There’s Much to be Learned from The Killer

I ride the metro alone ten times per week on average. I can best describe my daily commute by misquoting Dorothy Parker’s description of Katherine Hepburn’s acting,  I’ve seen “the entire gamut from A to B”—every day and every ride is virtually the same, sort of. In the mornings I read or write for most of the thirty-minute one-way trip. In the afternoons I complete the majority of a Sudoku puzzle and/or listen to my iPod. I get thirty minutes every day with the music that defined my last four decades on earth.

Depending on my mood and what appeals to me on any given day, I scroll through the menu and find one of my musical inspirations; and, as with countless other examples, I tend to get a bit obsessive. Since January I have listened to my entire collections of the Doors, Prince, J. Geils, G. Love, Axl N’ Roses, and the Sugar Hill Gang (OK, OK just Rapper’s Delight but all 14 minutes several times over)—to name a few.

The Killer

This morning after I settled into my seat on the train, I realized I had no book to read and not much to say either, so I put in my ear buds and fired up the Classic. That’s when I found The Killer—Jerry Lee Lewis. When Gwaz and I were only 17 years old she introduced me to Jerry Lee via an 8-track tape of his greatest hits…you know, Chantilly Lace, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Great Balls of Fire, Breathless-ah. Jerry Lee made his first public appearance in 1949 at age 14 and his first recording in 1956. His latest cd, Last Man Standing, (2006, aged 71) is as much testament to his legendary status as to what he has meant to pop culture. I’m thinkin’ to him the part in the middle is one big blur. The guy lived at break-neck speed. (He was one of the original ten inductees at the Cleveland Museum of Music.)

So there I was sitting alone, listening to Jerry Lee sing his song, Mean Ole Man. I was staring out the window at the same Dutch rail line that I’ve seen twice a day, almost every day when Jerry Lee said, “Thank God I can still do it.”

I thought, “Amen to that.”

That’s about the time it occurred to me that there is much to be learned from The Killer:

• ·      Try to marry the right person in fewer than seven tries
• ·      Make sure you actually divorce the first one before marrying the second
• ·      Make sure you actually divorce the second one before marrying the third
• ·      Make sure your third wife is not your 13 year old cousin
• ·      Too much love drives a man insane
• ·      When you visit Graceland drunk, don’t brandish a handgun while summoning the King
• ·      When your ex-wife drowns, have a good alibi; but stick to just the one
• ·      Trouble is called “trouble” for good reason, so no matter what…never, ever give up
• ·      Make workin’ feel like you’re playin’