Tom Jones International

Our friend AF sent us the book discussed below and we found this interesting (when we have time we’ll post the entire interview). This is posted as a look at Tom’s musical judgment, not for any other purpose. Let us say up front that just about anyone reading this site agrees that Tom should join Jerry Lee and all those other early influences in the Hall, and not again comment repeatedly about it. Thanks!

It’s certainly no secret that (1) Jerry Lee Lewis is Tom’s favorite singer and that (2) he’s felt that way for most of his life.

In a 1981 book about Lewis called Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, author Robert Cain interviewed Tom who said, “As far as contemporary music from the fifties on, Jerry Lee Lewis has been my biggest influence. I’ve bought more records of Jerry Lee Lewis than any other entertainer.”

And, of course, we all know that Tom’s biggest hit, Green Green Grass of Home was from a Jerry Lee album called Country Songs for City Folk, that Tom found in the (late, lamented) Colony Record Shop in New York City. We also know how he gleefully introduces End of the Road today: “This is a JERRY LEEEEE LEWIS song!”

Thus, this exchange between Tom and Cain should not be a surprise:

Cain: If there were such a ting as a rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame, where would you rank Jerry Lewis in that place?

Jones: Well, for my own personal taste, I would think that he would be Number One.

Five years later, in 1986, in New York City, the first group of performers inducted into the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included: Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Fats Domino, James Brown, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers AND Jerry Lee Lewis. [Also inducted hat same year were non-performers Sam Phillips — founder of Sun Records — and Alan Freed — the DJ who, while working in Cleveland coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll" and, later, while on WINS radio in New York produced amazing shows that played during Christmas (at the Times Square Paramount) and Easter (at the Brooklyn Paramount) vacations that featured just abut all of the performers mentioned above, plus a few more.]