Rory Gallagher by Marcus Connaughton

Author:Marcus Connaughton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Collins Press

This publicity still for Mercury Records shows Rory and Jerry Lee Lewis ‘The Killer’ in studio for a London Sessions.

Jerry Lee Lewis reclines at the piano as (l-r) guitarists Albert Lee, Peter Frampton and Rory Gallagher lay down the track with Kenny Jones on drums.

The London Sessions was a double album in an ornate gate-fold sleeve. Other tracks included Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Bad Moon Rising’, written by John Fogerty, leading country singer and composer Charlie Rich’s ‘No Headstone On My Grave’, two tracks written by Jimmy Reed, ‘Baby What You Want Me To Do’ and ‘Big Boss Man’, and Chuck Berry’s classics ‘Memphis’ and ‘Johnny Be Goode’. Guest musician Tony Colton contributed ‘Music to the Man’; he also co-wrote ‘Jukebox’ alongside Ray Smith, Albert Lee, and Chas Hodges. Lewis also covered Little Richard’s ‘Jenny, Jenny’, ‘Long Tall Sally’, and ‘Tutti Frutti’.

Rory recalled for Liam Fay of Hot Press how Jerry Lee behaved: ‘There was a strange sense of violence and madness around whenever Jerry Lee Lewis was in the room. Whenever anyone annoyed him, he’d immediately pull up his left trouser leg and go for his sock as if he had a gun in it. I never actually saw him with a gun in the studio but I’m sure if he’d had one, he’d have shot somebody. There was always a borderline of danger about him which I think is necessary for real rock and roll.’

A year after the release of the Jerry Lee Lewis – London Sessions, Rory’s words proved to be somewhat prophetic. Rory and a few friends were invited to a special Jerry Lee Lewis showcase gig in the Roxy in Los Angeles in 1974. Also at the concert on the night was John Lennon (a declared Taste fan in the 1960s). Rory recalled the night:

‘Lennon was going through his LA phase at the time, his hair was really short but everyone still recognised him and they all turned around to look at him as he took his seat on the balcony of the Roxy. Needless to say, the fact that he was being “upstaged” drove Jerry Lee wild. He started to do the “Jerry Lee Rag” but everybody was still looking up at Lennon and whispering about him. All of a sudden, Jerry Lee stopped and started on about how The Beatles were “shit” and the Stones were “shit” and there ain’t nobody could play real rock n’ roll the way Jerry Lee could. Lennon loved this, he had his boot up on the balcony and he started egging Jerry Lee on, shouting “yeah, you’re right there, man, The Beatles are shit”. People started laughing but Jerry Lee thought that Lennon was shouting abuse at him, so he freaked out altogether. He just pushed the piano across the stage and stormed off.

‘The atmosphere in the Roxy was tense, most people left the venue, fearing that Jerry Lee might go on the rampage with one of the firearms that everyone knew he always carried with him, others stuck around to see what might happen.

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