THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

678-Jerry Lee Lewis-Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On.

1957-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 2.27.If I was Jerry Lee Lewis’ piano, I think I would be feeling abused.

‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ was probably co-written by Dave ‘Curlee’ Williams, and James Faye ‘Roy’ Hall (1922-1984,) but it has always been open to dispute, as both have been solely named on various recordings.The inspiration for the song came about when both were on vacation,Hall has said,’We were down in Paokee, on Lake Okeechobee, out on a damn pond, fishin,’ and milkin’ snakes. This guy down there had a big bell that he’s ring to get us all to come in to dinner, an’ I’d call over and say,’What’s goin’ on?’ Coloured guy said,’We got twen’y-one drums, we got an old bass horn, an’ they even keepin’ time on a ding-ding,; see, that was the big bell they’d ring to get us t’come in.

‘It was Hall who made the first recording of the song, but with little commercial impact. Big Maybelle (1924-1972) released her version to regional success in 1955, but it was Jerry Lee Lewis who made the song an international hit in 1957. Lewis released his radically altered version on the ‘Sun Records’ label in a ‘Rock and Roll’/Rockabilly’ style, with suggestive lyrics, taking the song to a peak of Number 3 on Billboard.

Jerry Lee Lewis (see also best songs 362 and 99) was born on September 29th, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, United States, he is the only surviving member of ‘The Million Dollar Quartet,” who recorded for ‘Sun Records,’the other three were Elvis Presley,Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins. In 1956 an impromptu ‘jam session’ took place between the four of them, but none of the songs recorded were made available until 1981.

‘Well I said come on over, baby,we got chicken in the barn. Come on over baby, babe, I got the bull by the horns.’