#He saw Elvis nekkid

[tearyeye-private-i]

Jerry Lee Lewis, c. July 1959. From JLL.org

Elvis Presley, Knickerbocker Hotel, Hollywood, August 18, 1956. From ElvisPresleyMusic.com.

[ 12 Days of Christmas 💕 5/12 ]

At the start of my research, I found all sorts of stories, I wasn’t sure were even true. Like, Elvis and Jerry Lee riding around on motorcycles, with no clothes on the streets of Memphis, in the middle of the night? No way – but as time passed, the story got brought up to him three times (from what I know). He had a consistent reaction, that has led me to believe it happened.

Though, the stories are subjective, so you can draw your own conclusion!

The first reference of the story:

“In a crowded basement meeting room at the posh Omni-Memphis Hotel, 20-some journalists are attempting, with difficulty, to grill the subject of the forthcoming film “Great Balls of Fire”

The discussion, which never quite seems to interconnect, has degenerated to a foreign-sounding report’s question about whether the film’s subject, Jerry Lee Lewis – rock music’s archetypal bad boy – ever motorbiked naked with Elvis Presley, his fellow Memphian an ultra-rival.

“Motorbike?” Lewis says, archly, dismissively.

“Nekkid? Me and Elvis Presley?” His eyes suddenly narrow, “how’d you know that?”

“It’s in Joe Smith’s book,” says a reporter.

“You can’t believe nothin’…” Lewis mutters, his voice trailing off. “Well, that was 3 o’clock in the morning,” he suddenly adds, prompting explosive laughter from the journalists. “It really was,” he goes on with a grain.

“There was nobody out then—except this one policeman on a horse, and he was doing his dead-level best to catch us. Now, that was a sight. If anybody woulda saw that, we never woulda sold no more records. That woulda been the end of that.” Pause, his eyes narrowing again. “How’d you know that?”

“It’s in Joe Smith’s book,” the reporter repeats.

“Who’s Joe Smith?”

“The head of Capitol Records. Used to be head of Elektra Records.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous. That’s not right. Do you believe that?”

“You just told us it happened at 3 o’clock in the morning,” the reported notes.

“I can’t believe people will believe anything you say.”

“Well, is it true?” Another reporter asks.

“Yes. It’s true.”

Welcome, folks to talking with the Killer, a 54-year-old rock king dethroned before his time – in fact, before his prime – by the 1958 disclosure of a mad marriage to his 13-year-old second cousin.

The scandal caused Lewis, a Bible college dropout, to fall from rock ‘n’ roll grace into comparative oblivion – made all the more bruising by the fact that he was arguably the most intense performer, and most brilliant self-taught pianist, to ever rattle music stages around the world.”

From “THE KILLER BLOWS SMOKE FOR ‘FIRE’” by Jack Hurst and Country music. Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1989.

The second reference is from the book the reporter mentioned, actually, it’s called “Buddy Holly: Biography” by Ellis Amburn. In it, Ellis wrote that record executive Joe Smith and Jerry Lee spoke on the plane, during Buddy Holly, along with Paul Anka’s tour to Australia. They’d been drinking when Jerry Lee “confessed,” which is the word Ellis used. That yes, indeed, he and Elvis went on a naked motorcycle ride at 2:30 AM in Memphis, in a young Jerry Lee’s own words; “only for thirty-five or forty seconds, ‘round the corner and back.”

The third reference was from “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story” by Rick Bragg. When asked the same question, instead of brushing it off or saying it wasn’t true. Jerry Lee laughed and said he can’t say anything about that because “Elvis isn’t here to defend himself.”

So, while Jerry Lee was right that you can’t believe everything anyone says, that doesn’t mean there aren’t patterns. Maybe, he thought it was funny to lie. Maybe, it happened and so what? It’s just two bros cruising down the street at night, naked on motorbikes, 5 feet apart – ‘cause they’re not gay. 😋

Other important lessons are if you do happen to go motorbiking naked with your supposed arch nemesis, don’t get caught, and don’t tell anyone about it!