The Mississippi River, sex scandals, the Old Testament, the marriage of a teenage cousin, Natchez, the Mississippi River, honkytonk piano, Southern gospel music, urban cowboys, prostitutes, heads of hair that are thick and folded back, the World Faith Center, Gilley’s, Haney’s Big House, laughs, tears, regrets, and hundreds of millions of dollars would all be part of the family history.
It’s a family history similar to mine and most likely yours, with the exception of the bit about males who had a remarkable ability to sing, tickle the ivories, and hypnotically amuse as few could.
Jimmy Swaggart’s passing on Tuesday put an end to the story of an improbable trio of South Mississippi-bank relatives who were all born showmen.
Family reunions must have been a wild ride.
Swaggart was ninety years old.
At the age of 86, cousin Mickey Gilley passed away in May 2022.
Four months later, in October 2022, cousin Jerry Lee Lewis passed away at the age of 87.
There was a lot of arduous running throughout those 263 years.
Of the three, Gilley would receive the merit badge for causing the least amount of trouble. He has 17 No. 1 hits. For a very long period, Jerry Lee was incredibly talented and transitioned from rock to country music, becoming the king of both genres.
They call this boogie woogie back home, he explains during a piano riff on an old cut called House of Blue Lights.
Stud Alert.
If you had a grandmother who adored Jimmy Swaggart’s albums, played them on a stereo the size of a back porch deep freeze, and occasionally drank a Pabst Blue Ribbon, you would know that he was a phenomenon that was difficult to explain but not too difficult for me to feel uncomfortably at ease with.
Although I wouldn’t have trusted him with a single dollar cash, I quickly purchased his recordings as soon as they were available and once saw him at the Monroe Civic Center, where working men wearing white short sleeves and slender ties set up shop in plastic gallon ice cream buckets that had been wiped out.
As Swag played I’ve Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop, I put in the same amount of money as the thousands of my friends who were there with me, muttering to myself as we sang.
Would you mind singing one more song, Hallelujah? Or even ten more? Would you please?
Regarding The Boys From Ferriday, this is a Cast No Stones Bureau. I know of at least one individual who would be there with a nervous smile, searching for a close-up seat, and carrying folding cash if the trio were in their prime and performing tonight someplace within driving distance.
Which Five Swaggart Songs Are the Best? Please. I’ll go with these, but you could persuade me: Where Could I Go (But To The Lord);Enter the Ark;Jesus showed me more care than anyone else ever did.Precious Lord Take My Hand (or Hide Thou Me, though this may be tainted because Hide Thou Me is my favorite gospel song) and Let Down Your Nets.
Let’s do the Top Five for Jerry Lee for the sake of argument and since this is the End of an Era (or, as the more hypocritical may say, the End of an Error):Among the songs on the 1972 album produced by Shreveport music guru Jerry Kennedy are Another Place, Another Time; One More Time With Feelin (written by Kris Kristofferson, hence a musical example of game recognizing game); Who Will the Next Fool Be; Great Balls of Fire; and Think About It, Darlin. The Jerry Kennedy/Jerry Lee Lewis ballads are all vibrant, emotive masterpieces.
The Top Five Mickey Gilley Songs come last.It’s a Headache Tomorrow (Or A Heartache Tonight); You Don’t Know Me; Object of My Affection (more boogie woogie); Power of Positive Drinking; and True Love Ways.
One could wonder, where is Jimmy Swaggart now? You could look all over the world and never, ever find someone who is less qualified than me to make life judgments about other men. However, I hope my grandma can hear him playing the piano someplace.
Teddy can be reached at [email protected].
