Mack Vickery's "Rockin' My Life Away" was a wonderful autumnal rocker that immediately became Jerry Lee's statement of purpose and all-purpose theme song. The sparkling lyrics vacillated between the obscure and the bizarre, but the feel was right.
What did those words mean?
The first line of the song, after all, was:
"14, 25, 40, 98, I throwed a rock 'n' roll party on my last birthday," and the lines rolled out of Jerry Lee's mouth as if they had some deep meaning.
In fact, Vickery had conceived of the song as a Specialty-era Little Richard-style rocker, with the first line scooping up tension like a quarterback calling signals before a play.
But in Jerry Lee's music, how something is said is far more important than what is said, which is part of why "Rockin' My Life Away" was so intense and enjoyable.
"Watch me now," Jerry Lee shouted before his solo, and in a few seconds he erased five years of bad memories.
Jimmy Guterman
Jimmy Guterman is the author of five books about rock 'n' roll, among them 12 Days on the Road, Rockin' My Life Away, and the inexplicably best-selling The Worst Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time. He has written for Rolling Stone, Esquire, The Boston Globe, Wired, and Salon.
Born and raised in New Jersey, he lives in Massachusetts.
Born: August 30, 1962, Bayonne, NJ
Died: July 25, 2016
