to allow gay couples to adopt

Nino: Clone of a famous Moroccan director who gained recognition from his first short film which he shot in his home town. He made a name for himself, traveled, and won many awards, but then died in the 70s after someone drugged him… Because it was the 70s

Alya: Clone of a young runaway slave from Martinique in the late 1790s. She taught herself to read and wrote several books detailing the effects of Code Noir on her home. She was soon found and killed just five years before slavery was abolished. Her books were published decades later and shed some light on Martinique’s struggle

Nathaniel: Clone of a Jewish man from the 1930s who escaped the concentration camp when he was twenty and went into hiding, boarded a ship, and made it to America. He made his living as an artist, and was free to express his religion and tell his story when the war ended up until he turned 68, and died of a heart attack

Alix: Clone of a pro skater. Being female and Arab made her the target of a few choice words from competitors and spectators, but she rubbed her wins in their faces until her tragic “accident” at one event in 1978. Some jackass tampered with her wheels, and Alix landed in a horrible way. Fortunately, the asshole was arrested

Kim: Clone of a champion Olympic swimmer from the 50s. He took home gold twice and was ready to win his third gold medal. Right as he got in the water, shots rang out. A bullet hit his leg, and he sank to the bottom of the pool. (A jealous competitor resorted to drastic measures)

Max: Clone of a teenage genius from the early 70s. People thought he’d change the world with his brilliant mind. He even won a Nobel prize. The world probably would have been improved had it not been for the tragic lab fire

Juleka: Clone of a Romanian noble from the 1600s accused of kidnapping and draining young women of their blood to retain her youth. One night, the villagers stormed her manor and set fire to everything, even going so far as to lock her inside

Rose: Clone of a celebrated singer from the early 50s known for her pink rockabilly style. She died in her sleep when she was 83, and by that time, she had written over sixty songs

Ivan: Clone of a famed poet/song writer. He lived a pretty peaceful life, never got in any fights, attended protests organized by marginalized groups, and even wrote a book. He died peacefully in his sleep when he was 100

Mylène: Clone of an well known actress/activist who was protesting companies dumping lead into urban neighborhoods. Her words got their attention, but instead of being decent human beings, they poisoned her as a threat, but ended up killing her in 1978. To this day, those ass-bitches got away with it

Sabrina: Clone of a secretary from the 50s who had just about enough of her male colleagues treating her like less than the gum on the bottom of their shoes. She got up in the dead of night to paint their cars pink, filled their cars with women’s undergarments, and spiked their coffee with vodka. The cop was gonna let her off easy, but she demanded to be arrested… She shouldn’t have said that, because on their way to the prison, the cop car got t-boned bad

Chloé: Clone of a young aristocratic woman who was accused of killing her parents in cold blood in the 1800s. While she was acquitted of the charges, people still believed her to be a murderer, and she lived with that title all the way to her death

Lila: Clone of a scorned Italian woman from the late 1800s who sold out her village to a mob boss to live a life of luxury… And she did for about five weeks before one man from her village sought revenge for what the mob did to his family and shot many, including her

(Next Gen Clones)

Marc: Clone of a French writer and playwright from the 1800s whose stories mainly consisted of queer protagonists… Then he got arrested because being gay gets you in trouble in Europe during those times. He lived to be 102, and made out with so many guys in secret

Denise: Clone of a young enby from the 1960s who was part of Operation Pedro Pan to help Cuban youths escape from Castro’s regime when they were seventeen. They made it to America, faced some bigots, wrote two books detailing their life from Cuba to America, and advocated for the rights of Cuban citizens until they got sick and died in 1999

Simon: Clone of an Irish Catholic from the 1600s who hid with his family during Oliver Cromwell’s invasion and attack on the Catholics. They were going to escape together as a family, but his asshole parents left him to be killed at the hands of Cromwell himself. Prior to that, he wrote in a journal explaining the unfair treatment toward the Irish in great detail and it was soon published upon discovery

Ismael: Clone of a famed escape artist from the early 1900s. He performed all sorts of death-defying tricks until he performed one he didn’t survive- The escape from the water-filled tank trip… He forgot to hide the key on his person

Reshma: Clone of an Indian-American woman who lived a well off and made a name for herself as a fashion mogul. She used her influence to speak out against injustice against queer people and bring attention to current events in India. She died in her sleep when she was 70 in 1992

Jean: Clone of a beloved actor from the 1800s, most known for his “satirical” roles as women when really, he just likes wearing dresses, but they don’t gotta know that. However, someone found him making out with another man and killed him in his dressing room

Lacey: Clone of a famed spelunker. She has several museum wings named after her due to her discoveries, and became moderately wealthy. She continued exploring caves until her 50s when she slipped and fell into a crevice in 1978. The only thing that remained of her was a video camera with her final words

Aurore: Clone of an investigative journalist from the early 1900s reporting the abuse of conversion therapy victims. She was set to publish her story and expose the people behind the practice until she was photographed kissing a woman and dragged to a facility. Fortunately, one of her most trusted associates published her story and she was freed due to public backlash and threats against the facility. She died when she was 79

Mireille: Clone of a boxer from the 1920s who won many competitions, stole the hearts of a few women, and was on her way to greatness until a party got just a little too crazy, and she “fell” of the balcony after an encounter with an ex

Cosette: Clone of a Civil Rights activist from the 1950s who has been arrested several times for protesting. They publicly spoke out against the blatant racism in the country, and because of this, they were a person of interest for the government. She would’ve exposed the cameras and microphones she found in her home, but got into an “accident”

Zoé: Clone of a New York heiress from the early 1900s who ran off to join a rebel group that provided resources for the poor… By stealing from the rich. She hasn’t been caught once and eventually eloped with a woman five years before her death in 1997

Clone High is in Paris, secretly being run as an elaborate military experiment orchestrated by a government office called the Secret Board of Shadowy Figures

In 2003, the school is entirely populated by the clones of famous historical figures that were created and raised with the intent of having their various strengths and abilities harnessed by the military for a project called, Operation: Mighty Eagle. And one day, they will have them take over the world

One night, during a dance where everyone was in attendance, the teachers flash froze the clones to keep them out of the board’s evil hands, and the board eventually forgot about them

In secret, but they made new clones in 2007, and raised them during the twenty years that they were frozen, making the clones all roughly the same age after the Gen1 clones were unfrozen to resume Operation: Mighty Eagle

Due to being frozen for twenty years, the G1 clones are so far behind, have missed many important events, and have to learn what they can’t say that was okay in the 90s, but wrong to say now

Chloé is very put off when she realizes she’s no longer popular by today’s standards and instead, Nathaniel, Max, and Juleka are

Mme. Bustier: So, how’d the kids take it when you told them they’ve been frozen for twenty years?

Mme. Mendeleiv: Oh, I think they handled it very well.

*Earlier*

Mme. Mendeleiv: For anyone who thinks it is 2003… You are wrong!

Clone Kids: … *Freaking out*

Nino: *Holding up a cellphone* WHAT IS THIS?! *Points to a laptop* WHAT IS THAT?! *Points to Kim’s sneakers* WHAT ARE THOOOOOSE?!

Mme. Mendeleiv: It’s not 2015.

Marinette: This isn’t real! I’m dreaming!

Alya: The world is so warm!

Adrien: Guys! Guys!… Blockbuster is gone!

Rose: NOOOOO!!

Chloé: WHERE IS DESTINY’S CHILD?!

Max: There was a brother in office?!

Nathaniel: I CAN’T HANDLE THESE SUDDEN CHANGES!

*Later*

Mme. Mendeleiv: … Yeah. They’re fine.

—

M. Damocles: Here to help get you all acquainted with the future is the most popular clone and the the most conventionally attractive by today’s standards in the school.

Chloé: Finally!

M. Damocles: Chloé… Please move out of the way so everyone can see Marc Anciel, your class president!

Marc:

Chloé: Who?!

Marinette: He’s what?!

Kim: He’s a guy?

Nathaniel: I don’t care what he is, but I am smitten!

—

Alya: *Holding up a cell phone* Okay, and this is a…

Aurore: Cell phone.

Alya: How is it different from my telephone?

Aurore: For one, it’s lighter, and you can take pictures of yourself.

Alya: … No… Way!

—

Adrien: You know who's gonna get canceled? Kim. You should have heard him back in the day. That guy's always saying stupid things.

Kim: I like men and woman of any shape or size!

Aurore: Wow, a bi Himbo.

Kim: *Laughs* No, I’m not a biathlete.

Jean: Refreshing honesty.

Mireille: So uninhibited.

—

Ivan: How can you stay so calm when the world is so warm, animals are dying, children are dying, everyone is dying, and so many wars are happening now?! You see it all on your weird telephone!

Cosette: Eh, I just channel all my anxiety into something meaningful. Like traumatizing white parents with lessons on how removing critical race theory from history books will mess their kids up.

—

Nino: Ismael, what gives you the confidence to be so good at skateboarding, and magic, and chilling?

Ismael: I don't know, Nino. Guess it's just hard work and practice.

Nino: Hard work and practice? Sounds like a fool's errand; You're stupid, Ismael. We tried practicing, but we failed.

Isnael: Did y'all try practicing a second time?

Nino: Oh, let me guess. "'Cause practice makes perfect."

Ismael: No. There's no such thing as perfect. Practice makes progress.

Nino: That's a dumb saying. You're dumb. This is dumb. Everything's dumb. But, okay, we'll try.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #clone high #mlb au #clone high au #akuma class #science kids

21 notes · View notes

rogersandclarke · 2 years

Text

“babe the hot rod was totaled” classic, romantic, part of the beauty and horror of hot rods

“our elvis and johnny cash cds were all destroyed” so sad and tragic maybe one of the more heartbreaking sentences ever

#rockabilly wife #fav #pinned

481 notes · View notes

tradgays · 10 months

Text

30 Ways Gay Couples Can Embrace a 1950s Vintage Lifestyle

1. Establish traditional gender roles. Even in same-sex relationships, couples can assign different roles to each partner, such as one partner being “the man” and the other “the wife.”

2. Utilize classic cleaning techniques from the 1950s. Polishing furniture, ironing linens and clothes washing using a hand-cranking device can be a fun project.

3. Embrace the style. A 1950s-inspired wardrobe of sweater vests, bow ties, slacks, saddle shoes and loafers can create a classic look with a modern twist. Or go the rockabilly route with denim and leather.

4. Upgrade the kitchen with mid-century wares. Invest in classic kitchenware such as Pyrex casserole dishes and Tupperware sets.

5. Learn some swing or jitterbug moves. Register for local dance classes or hold dance parties in the living room.

6. Send letters or postcards to each other. Handwrite some words of love to your partner and include a pressed flower or favorite recipe as an extra touch.

7. Relax in silk kimonos or satin robes. Vintage robes will make your partner smile when they tie it around their waist every morning.

8. Utilize mid-century magazines for decoration. Hang up Life magazines with classic covers or revel in the styles and fashions of early fashion magazines.

9. Adopt classic lifestyle habits such as a morning cup of homemade coffee, afternoon tea and a proper bedtime routine.

10. Bring back the classics. Everything from detective books to classic romance novels will make for great bedtime stories and conversation starters. Throw in some gay pulp fiction for spice.

11. Buy vintage kitchenware. Collecting mid-century cutlery and silverware will make your kitchen feel homey and inviting.

12. Spend a day gardening. Plant roses, tomatoes or other flowering plants as a fun couple’s activity and add a touch of beauty to the front yard.

13. Have picnics with cheese and fresh prepared foods from the market. Pack a box of classic treats such as apples, nuts and pickles in a wicker basket.

14. Care for your pet as if it were a child. Spend quality time together playing with your beloved pet or simply brushing their fur or petting them.

15. Play vintage board games. Connect with each other by buying classic board games such as Monopoly or Risk.

16. Cook dinner together. Whip up some classic dishes such as steak and mashed potatoes or pork chops and corn on the cob.

17. Spruce up your living room with mid-century furniture. Invest in more modern, retro-style furniture to give your living room a touch of charm.

18. Make fun activities from the 1950s such as baking, cleaning and home improvement projects. Have fun as a couple as you both reminisce about the past and create new memories.

19. Listen to classic music on vinyl records. Play nostalgic tunes from classic artists such as Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra.

20. Collect antiques from the 1950s. Invest in classic wares such as tea sets or vintage lamps and use them as conversation starters or simply as decorative pieces.

21. Dress up for special occasions. Pull out all the stops and dress to the nines when attending special occasions such as anniversaries or holidays.

22. Have fun in the sun. Go for a vintage-style picnic near a lake or riverside to take advantage of the beautiful summer weather.

23. Get reading. Get your hands on the classics such as Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” and Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.”

24. Walk together in nature. Put on some sturdy shoes or cowboy boots and take a stroll together in a nearby wooded area.

25. Buy old movies from the 1950s. Pop some popcorn and cuddle up on the couch as you watch the great films of the era.

26. Join a local vintage car club. Spend some time together admiring classic cars and seeing how the vintage lifestyle is still alive.

27. Learn to play instruments of the era. Take a banjo or ukulele lesson and you’ll have plenty of fun making music together.

28. Get lost is a classic bookstore. Lose yourself in the past as you browse through old books and share stories with each other.

29. Plant your own herbs and vegetables. Eat healthily and reduce your food bill by planting your own gardens with the help of your partner.

30. Spend some time outdoors. Go for a leisurely stroll together in a nearby

#tradgays #tradgay #1950s #vintage

16 notes · View notes

capybara · 6 months

Text

i’m going to be his rockabilly wife

8 notes · View notes

scrivellc · 5 months

Note

hc + 📿 for a faith-themed headcanon (ignore this one if you're not comfortable with it!)

hc + 🎵 for a music-themed headcanon

@reverdies

📿 for a faith-themed headcanon

Orin has a very complicated relationship to religion, and while he doesn't practice any particular faith, various beliefs played a big part in him growing up since his parents came from different religious backgrounds. His mother came from a Jewish family that had some history of interfaith marriage, and his father was (potentially still is if he's still alive) a Catholic. Initially, his mother hoped they would raise their son to know both religions, but it quickly became apparent that Orin's father had other plans for his son. Orin was brought up Catholic, and, among his other abuses, Orin's father did not allow his wife to practice her faith. They celebrated exclusively Christian holidays, and Orin was even in the children's choir. His mother never attended service with Orin and his father except for the times Orin would be singing with the other children. While not unaware that his mother didn't share the same beliefs as his father, while they were all under the same roof, differing religions very rarely came up at the dinner table, and when it did it was always unpleasant. However, once his parents separated and Orin went to live with his mother, she began practicing her faith again and as such also exposed Orin more to Judaism and his family's history. For several years until his mother's untimely passing Orin celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays with his mother and her friends (and the occasional boyfriend). However, Orin never went to temple and never had a bar mitzvah, though he and his mother did talk about it a bit when he got older. Unfortunately, once his mother died, Orin was sent to live with his father who quickly enrolled his son in Catholic high school. He never said so out loud, but Orin always figured putting him into that school was meant as a form of punishment for years of being "lead astray". Of course, given his rebellious streak and his growing behavior problems, Orin and Catholic school did not mesh, and it had a detrimental effect on Orin's views on religion in general. Since he left home at 18, Orin has not once been to any kind of religious service, and he gets particularly moody (depressed) around the winter holidays. He does still have some faith in a higher power, but he recoils at anything structured, and he's especially cagey about Catholicism specifically. Other Christian denominations are on thin ice as well. He does, however, still maintain a deep respect for Judaism, and though he does not identify with the religion as his personal belief system, it does make him think of his mother in a way that actually brings him happiness and comfort.

🎵 for a music-themed headcanon

Given his whole....everything, most people assume that Orin's taste in music would sit squarely in rock and rockabilly. While this is true, Orin is also a huge enjoyer of classical music, playing it in his waiting room. He can name any song and who wrote it within only a few seconds. It was often played in the house when he was growing up, and his mom would play it for him on the piano when she was trying to get him to learn the instrument. While Orin never developed any particular aptitude for the piano he did develop a deep fondness for Bach, Chopin, Debussy, and many other composers, having no particular favorite. In college he even took some elective classes on music history and theory and can actually talk quite a lot about musical structure. While living in New York City attended a couple of concerts when the featured performers and pieces were intriguing to him. He's also a big fan of gospel and The Andrews Sisters. Truth be told, there's very little music that he actually dislikes.

#I will absolutely 100% talk about religion #reverdies #(Now Spit) Asks #(It's Just the Gas) Headcanons #TW Antisemitism #TW Absuive Relationships #I try not to go deeply into it but it's def part of Orin's whole thing with his father #Also LSoH is very Jewish so I wanted to include some of that into his history #SORRY THAT WAS SO LONG PLEASE TAKE THE MUSIC HEADCANON AS A PALETTE CLEANSER

4 notes · View notes

justforbooks · 2 years

Photo

Jerry Lee Lewis, who has died aged 87, achieved dazzling early success as a defining hero of rock’n’roll, when he muscled in among Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry, creating rock’n’roll piano from honky-tonk and hymn, as if doing so were as natural as breathing, and commandeering rhythm and blues with a casual authority achieved by no other white performer except Presley. With Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Great Balls of Fire and High School Confidential, he made three of the genre’s indispensable classics.

These hits, plus unbeatable versions of Mean Woman Blues, Berry’s Little Queenie and many more, shared an immediately identifiable style, an alchemy of the “Sun Studio sound”, fluid vocal brio and a pounding yet lyrical piano. Both hands were crucial in his playing, his striding left hand the foundation of the rhythm, even with a bass guitarist behind him.

Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On was his second single. Widely banned for lewdness, it sold poorly until Lewis shook up Steve Allen’s national TV show in July 1957, after which he was a star, undertaking nationwide tours while the record sold more than a million. The glorious Great Balls of Fire followed, then Breathless and the title song of the film High School Confidential, in which Lewis performed. All stormed the pop, country and R&B charts.

However, it was all to change in May 1958 when Lewis arrived in Britain. The press discovered that the 13-year-old girl with him was his wife of five months, Myra Gale Brown (who was also his third cousin). His tour was cancelled, Lewis was deported and his career under threat. Jerry confessed his whole hillbilly history: “I was a bigamist at 16 … My wife Myra and I are very happy.” The public were not.

Born in Ferriday, Louisiana, to Mary Ethel, who spoke in tongues, and Elmo Lewis, a labourer, Jerry had two sisters, Frankie Jean and Linda Gail. His elder brother, Elmo Jr, was killed by a drunk driver when they were boys. His father, imprisoned for bootlegging, was brought to the funeral in chains.

Jerry was raised in the Pentecostal church, on family gospel singing and country music by Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry, Hank Williams and the state’s singing governor, Jimmie Davis. He taught himself the guitar, drums and fiddle as well as the piano, and hung around a local club, Haney’s, where he claimed he heard top black performers from Duke Ellington to Muddy Waters.

At 12 he made his first paid appearance, moved on to Radio WNAT in Natchez, Mississippi, and at 13 played clubs there, while his cousin Betty Jo Slamper taught him to “smooch”.

Hired as a pianist by a travelling preacher, in February 1952 Lewis married the preacher’s 16-year-old daughter, Dorothy Barton. Jerry Lee, too, was 16. The following year he attended the Pentecostal Bible Institute in Waxahatchie, Texas. Expelled for playing gospel music “like coloured people”, he told them, rightly, that they “might as well accept it, ’cause some day that’s how it’s gonna be”. Back home in September 1953, a month before his divorce from Barton was finalised, he bigamously married a pregnant Jane Mitchum after three days’ jail for store-breaking and stealing a gun. Whether or not this second marriage was ever legalised, it ended in 1957.

In Shreveport he made two country music demos, and in Nashville sought work from Slim Whitman. But rock’n’roll was erupting across the south, and like others drawn to Sun Studios, Memphis, by Presley’s success, Lewis auditioned there. In December 1956 Sun issued Crazy Arms, which sold well despite Ray Price’s version having long been on the charts and despite Lewis sounding almost diffident (not something that would recur). The B-side, End of the Road, one of Lewis’s few compositions, was an authentic dark howl, a perfect expression of its name and place.

At year’s end Lewis played on the sessions for several other artists’ rockabilly cuts, among them Carl Perkins’s Matchbox and Billy Lee Riley’s Flyin’ Saucers Rock’n’Roll. Days later, Roy Orbison asked him to play. Lewis replied: “I don’t do sessions any more.” Later, pressed by a discographer as to who had played on Jerry Lee’s own records, he would offer one of the all-time great ripostes to the collector mentality: “I played on ’em: what the hell else d’you need to know?”

Live, he was an explosive performer in the early years, genuinely close to the edge. And uninhibitedly competitive. Resenting lower billing than Berry on a date at the Paramount Theater, Brooklyn, New York, in 1958, the rumour is that Lewis ended his act by setting the piano on fire. As they met in the wings, Lewis challenged Berry: “Follow that!” Whether or not it happened, it is a rumour Lewis himself perpetuated with glee.

Two 1964 live recordings show his genius. On a tawdry, humdrum date at the Star Club, Hamburg, playing to what sounds like about 50 people, and using, in the tradition of visiting American stars, an English backing group he met mere minutes before showtime, Lewis suddenly rose to a transcendent Your Cheating Heart, with exquisite vocal phrasing and unsurpassable piano, coursing with understatement and grace. In front of an audience of 50,000 in Birmingham, Alabama, he threw down a Hi-Heel Sneakers of shuddering, majestic excitement, stealing the song from all previous occupants.

Following his rise and fall, Lewis remained at Sun, its heaviest star, making rock’n’roll A-sides and wonderful country B-sides of the immaculate Hank Williams kind, years before country became an established new career for ex-rockers. Lewis would be a main player in opening up this route.

He regained the UK Top 10 once, in 1961, with a superb version of Ray Charles’s What’d I Say, its sumptuous thunder Sun Records’s last golden moment. Lewis left in 1962.

On record he lost direction for a time, but toured with an arrogance burnished into art, wilfully infuriating audiences of Teds by dwelling on slow country songs while provoking country crowds with unabashed rock’n’roll. In mid-song he would order a musician to “Play it, son!” only to prevent his doing so with a piano solo no one would interrupt.

For a while he joined the rock festivals circuit, including appearing at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, but by the 1970s he had cracked the mainstream country market with a succession of hits such as What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me) and the impeccably wily She Still Comes Around (to Love What’s Left of Me). A rangey, muttering Me and Bobby McGee in 1971 was made “to show that damn woman [Janis Joplin] how it should be done”.

Ten years later, his skin waxy and his gait old, he combed his greased hair for the Wembley Country festival crowd, put on filthy sunglasses and delivered a consummate Over the Rainbow: the mic still placed to show off how stylishly his right hand could steer around it, his vocal control sublime. He continued to switch between the two genres for the rest of his career and, as late as October 2009, Lewis opened the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.

He proclaimed himself for ever a rock’n’roller, through his remaining decades of turmoil, lurid tragedy and farce. His son with Myra, Steve, drowned in their swimming pool in 1962 aged three; one of his two sons with Jane Mitchum, Jerry Lee Jr, died in a car crash at 19 in 1973; Myra divorced him, citing mental cruelty and physical abuse; in 1983 his fifth wife, Shawn Stevens, took a fatal overdose 10 weeks into their marriage, a year after his fourth wife, Jaren Pate, drowned in another swimming pool. Rolling Stone published The Strange and Mysterious Death of Mrs Jerry Lee Lewis, accusing him of murdering one wife and abusing and/or hounding to death several others.

In 1975 his plane was seized with cocaine and 11 kinds of amphetamine on board; in 1976 he was arrested outside the gates of Graceland, drunk in possession of a gun; the IRS seized his property in 1979 and 1983, and he filed for bankruptcy even as Dennis Quaid was making the 1989 Hollywood film of his life, Great Balls of Fire! A short, tax-avoiding emigration to Ireland with his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, and their young son, Jerry Lee Lewis III, followed in 1992.

The marriage to Kerrie, remarkably, lasted 21 years, from 1984 to 2005; in 2012 he married for the seventh time, to his former “caregiver”, Judith Brown. There had been decades of medical catastrophe, including a collapsed lung, gall-bladder removal, bleeding stomach ulcers, spinal surgery and car-crash injuries. In 1984 he was twice brought back to life in an ambulance, and had half his stomach removed in 1985, a year his wife said he also spent shooting up methadone, tranquillisers and speed. In old age he also suffered from arthritis, pneumonia and shingles, in Rick Bragg’s 2014 book Jerry Lee Lewis: His Story.

Lewis embodied pinched obduracy, brooding, malevolent ignorance, violent unreliability and borderline madness. He abused women, played with guns and shot at men; he drove the highways of the south blind drunk with his loaded pistol on the dashboard. Yet in the vivid contrast between the meanness of the man and the grandeur of the artist, the common denominators were his phenomenal energy and admirable, all-conquering self-belief.

He will be remembered for his lifetime of hillbilly delirium, but he will be renowned for his seizure of the musical moment at the dawn of rock’n’roll, when an incomparable talent was his intoxicant and ours: when he shot up the old order and played out his defiant dramas on the keyboard, in the studio and on the stage.

He is survived by Judith, and his children Ronnie, Phoebe, Lori and Jerry Lee III.

🔔 Jerry Lee Lewis, singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist, born 29 September 1935; died 28 October 2022

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Jerry Lee Lewis #in memoriam

25 notes · View notes