| "High School Confidential" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Jerry Lee Lewis and His Pumping Piano | ||||
| B-side | "Fools like Me" | |||
| Released | May 20, 1958 | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Length | 2:27 | |||
| Label | Sun 296 | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Sam Phillips | |||
| Jerry Lee Lewis singles chronology | ||||
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"High School Confidential" is a 1958 song written by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ron Hargrave (and copyrighted in both their names on January 28, 1958) as the title song of the MGM movie of the same name directed by Jack Arnold. [1]
Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the song at the Sun Studio on February 14, then went to California, where the director set him, his bass player Jay W. Brown, his road drummer Russ Smith, and their instruments on the top of a flatbed truck and had Lewis lip-synch the song to a crowd of fake high school kids. [2] During this session Lewis recorded at least 14 takes of "High School Confidential" (no other songs were recorded), but at that time not a single take from this session was released. The takes from this session were officially released only in early 1980s: one take on Sun LP 1004 Wild One at the High School Hop (UK, 1982) and three takes on Charly Records 12-LP boxed set Jerry Lee Lewis: The Sun Years (UK, 1983). Lewis returned to this song on April 24, 1958, when he recorded three down tempo takes of it. The splice of two takes (3 and 1) from this session was released as the side A of the single Sun 296 [3] in May 1958 (doubled by UK single by London Records HLS.8780 in January 1959), on EP Sun EPA 110 (UK RES.1187) and on the first self-titled album by Lewis, Sun LP-1230 (UK HAS.2138), all US releases in the same year 1958. [4] [5] The film version was never released.
The Sun Records picture sleeve for the 45 single featured cast members Diane Jergens, Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, and Mamie Van Doren behind a superimposed image of Lewis. [6]
Lewis recorded a live version of the song with the British band The Nashville Teens on the landmark 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg , regarded critically as one of the greatest live albums in rock and roll history.
The song was performed by Lewis in the 1972 concert at Wembley Stadium in the UK and appeared in the 1973 documentary of the concert entitled The London Rock and Roll Show .
The song is featured in the 1983 film Breathless starring Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky.
"High School Confidential" was performed live on a 1983 Dick Clark TV special featuring Lewis on piano and vocals, Keith Richards on guitar, Mick Fleetwood on drums, and Gary Busey on vocals.
The song appeared in the 1989 Orion Pictures biopic Great Balls of Fire! in a new recording by Lewis. The song also appeared on the motion picture soundtrack album on Polydor Records.
The song was released on May 20, 1958 as a Sun single, Sun 296, backed with "Fools like Me" in 1958 and reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 9 on the country chart, No. 5 on the R & B chart, and No. 12 on the British pop charts. [7] The single reached No. 13 on the Canadian charts. [8] The single was also certified Gold by the RIAA. [9]
| Chart (1958) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 21 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot C&W Sellers [10] | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Sellers [11] | 5 |
| U.K. Singles Chart | 12 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 13 |
Jerry Lee Lewis was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock 'n' roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential".
"Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 popular song recorded by American rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone. It is written in AABA form. It sold one million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United States making it one of the best-selling singles in the United States at that time.
"Promised Land" is a song lyric written by Chuck Berry to the melody of "Wabash Cannonball", an American folk song. The song was first recorded in this version by Berry in 1964 for his album St. Louis to Liverpool. Released in December 1964, it was Berry's fourth single issued following his prison term for a Mann Act conviction. The record peaked at #41 in the Billboard charts on January 16, 1965.
"Chantilly Lace" is a 1958 rock and roll song by The Big Bopper. It was produced by Jerry Kennedy, and reached No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Bruce Channel covered the song on his 1962 album, Hey! Baby. The song was also covered by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1972.
"Pledging My Love" is a blues ballad. It was written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey and published in 1954.
Jerry Lee Lewis is the debut album by American musician and rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, released in 1958 on Sun Records.
"Lewis Boogie" is a song written by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1956 and released as a single in June 1958 on Sun Records, Sun 301, backed with "The Return of Jerry Lee". The recording was reissued in 1979 as a 7" 45 single as Sun 29 as part of the Sun Golden Treasure Series. The song was also released in the UK and Canada as a single.
"City Lights" is an American country music song written by Bill Anderson on August 27, 1957. He recorded it on a small Texas label called TNT Records in early 1958 to little acclaim. The song was first cut by Anderson in 1957 at the campus of the University of Georgia. In June 1958, Ray Price recorded it and his version hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs singles chart in August 1958. Mickey Gilley's version also hit number 1 in June 1975.
This is a detailed discography for American rock and roll, country, and gospel singer-songwriter Jerry Lee Lewis (1935–2022). One of the pioneers of rockabilly, Lewis recorded over 40 albums in a career spanning seven decades. Lewis was a versatile artist, and recorded songs in multiple genres. Lewis, in 1986, was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was the last surviving rock and roll pioneer of Sun Records. Some of his best known songs are "Great Balls of Fire", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", and "High School Confidential". His album, Live at the Star Club, Hamburg, is widely considered one of the greatest live concert albums ever. In his lengthy career in music, Lewis had 30 songs reach the top ten on the "Billboard Country-and-Western" chart. Lewis was regarded as one of the greatest and most influential pianists of the rock and roll era, and was ranked number 24 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
"To Make Love Sweeter For You" is a song written by George Morgan and performed by Jerry Lee Lewis. The song was Jerry Lee Lewis' third number one on the country chart and his first since "Great Balls of Fire" in 1958. "To Make Love Sweeter For You" stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of thirteen weeks on the country chart.
"You Win Again" is a 1952 song by Hank Williams. In style, the song is a blues ballad and deals with the singer's despair with his partner. The song has been widely covered, including versions by Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, the Grateful Dead, Charley Pride, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones.
"Boppin' the Blues" is a 1956 song written by Carl Perkins and Howard "Curley" Griffin and released as a single on Sun Records in May 1956. The single was released as a 45 and 78, Sun 243, backed with "All Mama's Children", a song co-written by Perkins with Sun labelmate Johnny Cash.
"Breathless" is a song composed by Otis Blackwell. It was the fourth record by Jerry Lee Lewis, whose version was released in February 1958 on Sun Records. It spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #7 in April 1958. The song also reached #4 on the country chart, #3 on the R&B chart, and #8 in the UK. The B-side, "Down the Line", also charted in 1958, reaching #51 on the Billboard pop singles chart. It was re-released in 1979 as part of the Sun Records Golden Treasure Series as Sun #25 and on the Quality label in Canada in 1958. The song was also featured in the 1983 film Breathless starring Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky along with the Jerry Lee Lewis song "High School Confidential".
"Careless Hands" is a popular song written by Carl Sigman and Bob Hilliard, and first recorded in 1948.
Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 2 is the 11th album by Jerry Lee Lewis, released on Smash Records in 1969.
The Return of Rock is the fourth album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1965.
"End of the Road" is a song written and performed by musician Jerry Lee Lewis. Recorded in 1956, and released as a single in December of that year on Sun Records, the single was backed with Lewis' cover of the Ray Price song "Crazy Arms". The recording was reissued in 1979 as a 7" 45 single as Sun 14 as part of the Sun Golden Treasure Series. The song was also released in Canada in 1956 as a 45 single on Quality Records.
"Baby Baby Bye Bye" is a song recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis and released as a single in March 1960 on Sun Records, Sun 337, featuring the Gene Lowery Singers, backed with "Old Black Joe". The recording was reissued in 1969 as a 7" 45 single as Sun 42 as part of the Sun Golden Treasure Series. The song was also released in the UK in 1960 as a 45 single on London Records as HLS 9131.
"Baby, Hold Me Close" is a song written by Jerry Lee Lewis and Bob Tubert and released as a single by Lewis in the U.S. in February 1965 on Smash Records. The song was also released in the UK in 1965 as a 45 single on Philips Records.
"Fools like Me" is a song by Jerry Lee Lewis, who released it as a single, with "High School Confidential" on the other side, in 1958 on Sun Records.
