Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire | Controversial Tunes 😈🎶

In the 11^th edition of Controversial Tunes (2023), we explore the controversy behind the song, “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis.

Bring on the controversy! Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 is a column that provides background information and insight into songs that raised eyebrows and totally stirred the pot.  The records that grace Controversial Tunes are old and new alike, with all genres of music welcome.  In the 11^th edition of Controversial Tunes (2023), we explore the controversy behind the song, 🎵 “Great Balls of Fire” by 🎙 Jerry Lee Lewis. 

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“Kiss me, baby / Mmm, it feels good / Hold me, baby / Well, I’m off to love you like a lover should.” So, 🎙 Jerry Lee Lewis, tell us, how exactly should a lover love 🤔?  Judging by the 1950s classic, 🎵 “Great Balls of Fire”, incredibly passionately. The thing is, by 21^st century standards, “Great Balls of Fire” is incredibly tame.  Yes, the innuendo is ripe – “I’m real nervous, but it sure is fun / Come on, baby / You drive me crazy” – but it’s not as if Lewis explicitly mentions S-E-X.  Still, for the conservative 1950s, “Great Balls of Fire” raised eyebrows, yet peaked at no. 2 (predating the Billboard Hot 100) in the US and no. 1 in the UK 💪.

Perhaps what is more controversial than this risqué song is Jerry Lee Lewis himself.  Sure, the fact that Lewis asserts “I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs” in either anticipation for sex or just being hot and bothered was progressive for the time, more disturbing are the many controversies the late icon was part of.  The controversy that coincides with the popularity of “Great Balls of Fire,” specifically in the UK, is the revelation that Lewis, at the time 22, married his second cousin, who was 13… YIKES! This of course led to Lewis’ promising career going down the tube.  Furthermore, for some folks, it might change your perception of the hot and bothered 🎵 “Great Balls of Fire”.  Lewis clearly had his fair share of issues – an understatement – but hard to deny this song right here is a surefire, rock and roll classic.

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🎙 Jerry Lee Lewis • 💿 The Essential Jerry Lee Lewis: The Sun Sessions • 🏷 Sun Entertainment Corporation • 🗓 2013

Jerry Lee Lewis, “Great Balls of Fire”: Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 No. 11 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Sun Entertainment Corporation; Anand Kulkarni, Aykut Bingül, Luân Phan, mohammadreza merhvand via Pexels; Anna, Gordon Taylor, harshahars from Pixabay; christian buehner on Unsplash]