Folk music by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Jerry Lee Lewis's contributions to rock and country music are fairly well known; there were four million-sellers in the fifties and from 1968 on he has been a major success on the country charts. This doesn't mean that Lewis didn't record any other songs; in fact, when taking a glance on his recorded output (Sun Records as well as beyond), one will realize his eclecticism.

Outside his country and blues (incuding blues, boogie woogie, rhythm & blues and rock & roll) based repertoire, he also recorded folk/trad./public domain songs, gospel, ragtime and jazz influenced music, Tin Pan Alley songs, and contemporary pop music (including soul). The oldest of these must be the folk songs - belonging to public domain territory - and are often labelled as traditional music.

Commercially, Jerry Lee Lewis was not successful as a folk singer, nor did he influence other people with this brand of music. Whether or not he performed them well depends on the taste and ears of the listener. The following list comprises all known folk songs recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis. Information is added to some of the titles.

Crawdad Song (a.k.a. 'Crawdad Hole'), 1956
Silver Threads Among The Gold (Hart Pease Danks), 1956
Goodnight Irene (Lead Belly), 1956
I Don't Love Nobody, 1956
All Night Long, 1957
Old Time Religion, 1957
When The Saints Go Marching In, 1957
Dixie ('I Wish I Was In Dixie') - instrumental - (Daniel Decatur Emmett), 1957
The Marines' Hymn ('From The Halls Of Montezuma') - instrumental - (melody written by Jacques Offenbach), 1957
Love Letters In The Sand (based on 19th century folk song 'The Spanish Cavalier'), 1957
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (a.k.a. 'Hand Me Down My Walking Shoes') (James A. Bland), 1957
Frankie & Johnny (a.k.a. 'Frankie & Albert'), 1958
The Ballad Of Billy Joe (contemporary folk), 1959
Old Black Joe (Stephen Foster), 1960
Baby Baby Bye Bye (based on 'The Old Gray Mare', 'Old Abe Lincoln' & 'Down In Alabam'), 1960
The Great Speckled Bird (based on 'I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes', which had it's roots in a much older ballad), 1960
Billy Boy (a.k.a. 'Charming Billy'), 1960
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, 1960
John Henry ('The Steel Drivin' Man'), 1960
My Pretty Quadroon, 1962
Just Who Is To Blame (contemporary folk), 1963
Carry Me Back To Old Virginia (James A. Bland), 1963
He Took It Like A Man (Jerry Lee Lewis), 1963
Corrine, Corrina (a.k.a. 'Alberta, Alberta'), 1965
Danny Boy (based on the melody of 'Londonderry Air'), 1965
"Ring Of Fire" (Johnny Cash), 1965
"Walk Right In", 1965
"Lincoln Limousine" (Jerry Lee Lewis), 1966
"Louisiana Man" (Doug Kershaw), 1968
"Gotta Travel On", 1969
"Reuben James", (Kenny Rodgers), 1970
"Me and Bobby McGee", (Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster), 1971
"Early Morning Rain", 1973
"Rita Mae" (a.k.a. 'Rita May') (Bob Dylan), 1979
"Beautiful Dreamer", (Stephen Foster), 1986
"What Makes The Irish Heart Beat", (Van Morrisson), 2006

These are all studio recordings, spanning five decades. So Lewis' recorded folk repertoire is relatively small when compared to the amount of his country/rock efforts. It is possible to add some live cuts to the above list: "We Three Kings", "Take Me Out To The Ball Game", "The Love In Innocence, Anarchy & Soul", "Stagger Lee" (a.k.a. "Stack-O-Lee"), "The Ballad Of 40 Dollars", "This Land Is Your Land (This Land Is My Land)", "Swanee River".

Furthermore, there are the tracks that weren't strictly 'folk', but were clearly folk influenced: "Jambalaya", "Hillbilly Music" (a.k.a. "Hillbilly Fever"), "Home", "Night Train To Memphis".