End Of the Road - Jerry Lee Lewis

End Of the Road - Jerry Lee Lewis

1:48
single, 1956

Written by Jerry Lee Lewis

In this tough country rockabilly number, the narrator is eager to get things shaking with his love.  He's planted at the titular end of the road.  He doesn't care if he ever gets home!  In fact, he claims he doesn't need anything.  "Well the stars may not shine and neither the moon  / What the heck, we don't want no moon."  I get a kick out of that line; it's funny, blunt, and slightly unhinged, much like the Killer himself.  The rolling piano lines interplay with surf-like guitar, but the piano is the star, of course.

Memphis Beat - Jerry Lee Lewis

Memphis Beat - Jerry Lee Lewis

2:52

Memphis Beat, 1966

Written by Allen Reynolds, Dickey Lee, and Milton Addington

A boogie-woogie ode to Memphis music, like a distant great-uncle of "Nashville Cats."  The opening lyrics would fit perfectly in a Chuck Berry rocker: "Down the Mississippi where the water gets muddy / Forty-four school where the kids don't study."  But after that it's all about that beat that's in your blood.  The beat is tough!  The song references Manfred Mann's 1966 hit: "We got New Orleans and a doo wa diddy."

Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano - Jerry Lee Lewis

Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano - Jerry Lee Lewis

3:21

Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano... (Think About It Darlin'), 1972

Written by Ray Griff

O listen!

This song seems to be a winking double entendre.  The narrator wonders who'll play songs for his lady after he dies, but it's possible he's also asking who's going to tickle his lady's ivories after he's gone, if you know what I mean.  "When everything is a-hushed and still / Who's gonna touch these keys with feeling / Really get to you."  Lewis doesn't seem to be taking it too seriously, throwing in a few spoken callbacks to the lyrics and burying it in a wave of ragtime, Dixieland jazz, and Vaudeville sounds.