Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis's recording of “Great Balls of Fire” is the most well-known. It was recorded in the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 8, 1957, and released as a single in November 1957. It reached #2 on the US chart and #1 in the UK. The song was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone Magazine.

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01Great Balls of Fire1:52

PT1M52S

Jerry Lee Lewis

02You Win Again2:55

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Great Balls of Fire
by Jerry Lee Lewis

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane
You broke my will, but what a thrill
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

I laughed at love 'cause I thought it was funny
You came along and you moved me honey
I've changed my mind, this love is fine
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

Kiss me baby, ooh, feels good
Hold me baby
Well, I'll still love you like a lover should
You're fine, so kind
Got to tell this world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine

I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs
I'm real nervous but it sure is fun
Come on baby, you drive me crazy
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

Well kiss me baby, ooh, feels good
Hold me baby
Well, I'll still love you like a lover should
You're fine, so kind
Got to tell this world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine

I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs
I'm real nervous but it sure is fun
Come on baby, you drive me crazy
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Jack Hammer, Otis Blackwell

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them

Comments from YouTube:

makerstudios

2y↑354

He really reminds you why the piano is a percussion instrument...

Joseph Prince

Jimmie Gordon it’s still classed as a percussion

TAB1562

10w↑3

Jimmie Gordon so does a snare drum, they're just metal

Jimmie Gordon

14w

It has strings

Janice Rigsbee

I know right !

jon Morris jon morris

1y↑1

YES INDEED

Reck Ssel

4y↑132

Working girl apparently had a different meaning in olden times

KreemieNewgatt

35w

Or, could be she's a hoo-uh

Adam Honesty and decency

2y↑6

miapiare Ha. I thought the same thing.

bosconian901

3y↑1

miapiare 😁 yup

Falcon Trek

2y↑251

Interestingly I was born November 2,1958. Nine months later from this show airing. No need to Wonder what my mom and dad were doing that night? 😂

marchbabi323

😂😂😂😂

Psychedelic Yeti

21w↑1

I was born 3 decades later. Off-topic, but I just like finding my "birthday twins" 😛.

Albert Acosta

26w

@adamaj his dad is Jerry Lee Leeis.

ChickenNuggets

27w↑2

I approve boomer

007thematrix007

35w

#fireballwhiskey

8 More Replies...

littletickle17

40w↑52

I wonder what happened to the woman being interviewed.

Kurt Baumann

15w↑1

I hope she didn't marry him.

Toku Music

20w↑19

As soon as Jerry started playing she was instantly impregnated. As was every other woman in there that night. Such is his power.

James Bond 007

2y↑266

I wish I had a Time Machine

Brandon Whitworth

David Thomas to get bob ross and bring with me to hitler childhood to finally teach him to paint

Борислав Димитров

17w

@David Thomas and kill Soviet uniion not Hitler

Stephen O Neill

28w↑1

Nobody does it better

Tesla

33w↑2

Working on it and will eventually let you know (seriously)

David Thomas

38w↑2

For travel and kill Hitler?

2 More Replies...

Robert Hudson

3y↑255

Every preacher in America that saw this performance tore up their sermon for the next day and preached on the evils of rock and roll. Lewis made Presley acceptable.

DJ JDB

10w

@jokesonu420: JLL married his 13 year old 1st cousin! He deserved the slander. LOL. And even if that wasn't the case, there is no way in hell that JLL would have been bigger than Elvis. To make a statement like that is ignorant. JLL never changed his music for the times. Elvis had his 50's music, 60's music and 70's music. Don't get me wrong, I like some of JLL's music, but Elvis was in a league of his own. Elvis has been gone over 42 years and he's still selling music, and influencing music artists.

jokesonu420

10w

@DJ JDB jerry would of been bigger but he was slandered early on... Jerry wasn't like anyone not even elvis could be compared to Jerry. Jerry is the best.

Jozef Hatert

21w

@Tyler Basho Brandon can,t say that jll dont got talent

Tyler Basho Brandon

36w

Slip Fall if Elvis was Bieber

Slip Fall

36w↑1

@Tyler Basho Brandon No talent? Get real.

21 More Replies...

Mtg Mtg

3w↑5

After Little Richards death I guess Jerry Lee Lewis is the only one left.

liverpoollishgirl

2y↑35

When John Lennon finally got to meet him in the 70s, he knelt at his feet and JLL said, "That's alright son, ya'll can get up now."

Kools Anthony

20w↑1

Damn that's G as fuck son 😆

hiraldo mcgoo

3y↑37

damn kids and their rock n roll...

Kodie Davis

Fuck you

helios

2y↑2

You don't hear that very often today

Mario Da Cunt

3y↑1

hiraldo mcgoo lol

Tyler Basho Brandon

36w↑31

I love that drummer, sounds 50's punk.

E171955

12w

Tyler Basho Brandon - That’s Russell Smith - JLL ‘s original road band drummer who stayed with him until the early 1970’s!

The55nomad

25w↑11

Dig the drummer: shades and a white bow tie. Cool cat.

chuck

3y↑73

His nick name was the killer. Now you know why,

Toady

21w

I still don't know why

Tyler Basho Brandon

35w

@Quentin Dugger ohh ok I knew there was some incident. Cool story, thanks!

Quentin Dugger

35w

Not at all. Presley, drugged out of his mind had made an appointment for JLL to come over to Graceland. Jerry was busy the next day & forgot but remembered in the late evening he was supposed to meet E, so The Killer(a little intoxicated) pulled up to the gates and was angered when Presley's security would not let him in. E had no recollection of making the arranged meeting because he had come down from his high & instructed his body guards to call the police. So the Killer was arrested.

Tyler Basho Brandon

35w

@Trent Arnold lol yeah and didn't he break into Graceland to try and kill Elvis

Carlos Green

1y↑3

@Peaches Peaches nothing mediocre about his music unless you can play that Piano better

2 More Replies...

Fabio Casa

1y↑7

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane
You broke my will, but what a thrill
Goodness gracious great balls of fire

I laughed at love when I thought it was funny
But you came along and you moved me honey
I've changed my mind, this love is fine
Goodness gracious great balls of fire

Kiss me baby, woo, it feels good
Hold me baby, ooh, yeah, you gonna love me like a lover should
You're fine, so kind, I'm gonna tell this world that you're mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

I chew my nails, I twiddle my thumbs
I'm really nervous but it sure is fun
Come on baby, you drive me crazy
Goodness gracious great balls of fire

Ohhh, kiss me baby, woo-oooooo, feels good, yeah
Let me love you like a lover should.
You're fine. So kind.
I gonna tell this world that you're mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs
I'm real nervous but it sure is fun
Come on baby, you drive me crazy
Goodness gracious great balls of fire

Bytor Gerhold

Can you believe they got away with these lyrics? and the ones from Little Richard in Lucille?...and here we think we were bad! Love it!

Bruno56

Jerry Lee Lewis looked like Nazi war criminal Reinhardt Heydrich.

Bruno56

Look for Heydrich here I. YouTube.

Jozef Hatert

3y↑91

did he raise some hell in 50,s man gotta love him

stwrthnn

3y↑7

Made Elvis look like a geek.

Joy Ss

I remember my grandmother trying to sing this song when I was a kid but singing ‘great big balls on fire’ instead. We nearly died laughing. She died five years ago. Miss her everyday.

Bill Simpson

3y↑135

No lip synching here.

T.C. Bramblett

2y↑1

True , Lewis said he would never lip sync a TV performance. One of the few

Martsapso21

2y↑3

Hanging around his neck.

Barry Gramlich

2y↑1

But where are the microphones?

Tim Carter

Now THAT is class trolling...

Peter Turner

3y↑3

And then when the "scandal" erupted after the English tour, Clark dropped him like a hot potato. Dick Clark - King of Payola.

1 More Replies...

Ken Konard

22w↑4

I was in the US Army where we got to see him on TV and we loved it.

Matt Schmissrauter

3y↑133

Nobody bangs on the keys like Jerry Lee!

CodyTheDoggo

39w

@Craig Knifesedge Lockley DAMN XD

Gary Fenton

45w

Except his cousin Mickey Gilley

James Iezzi

Matt Schmissrauter right on the money

Thomas Sanders

Oh I do

lorenzo magazzeni

Only Liberace could but he was gay and Jerry wasn't - up your lbgwhatever

6 More Replies...

Lenny Peled

2y↑5

He was a bad boy before it came into fashion.

Dustin Lewis

2y↑15

He's one of my cousins I found this out recently

iamthedr333

17w

@AlyssaNah too soon 🤣

Hulagan 808

34w↑1

Hopefully you’re not a 13 year old girl.

Quentin Dugger

35w

Give them a break. It was in the South 50+ years ago.

nachoakajrod

What side of the family? Aunt Margie and Pie are on my side. With the tree shells and willeses. They were all first cousins with Jerry and Mickey and them. Aunt Margie said Jimmy swaggart could out play jerry lee when they were kids.

Awful Lawton

2y↑3

@AlyssaNah Was about to say that lmao

2 More Replies...

Casey Mather

3y↑148

He would have became bigger than Elvis, and the piano would still be the main instrument of rock, if not for his scandal. Sad.

Monica O

@Dorin Riki Enough to marry your 13 year old cousin? Or any 13 year old for that matter?

Dave Byrne

21w

Elvis was in a different league to Jerry, there is no comparison...😶😶😶

Lee Cowan

26w

@Price Pittsburgh true that

MandyJMaddison

27w

Casey Matther,
Let me repeat Price Pittsburgh's comment-
" Elvis had more than the looks. He had the moves, the style, the
demeanor and most of all the voice that could croon ballads as well as
nail rock, R&B and country."

My observation here is that most of the people commenting are men. YOU might have seen Jerry Lee Lewis as remarkable, but as a teenager of the times, I had no interest in him whatsoever.
He NEVER sang a song that spoke to me in any way. Not one song.

Elvis was romantic and sexy. Chuck Berry sang "Sweet Little Sixteen" and I related to it. And, Oh Boy! did I love Buddy Holly.
But Jerry Lee Lewis never sang even ONE song that spoke to me, as a teenage girl, or as an adult woman, in any way.

That is why he was never going to be as great as Elvis

X X

27w↑1

Wrong. Chuck Berry had already popularized the electric guitar in rock and roll.

28 More Replies...

gi neve

2y↑15

The real deal, a rockin legend who set the bench mark for all rockin wildmen,

Darin Robinson

From extreme hardship to celebrate life so amazingly, I think we all missed his unconcious thang

Godwin Adedoyin

Jerry Lee Lewis is one of my favorite rock and roll and country music musicians! Also, "Great Balls of Fire" is my most favorite song that he is well-known for!

Amanda Carnessali

26w↑5

The voice cracks are happening and it still sounds good
👌

Peter SCHENK

31w↑5

My grandma was one of those groupies....

Also_Seb

5w↑1

Imagine being here 62 years later. Oh wait

Pat Riley

3y↑23

Elaine is a babe !

bensweiss

I thought the exact same thing.

wolfauu

3w↑1

The Interviewer couldn't believe she had money to pay from her own pocket because she's a woman Lol..

Finn McCool

2y↑3

Lord, I can't imagine seeing this guy live in the 50s. It would've been crazy.

Mik D

2y↑3

This was way before my time, yet I still know music won't be made like this anymore!

N.N

3y↑42

I bet noone noticed the photo-bomber from 00:00:50

Clint McLeod

37w

I recognized it, I thought the earliest of pyrotechnics!

Gerassimos Moutafis

Hhahaaha

Mid-day_ Light

3y↑8

Jerry Lee Lewis recording his signature songs in movie played by Dennus Quaid = excellent !

Some Guy

2y↑6

1958 was the greatest year in rock and roll.

Luca Savino

38w↑3

He was the first punk of rock 'n roll history, the second was Keith Moon and then came the others....

Sugarthepug

2y↑2

That was some hardcore stuff for the time

Malau

50w↑4

I'm watching the prototype for every rockstar that ever followed.

mxlbabe

This looks like Little Richard, may he rest.

Bytor Gerhold

I think Sir Elton must have been a fan...love his jacket!

markko17

1y↑3

The drummer did pretty good for a blind guy.

ethEYP

Nice car

Alexandre T

12w

Sound quality is too good, we can almost ear something

James Wood

3y↑24

He. is. one. hell ..of. a. great. talent. even. older. in. his. life

1JUSTGOTLUCKY1

3y↑36

This is one of the rare times that Dick Clark allowed a live performance on American Bandstand.

Angela Myrmel

Beachnut... Not AB

John Doe

2y↑1

Wrong show.

dale martindale

Bob Dylan

Ang Ang

20w

I would give anything, to have been a teenager in that era ♥️♥️♥️
JLL would have been like playing with a box of matches 🔥 😍 definitely in his prime here.

Mitch Leigh

3w↑1

last man standing RIP Little Richard

ThatManinWhite

3y↑16

Hasn't been a rock piano player of this greatness since ol Jerry Lee. Kinda sad you don't see that.

LS House

2y↑1

I think Lil Richard would dispute that statement.

Ed Bowie

Well Ray Manzarek was insane but the Killer was the original

Christopher MacDonald

ThatManinWhite Check out Henri Herbert!

Joshua Brooks

23w↑2

The world definitely wasn't ready for a man like Jerry Lee Lewis, and it showed.

Chris Franklin

32w

It would be amazing to be able to have seen one of his shows.

rockeraaj

2y↑5

2:48 Jerry Lee Lewis introduces Pyro to Rock n Roll!

007thematrix007

35w↑2

jerry banged those piano keys 🎹 like it were his mistress .....

Suzanne Rose Marin

15w

Happy Valentino's Day! Great Balls of Fire, to all you, Loving' Fools!

Screaming Tima

2y↑4

I would not have been able to stay in my seat! When it comes to Jerry Lee or Ray Charles’s music, I just have to move!

joe jones

2w↑2

Little Richard's passing bought me here, as JLL was really just a Little Richard imitator.

Synth Singer

@joe jones So using your own logic, who was LR "imitating"?

joe jones

@Synth Singer Just semantics. But yes, JLL imitated LR, like Jagger imitated JB.

joe jones

@Synth Singer Check out this clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDgjE6KYSyA

Synth Singer

@joe jones You are now changing from "imitation" to being "influenced"?

joe jones

@Synth Singer Well obviously it took more than a year for him to master the piano, but seeing LR instantly influenced his style, much in the same way that Mick Jagger saw James Brown's performance at the Tammi Show backstage in '64 and that influenced Jagger's stage presence when he followed JB on stage. And mind you this all transpired in less than an hour.

11 More Replies...

Michael Sheehy

3y↑6

Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
Jack jump over the candlestick
Stupid Jack, you shoulda jumped higher...
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Lisa Carroll

2y↑2

Thanks a million and blessings and rewards.

Михаил Мишков

3y↑9

Он будто бы не просто играет, а летит на рояле...

ElmoPiano

5y↑13

Thanks for posting this classic by Jerry Lee Lewis. The sheet music for the great piano part on "Great Balls of Fire" can be found at manymidi.com/sheetmusic.htm - a note-for-note transcription.

soaringvulture

3y↑4

You expect anybody to hit those notes? That ain't human.

Duke Kaboom

It’s no wonder the States we’re scared. So charasmatic

Jimmie Gordon

14w

$75 for a long travel across the country that was definitely along time ago

SydTheGoat

Don't mix piano with cocaine kids, you might end up doing something awesome

RAMON ORTIZ

2y↑2

When jerry perform this song live he had to have special effects.

Kathryn J. Hernandez

29w

Jimmy Swaggart's cousin. Both grew up in tiny town of Faraday, Louisana.

Trish and Fred Schwecke

34w

The one & only “Killer” 🔥

Jay Igaboo

That was a very attractive girl at the beginning, and she did a good job of the intro , unlike the presenter who was, as Elvis almost sang "all mixed up". The sound quality was poor, but Jerry Lee had them bouncing on their seats right away.!

Modern Milner

1y↑2

This is the ultimate Turing Test. If this performance doesn’t affect you, you are not human.

Nicole Huston

41w

He is and forever will be The Piano Man ❤

Des A

31w↑1

This man made the piano a great instrument
Also every note that was "wrong" was right for him

Wilson Mello

42w

Great Show man. Tks God, he's still alive! Greetings from Brazil.

Pat Downs

All these years I thought he was singing great balsa fire

Mikey Trahant

19w

The audience is so orderly!!!

Joe Postove

This Was Written For A Proposed Film Which Never Happened...

Great Balls Of Fire

Jerry Lee Lewis

And on the eighth day God created the piano. And out of it burst a mighty sight; Jerry Lee Lewis with two pianos, a tabernacle of music in each hand and he was playing “Great Balls Of Fire”.

When Lewis released this classic rocker in 1957 the conservatives who always hated rock and roll really started to circle the wagons and keep the women in the house. He already had violated the senses of those who believed rock and roll to be the devil’s work with “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”; but with this…the greatest rock and roll piano player of them all had gone too far:

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain/Too much love drives a man insane

You broke my will, oh what a thrill/Goodness gracious great balls of fire"

Jerry Lee, who was raised in a religious household, might just as well have been selling porn outside the Grand Old Opry.

He was, however, conflicted about recording this song written by Jack Hammer and Otis Blackwell (who wrote over a thousand songs including “Don’t Be Cruel”, “All Shook Up” and the Peggy Lee favorite “Fever”). Sun Records owner Sam Phillips had to convince this small town Christian boy that his soul wasn’t being sold to the devil to get him to put it down on tape.

Great Balls Of Fire’s first four notes sell the song. The rest is commentary.

Once in, Jerry Lee thumps, bumps, spits fire, does everything but sit down and play. It is a raucous rebuke to anyone who ever took piano lessons. There are minimalist drums and a barely heard bass to give “Balls” the right to even be called a song. It is a swirling steaming eighty eight keys knocked and kicked around by a guy who thinks that feet are properly used on a piano.

Richard Marshall Bowman

1y↑1

Jerry Lee said "If I'm going to hell....then I'm going while playing the piano......"

Richard Marshall Bowman

The man was a mess.....a red hot mess.....

Scott B. Barnett

Perhaps Jerry should have married Elaine : )

jacques prevert

19w

The killer!!!!❤️❤️❤️

hille2006

Did he just call her "a working lady", whooah... surprised he didn't get slapped

mike Lazembie

50w

A "working girl" huh? Hmmmm

trevor francis

3y↑9

we used to sing big balls on fire

Jack Docherty

2y↑5

Where's his microphone

Rene J. Kirchheimer

They used "Boom" type mikes for life TV in those days; they were kept out of sight; like when they are filming a movie.

Kade Berrier

Hanging from his necklace

Marlena Leszczynska

2y↑1

Host looks like Justin Bieber. Love the song. So much energy 😍

BigRedChester

3y↑4

I see Jerry had his mic hanging from his necklace. I've never seen that before! Was it common? Was it cordless too?

Sherry Stimnett

BigRedChester Jerry Lee lewis

Mike Peterson

3y↑1

Its not cordless you can see the wire running down into his jacket.

Simplicia

Buddy Holly did the Mic hanging too, not sure of it was common or not :)

J v/d hatert

1y↑1

this is how you peform

Jean-Luc Pérez

3y↑3

Salut 👋 bravo merci beaucoup c’est très super. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

I like the early rock that's close to Blues

Oliver Kalamata

2y↑2

2:11 Blonde chick is hot!

nate

That first girl is straight up legit

Dane Logan

I am waiting for my hair to be his length. Cannot wait.... about 7 more months to go........

Alex Want

Why did he play it so fast should have slowed down a bit

Aitchen120

2y↑1

One scandal made him lose the race for the title of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. So sad

Aitchen120

You're absolutely right.

John1948SIxC

He had already lost to Elvis but he was vying for number 2s. That scandal was so over blown. Jerry was a southern country boy. It was very common for all but first cousins to marry in the rural south. Jerry Lee's wife was his THIRD cousin. The bigger problem was that she was 13 years old but that too was the culture from which Jerry came.

Chris Ricotta

Just watch that movie in full and that guy f up him life for a little girl!!

Anderson lima

29w

Great song ever! Pure Hot Funny Rock n roll great hair! Ha

2manynegativewaves

I guess "working girl" didnt have the same double meaning back then lol

Coherent Nonsense

36w

1:35 nuclear testing

[комментарий удалён]

Невероятно зажигательная песня и исполнение!)))

fortnutnitenite

1y↑1

Love this song

NORML

47w

Personally I imagine him being a killer in bed too, unfortunately he preferred them young and a cousin

gordon patriarca

41w

Who are the drummer and bassist ?

sauquoit13456

On this day in 1957 {November 3rd} Jerry Lee Lewis performed "Great Balls of Fire" on the NBC-TV Sunday evening program, 'The Steve Allen Show'...
One week later on November 10th "Great Balls of Fire" entered Billboard's Top 100 chart at position #89*, six weeks later it would peak at #2 {for 4 weeks} on Billboard's Best Sellers in Stores chart...
The four weeks it was at #2, the #1 record for those four weeks was "At The Hop" by Danny and the Juniors...
The day after he appeared on the 'Allen' show, Jerry Lee traveled 95 miles south to Philadelphia and performed "Great Balls of Fire" on Dick Clark's ABC-TV weekday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
"Great Balls of Fire" was the second of three straight Top 10 records by the Killer, it was preceded by "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On", it peaked at #3, and was succeeded by "Breathless", it reached #7...
Jerry Lee celebrated his 83rd birthday a little over a month ago on September 29th, 2018...
* And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, the week "Great Balls of Fire" entered the Top 100 at #89, it was tied at that position with two other records, "Lips of Wine" by Andy Williams and "Oh! Boy" by the Crickets...

TheSassMonster

My dad used to tell me how when he was growing up in the 50’s his parents hated rock and roll and thought it was heathen music. Lol imagine if they heard the music of today 😂