“Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis 

There’s an old saying, that you’ve undoubtedly heard before, that goes ‘sex sells’. But to the degree that this statement is true may be something that we all sleep on. For instance, many of the old songs which ushered in the modern era of music have sexual undertones. You look at them now, and they feel more like innocent novelty piece. But back when they were young and spry, it seems our grandparents had an affinity for a sound, raucous outing also – so much so that Jerry Lee Lewis, a religious man himself, feared for his eternal soul when recording this track.

But another part of the reason we perceive the music of yesteryear as being more puritan is because our forefathers did not sing about sex forthrightly. So outside of what appears to be the pre-chorus, the rest of this song (“Great Balls of Fire”) is more or less metaphorical. And even if putting lyrics like “kiss me baby” in a song was considered risqué in the 1950s, still it wasn’t so much so that censors shut this track down.

Also, making such observations is not to imply that this what we would actually call a song of sexual lust. Instead, besides for his strong-amorous feelings for the addressee, he is relaying his willingness to commit, not even truly believing in love before he met her. And therefore Jerry is also trying to lock her down, i.e. wanting the whole “world” to know that they are together. 

As for the titular phrase, what he’s saying, most simply put, is that she turns him on. So it’s like whenever they’re together he’s stricken with the “great balls of fire”, if you will.

In Conclusion

So at the end of the day, yes, this song is mature-minded. Or let’s say that it does acknowledge that part of being in love entails a consistent desire to jump the other person. But in terms of the thesis sentiment, what that would actually revolve around is the vocalist being holistically smitten by the addressee.

When was “Great Balls of Fire” released?

“Great Balls of Fire” came out via Sun Records, arguably the most-influential label of the 1950s, on 8 October 1957.

This track came out as a standalone single and was originally featured on a film titled “Jamboree” (1957). The first actual album it appears to have made an appearance on was the Jerry Lee Lewis’s second studio project, 1961’s “Jerry Lee’s Greatest!”.

Credits

Usually for a tune of this magnitude, there would be an abundance of information available. But this piece harps back to what can pretty much be deemed the earliest days of modern music industry. But what we do know is that it was written by Otis Blackwell (1931-2002) and Jack Hammer (1925-2016) and produced by Sam Phillips (1923-2003).

Achievements

“Great Balls of Fire” was included in on Rolling Stone’s 2021 list of “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

Chart-wise, it topped the UK Singles Chart and just fell a spot short of replicating the feat on the Billboard Hot 100.  However, “Great Balls of Fire” did manage to reach the summit of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles listing. And it was a big hit, even by today’s standards. When it was first released, the track sold a million copies within a 10 day time span. Furthermore, it is one of the most recognizable songs from the 1950s.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis (not to be confused with one of his contemporaries, comedian Jerry Lewis) is still around to this day, with his most-recent studio album as of this writing being 2014’s “Rock & Roll Time”. Since “Great Balls of Fire” was dropped around the beginning of his career, that means he’s been professionally active (technically) for over 60 years now. 

It was also during the late 1950s that he came out with “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” (1957) and “Breathless” (1958), his only other track to make it onto the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. However, from the 1960s into the 1980s, his songs regularly performed well on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs listing, as well as performing similarly in Canada.

The reason Lewis’s mainstream popularity did not last past 1958 was because it was discovered that very year that he was married to one Myra Gale Brown. She was not only a somewhat-close relative of Jerry but also a mere 13 years of age at the time, while he was simultaneously 22. So when all of this was made public, Jerry went through, as we would call it these days, a cancellation.

More Facts

Despite the controversy, Lewis still went on to be enshrined into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as well as Country Music Hall of Fame), fittingly being one of its inaugural inductees, in 1986. 

“Great Balls of Fire” is by far his signature song, so when a movie was made about his life, the film was titled Great Balls of Fire! (1989, starring Dennis Quaid). And of course it has popped out on compilation albums, etc. throughout the years, including “Great Ball of Fire and Other Hits” in 1998. Moreover, innumerable TV shows and movies have utilized this song.

It has been noted that Jerry Lee Lewis, who has been described as a conservative Christian and comes from a strong-religious background, did have serious qualms about recording this song. Being a strong Christian, he found it challenging reconciling his Christian beliefs with the lyrics of this song, which he felt were immoral and sinful.