Jackson was still in high school when country singer Hank Thompson heard her sing on an Oklahoma City radio show and asked her to record with his band in 1954. She dated Elvis Presley, who encouraged her to step away from the country-tinged gospel she had been performing since childhood and try her hand at rock and roll. She developed her own distinctive voice and performed in a variety of styles, from folksy traditional tunes to country twang and high yodels to throaty, suggestive ballads. She was a prolific singer of songs with wry lyrics such as "Fujiyama Mama," which contained many references to the World War II bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; ironically, it became a #1 hit in Japan. Her biggest hit was 1959's "Let's Have a Party."
Jackson achieved great and continuing success throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia, but has never found the same level of fame in her native United States. She toured with rock and roll pioneers such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly. She has been nominated for two Grammys, and has been awarded the Oklahoma Native Daughter Award. She has been inducted into the Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the International Hall of Fame, the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and the German Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2009 was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence.
A born-again Christian, Jackson and her husband/manager Wendell Goodman abandoned rock and roll in 1971 and spent the next 25 years performing gospel in churches.
In 1996, Jackson was invited by alt-country singer Rosie Flores to duet with her on an upcoming album. The two were so pleased with the results that Jackson joined Flores on a handful of promotional club dates which were soon extended into a five-week North American tour. Jackson, plesantly surprised to discover that she and her songs were known by a generation of rockabilly fans her grandchildren's age, soon assembled her own band and returned to clubs and festivals, where she continues to perform.
In recent years Jackson has recorded with such artists as The Cramps, Lee Rocker, Dave Alvin, and Elvis Costello. 2006 saw the release of a new Jackson album, I Remember Elvis.
In 2009, it was announced that Jackson would start work on new recordings with Jack White. The resulting album, The Party Ain't Over, was released on January 25, 2011. It included a cover of the Bob Dylan rockabilly song, "Thunder on the Mountain" and the Amy Winehouse song "You Know I'm No Good". On January 20, 2011, she performed with Jack White on The Late Show With David Letterman and again on January 25, 2011, on Conan.
Funnel of Love
Wanda Jackson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Falling down, down, down,
My mind is a blank,
My head is spinning around and around,
As I go deep into the funnel of love.
It's such a crazy, crazy feeling,
I get weak in the knees,
My poor old head is a reelin',
As I go deep into the funnel of love.
I tried and I tried, to run and hide,
I even tried to run away,
You just can't run from the funnel of love,
It's gonna get you someday.
It's such a crazy, crazy feeling,
I get weak in the knees,
My poor old head is a reelin',
As I go deep into the funnel of love.
I tried and I tried, to run and hide,
I even tried to run away,
You just can't run from the funnel of love,
It's gonna get you someday.
Here I go, falling down, down, down,
My mind is a blank,
My head is spinning around and around,
As I go deep into the funnel of love,
Deep into the funnel of love,
Deep into the funnel of love.
Wanda Jackson's "Funnel of Love" is a song that portrays the experience of falling head over heels in love. The singer depicts herself as spiralling down a funnel, her mind going blank, and her head spinning around and around. She sings of experiencing a "crazy, crazy feeling" that makes it difficult to stand tall and makes her weak in the knees. The song emphasizes that once someone falls into the "funnel of love," there is no escaping it, no matter how hard they try. Jackson sings that she had tried to run and hide, but the love still caught up with her.
The lyrics also suggest a sense of surrender that comes with being in love. Jackson's admission that she can't run from the "funnel of love" implies that she has accepted her fate and is willing to take the plunge. The repeated "Here I go" at the beginning and the end of the song seems to signify a sense of readiness to dive into love, despite not knowing where it may lead.
The lyrics of the song reflect the rockabilly style that was popular in the 1950s, and Jackson's voice drives the song with its raw energy, adding to the sense of falling into something wild and unpredictable.
Line by Line Meaning
Here I go,
I am about to embark on a journey
Falling down, down, down,
I am losing control and descending quickly
My mind is a blank,
I am not in control of my thoughts
My head is spinning around and around,
I am very disoriented
As I go deep into the funnel of love.
I am being sucked into an all-consuming feeling of romance
It's such a crazy, crazy feeling,
The experience is overwhelming and beyond my control
I get weak in the knees,
I am physically affected by my emotions
My poor old head is a reelin',
I am feeling dizzy and out of sorts
As I go deep into the funnel of love.
I am falling deeper into the powerful emotion
I tried and I tried, to run and hide,
I attempted to avoid the intense emotions
I even tried to run away,
I tried to distance myself from the feeling
You just can't run from the funnel of love,
It is impossible to avoid the intense emotions of romance
It's gonna get you someday.
These emotions will eventually take hold of you
Here I go, falling down, down, down,
I am once again losing control
My mind is a blank,
I am focused only on the strong emotion
My head is spinning around and around,
I am extremely disoriented
As I go deep into the funnel of love,
I am being drawn deep into the powerful emotion of romance
Deep into the funnel of love,
The emotion is ever-present and all-consuming
Deep into the funnel of love.
I am continuously falling deeper into the intense emotion
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHARLIE MCCOY, KENT WESTBERRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind