Whose Barn? What Barn? My Barn!

Category: News/Obituary 

The Killer has died.

Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the “Mount Rushmore of Rock and Roll” members, died today (10/28) at his ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi.  His passing came twelve days after his formal induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Hailing from Louisiana, Lewis was raised in a Pentecostal home.  He was kicked out of a church-related school after he performed a “My God Is Real” in a “boogie-woogie” style.  That incident seemed to set his feet on the path that his life took: a man deeply rooted in his faith, yet playing what even he himself described as “the devil’s music.” 

Lewis had so many controversies in his career that he would have destroyed Twitter (not just “melted” or “broke” it) had it been around in the 50s.  Far wilder than Elvis or any of the other rockabilly acts, his wild piano playing and delivery of songs like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” (and that memorable shout of “whose barn? What barn? My barn!”)  earned him popularity among the teenagers and caused concern among the parents.  When he married his 13-year-old cousin once removed in 1957, the outrage all but destroyed his career.  Add to that seven marriages, an IRS tax problem, and even being arrested at Graceland and it’s obvious that he was rock’s original bad boy.

However, Lewis came back eventually…in country music.  He had a slew of country hits (if you tally his top 40 pop versus top 40 country chart successes you’ll see he had far more country hits than rock hits, 45 country versus just six rock), earning him a new generation of fans. 

Lewis was part of the original Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction class in 1986.  Despite his overwhelming success in country music, he wasn’t inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame until this year.  While he was able to make the announcement ceremony in May, he wrote that he was bedridden with the flu and was too ill to attend the medallion ceremony on October 16.  Longtime friend and fellow Hall of Famer Kris Kristofferson accepted the medallion on Lewis’s behalf.  Lewis later posted a photo of Kristofferson presenting the award to Lewis at home. 

Lewis’s cousin, Mickey Gilley, died earlier this year. 

Farewell to “The Killer,” who had just turned 87 on September 29.