Rock Legend Pays Tribute To Jerry Lee Lewis
I know this is going to come off sounding one hundred percent morbid, but I’ve got to be honest. When music celebrities pass away, there’s a part of me that gets giddy to see who of their peers pays tribute, and how. I know, it’s crazy. Sometimes it’s an organized event like the Loretta Lynn celebration of life and career that was on CMT this weekend. However, it’s the ones that take place organically that I love most. On Friday night, Bob Dylan was performing in Nottingham, England when he acknowledged the death of “The Killer,” Jerry Lee Lewis. “I don’t know how many of you know, but Jerry Lee’s gone,” said Dylan on stage. “We’re gonna play this song, one of his. Jerry Lee will live forever – we all know that.” With that, Lewis’ fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member led his band through “I Can’t Seem to Say Goodbye.”
The song originally appeared on Lewis’ “A Taste of Country” album on Sun Records. According to Variety In a 1969 interview with Rolling Stone, Dylan spoke briefly about the time he and Lewis had spent working in the same studio. He told the publication that he had written “To Be Alone With You” for the latter-day country star although Lewis never recorded it (which is why it wound up on Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” album). At the time, Lewis was hard at work on his ninth album, “She Still Comes Around (To Love What’s Left of Me.” Lewis has also famously covered Dylan’s “Rita May,” a track co-written with Jacques May and recorded during the making of Dylan’s “Desire” in the mid ’70s. So, it’s not as if Dylan was just a fan or admirer of Lewis. He actually knew the man, which makes his homage on Friday night all the more heartfelt.
