My Fingers Do The Talkin'
Studio album by
Jerry Lee Lewis
ReleasedJanuary 1983
VenueEast Nashville, Tennessee
StudioWoodland Studios
GenreCountry, rock
LabelMCA
ProducerRon Chancey
Jerry Lee Lewis chronology
The Survivors Live
(1982)		 My Fingers Do The Talkin'
(1983)		 I Am What I Am
(1984)

My Fingers Do The Talkin' is Jerry Lee Lewis' first album for MCA, released in January 1983.[1] The album peaked at No. 62 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.[2]

Recording

After breaking up with Elektra, Lewis moved to MCA to record two albums in the early 1980s. My Fingers Do The Talkin' was Jerry Lee's last solo studio album to make its way into Billboard's Top Country Albums chart until Last Man Standing revived his career in 2006.[3] It offers a similar mix of rock ‘n roll and country songs as the albums he made for Elektra, containing material from many familiar songwriters, including Sonny Throckmorton, and Mack Vickery. "Better Not Look Down" is one of the more notable songs; a minor hit for BB King [4] with a message on persevering in the face of life's challenges[5] that fitted well with the Killer's struggles at the time. The album delivered his last three singles to hit the US country charts, with the title song reaching #44[6][7] obtaining lukewarm (2.5/5 and 3.67/5) ratings at the AllMusic and Discogs platforms [8][9]

The album was created during a turbulent period in Lewis' career. He struggled with the Internal Revenue Service,[10][11] his fourth wife drowned in 1982 and his fifth wife died in 1983 within three months of their marriage.[12] The latter death resulting in never proven rumours of murder.[13]

Track listing

  1. "My Fingers Do The Talkin'" (Bill Taylor – Buck Moore)
  2. "She Sure Makes Leaving Look Easy" (Sonny Throckmorton)
  3. "Why You Been Gone So Long" (Mickey Newbury)
  4. "She Sings Amazing Grace" (Bill Rice, Jerry Foster)
  5. "Better Not Look Down" (Joe Sample, Will Jennings)
  6. "Honky Tonk Rock And Roll Piano Man" (Steve Collom)
  7. "Come As You Were" (Paul Craft)
  8. "Circumstantial Evidence" (Fred Koller)
  9. "Forever Forgiving" (Mack Vickery)
  10. "Honky Tonk Heaven" (Larry Henley, Billy Burnette[14])

Personnel

  • Jerry Lee Lewis – vocals, keyboards
  • Shane Keister – keyboards
  • Billy Sanford, Jerry Shook, Kenny Lovelace – electric guitar
  • Jerry Shook, James Capps, Kenny Lovelace – acoustic guitar
  • Billy Sanford – mandolin
  • Kenny Lovelace – fiddle
  • Joe Osborne, Jack Williams – bass
  • Gene Chrisman – drums, percussion
  • Harvey Thompson, Ronald Eades, Charles Rose, Harrison Calloway – Muscle Shoals Horns
  • Lea Jane Berinati, Donna McElroy, Yvonne Hodges, Shri Huffman, Diane Tidwell, Lisa Silver, Karen Taylor, Judy Rodman, Donna Sheridon – backing vocals

References

  1. ↑ "LP Discography: Jerry Lee Lewis – Discography".
  2. ↑ "Jerry Lee Lewis | Biography, Music & News". Billboard.
  3. ↑ "Chart Beat". Billboard.
  4. ↑ B._B._King_discography
  5. ↑ "The Meaning Behind the Song: Better Not Look Down by B.B. King". 5 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Lewis would hit the US single charts one last time in 1996 with "Sixteen Candles", a song taken from the Class of '55 album with Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins,
  7. ↑ Jerry_Lee_Lewis_discography
  8. ↑ "Jerry Lee Lewis – My Fingers do the Talkin' Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  9. ↑ "Jerry Lee Lewis – My Fingers do the Talkin'". Discogs. 1982.
  10. ↑ "AROUND THE NATION; Jerry Lee Lewis Found Not Guilty of Tax Charge". The New York Times. 19 October 1984.
  11. ↑ "Jerry Lee Lewis' Desperate Struggle with Bankruptcy". 15 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "Jerry Lee Lewis: A toxic cocktail of scandal, addiction and violence". BBC news. 28 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "The Strange and Mysterious Death of MRS. Jerry Lee Lewis". Rolling Stone. March 1984.
  14. ↑ The album's liner notes refer to Bill Burnett as one of the composers, but other sources list his almost namesake Billy Burnette as the co-composer, e.g., https://nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/Site/inductee?entry_id=4912. Larry and Billy cooperated on more songs, see: https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/8776/works#nav-entity
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