50 Years Ago: Jerry Lee Lewis Debuts at the Opry, & Burns It Down
This story has been updated.
Many memorable and historical moments have graced the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee during its storied 97-year history, from stunning debuts and duets, to epic moments and memorable anniversaries, and just about everything in between.
The Opry has also had its fair share of controversy transpire on the stage as well, from Bob Wills having the audacity to bring a drum set along from Texas (the horror!), to Johnny Cash kicking out the footlights, to The Byrds getting chirped off stage, and Bill Monroe being served divorce papers.
But nothing has ever happened on the Grand Ole Opry stage, good or bad, that tops the moment that the recently-minted Country Music Hall of Famer and the even more recently dearly departed Jerry Lee Lewis enacted when he made his Grand Ole Opry debut 50 years ago, on January 20th, 1973. Jerry Lee Lewis walked out on the Ryman Auditorium stage, and metaphorically speaking, burned it down.
You can probably appreciate that in 1973, The Grand Ole Opry was quite the prim and proper place, no matter what the rest of popular culture may have been up to (or down with) at that time. The Opry was still very much the domain of Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, and Bill Monroe. It was good clean family entertainment, no different than it is today.
Normally, a rocker wouldn’t even be invited on the Grand Ole Opry stage, especially after the program’s checkered past with rock performers. It wasn’t just The Byrds that were deemed problematic by the crowd. When Elvis Presley made his debut on October 2nd, 1954 singing Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” he bombed so bad, Opry manager Jim Denny reportedly told Elvis to go back to his day job as a truck driver. Elvis Presley never returned to the Opry.
But when Jerry Lee Lewis took the Opry stage, he did so as a country star after switching genres in an attempt to revitalize his career after the whole “marrying your 13-year-old cousin” thing had him falling out with the rock world. By 1973, Jerry Lee Lewis was 37 years old and two years removed from his divorce from sweet Myra Brown, and trying to get his career back in order.
Jerry Lee Lewis hit the ground running in country, and saw early success. But of course, you were nothing in country music in the 60s and 70s if you’d never played the Grand Ole Opry. And so Jerry Lee Lewis was booked, but under two very specific stipulations: no cussing, and no rock and roll. Jerry Lee Lewis was only allowed to play country. Legend states that when The Killer heard this stipulation, his reply was “What country?”
Jerry Lee Lewis would break both of these rules and many more before he was done. At one point, Jerry Lee Lewis stuck his face into the microphone and proclaimed unabashedly, “Let me tell ya something about Jerry Lee Lewis, ladies and gentlemen: I am a rock and rollin’, country-and-western, rhythm and blues-singin’ motherf—-!”
It might have been a smarter move on the Opry’s part to not try and tell Jerry Lee Lewis what not to do at all.
Then came the music. Jerry Lee did play the country song “Another Place, Another Time,” which was the song that had seen Jerry Lee re-enter the charts in 1968 after a good decade without a major hit. But after that, it was a heavy dose of rock and roll. Lewis launched into his signature hits “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On,” breaking stipulation #2 from Opry management.
But Jerry Lee not only ran afoul of the Opry’s initial prerequisites, Lewis also ran over on time. At the Grand Ole Opry in 1973, it was customary for a musician to play two songs, or three at the most, just like today. But Jerry Lee Lewis wouldn’t comply. His fourth and fifth songs were Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues” and Kris Kristofferson’s “Once More With Feeling,” and it didn’t stop there.
It was back into the rock material with “Rock Around the Clock” from Bill Haley and the Comets, and Elvis Presley’s “Mean Woman Blues.” What was supposed to be a 10 minute set stretched to 40, and due to the overrun, the Opry even had to blow through commercial breaks. The management was fuming. Nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the institution.
However, unlike The Byrds and Elvis, everyone in the crowd seemed to love Jerry Lee Lewis, and came to their feet multiple times during the set. Jerry Lee even ingratiated himself to the Grand Ole Opry auxiliary band when he invited Opry pianist Del Wood to join him on “Down Yonder” and complimented her musicianship and hospitality. To many in attendance, they didn’t care about the established rules, and most in the audience probably didn’t even knew them. Jerry Lee Lewis was putting on a show.
Jerry Lee Lewis knew he would never be invited back, and he probably knew the performance would live in infamy. Country music is and was about respecting and upholding traditions and rules. Rock and roll and Jerry Lee Lewis were about breaking them.
In the aftermath, Grand Ole Opry regulars and boosters couldn’t believe what had happened, and were appalled at Jerry Lee’s flaunting of the rules. But nobody has ever forgotten the time when Jerry Lee Lewis took the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. 50 years later, it still lives on in fame, and infamy.
January 21, 2023 @ 10:16 am
That would have been one hell of a show to see. Tradition is nice but sometimes you have to kick it in it’s rear.
January 21, 2023 @ 11:14 am
Although he possessed immense talent Jerry Lee Lewis could be an arrogant a-hole of unbelievable magnitude. The Opry incident was one of many times that he disrespected his audience for no apparent reason. He would sometimes screw around at his concerts with nonsense for the first half hour or so. Then after some folks got tired of it and walked out of the venue he would perform his proper show.
Folks that attended the Opry did not deserve to hear “m-f.” For a guy that claimed to have strong religious beliefs and often played gospel songs, too many times he showed that he had no moral compass. Whatever “point” he may have been trying to make to the Opry was lost when he arrogantly ignored their rules and used profanity. For all of the ill-will and fallout that occurred because of it he just should have refused their invitation to perform. In the end absolutely nothing good came of it and it followed him for years.
Being a rebel that bucks the system is one thing. But to knowingly insult folks that paid their hard-earned money to see you perform is unforgivable. His music and talent was iconic but he was his own worst enemy.
January 21, 2023 @ 1:00 pm
To be fair, all the accounts that I have read about the incident say that the majority of the crowd was into it. It was more the Opry management that was angry. I’m sure there were some that were offended to or didn’t like his set, but some probably just thought it was part of the show, “m-fer” notwithstanding, which I would agree, doesn’t have a place on a family show.
January 25, 2023 @ 10:30 pm
Give him a break.A R&R icon.Nothing fake .He did it hi wayDee Ayabout him.He spread R & R to the World
January 21, 2023 @ 11:17 am
Does any audio or video exist of this performance?
January 21, 2023 @ 3:51 pm
sure is…and he didn’t say motherf,,,,,…it was replaced with muthahumpa…and it didn’ come at the very beginning of the show…the writer took some liberties..
January 21, 2023 @ 11:28 pm
Just embedded the audio up top.
January 24, 2023 @ 6:44 pm
What, pray tell, would anyone expect from a man nicknamed “The Killer”? The Opry has been its own worse enemy for decades. I would rather see and hear Jerry Lee play his piano and sing anything no matter how long I had to wait then to hear a drunk like George Jones try to slosh through a set! Great Balls Of Fire!!!
January 21, 2023 @ 11:18 am
Is there an audio or video recording available?
January 21, 2023 @ 11:40 am
Well, at least when Jerry Lee played the Opry it was no doubt MUSICAL, with strong rhythm. In modern times, I TRY to watch what Opry stuff they put on Circle, but I can’t even last through one song. Is there anyone who plays the Opry today that has any strong RHYTHM in their music? I sure don’t hear it. I mean, on the modern Opry stage, there is usually a drummer and a bassist, but I sure don’t hear those instruments playing! For that matter, the modern stuff I see also doesn’t have any memorable melody, much less any “hook” that you can remember about their tunes. I guess you could say that if I can’t two-step (or waltz) to their music, I’m not interested in listening to it. (Yeah, a slow song is OK now and then, but not EVERY song!)
January 21, 2023 @ 11:51 am
NO one tells Jerry Lee what to do. Managers, publicity agents, booking agents, venue owners and so on, NO ONE could tell him what to do. Not even his wife, or wives as it were. He was the most contrary, ornery curmudgeon anybody ever met. A man who wrote his own rules and defied anyone who told him differently.
Language aside, his performance was one for the ages. On a pure musical level, the man was a sick GENIUS! The way he effortlessly flowed in and out of different musical keys, structures, and tempos, played everything from R&B to blues to Honky-Tonk and all points in between was something that will never be equaled, period. His brain was uniquely wired on a different plane from the rest of us. And now he’s gone…
January 21, 2023 @ 12:32 pm
Well stated!
Could he not be called the original music outlaw?
I can’t say I would have liked to know him… but he was a great music man.
January 21, 2023 @ 1:01 pm
Opry probably would have been better off just telling Jerry Lee to break a leg. Then he might have behaved.
January 21, 2023 @ 1:12 pm
I liked Jerry Lee, but security should have tackled him, beat his ass and kicked him out the door. He deserved it.
January 21, 2023 @ 2:45 pm
Probably the best show security ever got to see at the Opry. They were loving it I bet
January 21, 2023 @ 6:05 pm
That would have made for a good story as well.
January 21, 2023 @ 1:22 pm
Of all the carpetbaggers in country music, Jerry Lee Lewis is my favorite.
January 24, 2023 @ 6:28 am
Jerry Lee Lewis’ roots and influences were from country music (Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams) and played country music from the very beginning of his career. He was certainly a rock and roller, and is rightly acknowledged as a pioneer and a towering figure in the genre, but a country music “carpetbagger”? That just doesn’t resonate….
January 25, 2023 @ 10:52 am
Man. You clearly haven’t heard ole Jerry’s country records. That man had country music in his veins.
January 25, 2023 @ 11:40 am
I agree. That’s why I commented “Of all the carpetbaggers in country music, Jerry Lee Lewis is my favorite.” Of all the rock n rollers turned country, I thought his music was the best.
January 25, 2023 @ 12:19 pm
I think we’re basically on the same page. The term “carpetbagger” suggests someone whose credentials aren’t legit and is simply looking to cash in — a sort of musical interloper, if you will — so that’s where you lost me.
January 21, 2023 @ 1:45 pm
Speaking of Jerry Lee Lewis…. When I was 13 (in the early 1960s), a number of my friends started taking guitar lessons, due to the popularity of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, etc. My friends had new, shiny electric guitars, small amplifiers, etc, so naturally I also wanted to learn to play the guitar. But my parents wouldn’t have any of that. They said “no!” to guitar lessons, but they said I could learn to play a civilized instrument — the piano. But the only pianist role model I could think of back then was Liberace, and while there was no doubt that Liberace could really play the piano well, let’s just say that some of his mannerisms turned me off from the piano. I hadn’t yet heard Jerry Lee Lewis at the time, as he was in his disgraced phase and so was not played on the radio around my location. (I also hadn’t yet discovered great boogie-woogie type pianists such as Pete Johnson or Fats Waller.) So I didn’t take any music lessons at that time.
But when I was 20, I started taking organ, and then piano lessons, because at that time I wanted to play rock-n-roll, and since so many of my friends already played guitar, I figured we needed someone to play different instruments. I wonder how much different my musical life would have been if I had earlier heard Jerry Lee play the piano. To this day I tell folks that if I had heard Jerry Lee’s piano playing when I was a tot, I would have definitely been a boogie-woogie piano player! (As it is today, I don’t put enough practice time in to really pound out that left hand boogie rhythm, but I still prefer rhythmic music.)
January 21, 2023 @ 6:40 pm
I know that this is crazy, and I am surely crazy, but well I was especially crazy when Jan Howard died. I saw her at the Opry and always took inspiration from her songs.
January 21, 2023 @ 10:59 pm
Love Jerry Lee wished I’d been there no one can replace him miss him had his autograph some one stold it from me got lot of his records he’s number one so sad to hear of his passing God bless him may he rest in peace
January 21, 2023 @ 11:04 pm
Found this on YouTube. Looks to be legit. I don’t think he dropped an f bomb, but it’s hard to tell. The part in question begins at 34:15. Sounded like a good time at the Opry in 1973. Wish I could’ve been there.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aqrXaLf0gWg
January 21, 2023 @ 11:26 pm
I have listened to that about a dozen times in a row. Something is weird with that portion of the audio because the music kicks in like the recording was cut and spliced together at some point. As for the word in question, it sounds like he said the magic word to me, but backed off the mic while while saying the second part. That doesn’t mean he didn’t say it. You can find newspaper reports about the incident, and they don’t say he said “muthahumpa.” Scores of history books and biographies also cite that moment. Also, if this was taken from the WSM feed and it was on a delay (which wouldn’t have been unusual for a live event), they could have edited it back at the studio in real time. That might be why the audio sounds cut shortly thereafter.
That said, sometimes everybody is wrong. I changed the wording in the article a bit to try and more accurately reflect that moment.
Good find with the audio. It sounds like the real deal to me.
January 22, 2023 @ 8:59 am
In 1973 it is unlikely that the Opry would have been on a delay. Generally radio talk shows were the only programs utilizing a tape delay in that era. Remember that this was way before digital technology made a delay easy to do. Controversial comments or profanity requiring censorship was rare on the Opry at that time so a tape delay would likely be deemed unnecessary. Most acts appearing on the Opry were respectful and reverent toward the Mother Church Of Country Music. However it is possible a delay was used. It is also possible that the Opry techs may have edited that word after the fact when the show was archived. There appears to be an edit after his comments just before the music begins again
For the record the word “mutha” (without the F part) was commonly used in the black & youth vernacular during that era as a cleaned-up version of M-F. The Smothers Brothers notoriously slipped it past their censors as a punchline in a famous skit.
January 22, 2023 @ 10:03 am
So glad to hear the audio. If you listen to the whole thing, the WSM announcer mentioned Lewis got a standing ovation from the crowd. That’s a BIG deal. Clearly the majority there were not offended and in fact considered his performance noteworthy.
Man, his playing and that band were SMOKIN hot! As I said above, one for the ages…
January 22, 2023 @ 2:15 am
My uncle Junior was a cast member on hee haw I was able to meet mr Lewis a few times he was an absolute gentleman
January 22, 2023 @ 1:46 pm
Oh yeah, your Uncle was Junior Samples? That’s so cool. I bet him and Jerry Lee had a good time doing the show.
January 22, 2023 @ 1:53 pm
Love outlaw Jerry Lee Lewis!! Best muscisian ever
January 24, 2023 @ 5:43 pm
Wish I could have been there.
January 25, 2023 @ 7:39 am
Jerry lee . Was a wild man . He lived his life the way he wanted. And wud tell people to kiss his ass. He made Milwaukee famous..r.I.p
January 28, 2023 @ 10:10 pm
It is important to remember the context of the 1970’s , the technology of telecommunications, and the importance of The Grand Ole Opry to an aspiring country music artist’s success. The National Association of Broadcasters, which WSM Radio and Television stations were members in good standing in, was much stricter about what could or could not be broadcast over the air, than was the Federal Communications Commission. The NAB’s definition of vulgarity is almost common language in today’s mass media. Also, the Grand Ole Opry was and still is, a Commercial for profit, radio and television show. Commercials and timing are extremely important, because every second is worth a certain amount of current and future revenue with advertisers and broadcasting companies. Jerry Lee’s use of vulgarity could have caused WSM’s Radio and TV stations to be kicked out of the NAB, which would have effectively put the broadcast division of National Life Insurance company out of business. As far as the scandal regarding Jerry Lee’s marriage to his 13 year old cousin, this was not a deal breaker to potentially becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast. Quite frankly, intermarriage was and is still, somewhat socially acceptable in some portions of the US; and in other parts of the world. In some parts of the US, intermarriage was socially acceptable to “keep the blood lines pure, because the nobility in the Old Country, Europe, had done it for generations ” Of course, this practice was kept fairly confidential among the people, who typically ranged from being illiterate to being permanently ignorant and indoctrinated against science. This indoctrination against science, ignorance, and narrow mind thinking is still far too prevalent today. On air Behavior like Jerry Lee Lee’s, would not be tolerated at the Grand Ole Opry today, even though the NAB is much less powerful than they were 50 years ago. The Opry is still a family oriented show, still a Commercial for profit enterprise, and is still somewhat conservative in the allowable program material. Even in this day and age, WSM RADIO is stoll very reliant Upton conforming with the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission.
January 28, 2023 @ 10:11 pm
It is important to remember the context of the 1970’s , the technology of telecommunications, and the importance of The Grand Ole Opry to an aspiring country music artist’s success. The National Association of Broadcasters, which WSM Radio and Television stations were members in good standing in, was much stricter about what could or could not be broadcast over the air, than was the Federal Communications Commission. The NAB’s definition of vulgarity is almost common language in today’s mass media. Also, the Grand Ole Opry was and still is, a Commercial for profit, radio and television show. Commercials and timing are extremely important, because every second is worth a certain amount of current and future revenue with advertisers and broadcasting companies. Jerry Lee’s use of vulgarity could have caused WSM’s Radio and TV stations to be kicked out of the NAB, which would have effectively put the broadcast division of National Life Insurance company out of business. As far as the scandal regarding Jerry Lee’s marriage to his 13 year old cousin, this was not a deal breaker to potentially becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast. Quite frankly, intermarriage was and is still, somewhat socially acceptable in some portions of the US; and in other parts of the world. In some parts of the US, intermarriage was socially acceptable to “keep the blood lines pure, because the nobility in the Old Country, Europe, had done it for generations ” Of course, this practice was kept fairly confidential among the people, who typically ranged from being illiterate to being permanently ignorant and indoctrinated against science. This indoctrination against science, ignorance, and narrow mind thinking is still far too prevalent today. On air Behavior like Jerry Lee Lee’s, would not be tolerated at the Grand Ole Opry today, even though the NAB is much less powerful than they were 50 years ago. The Opry is still a family oriented show, still a Commercial for profit enterprise, and is still somewhat conservative in the allowable program material.
June 25, 2024 @ 5:10 pm
One of best shows ever. When he was banned from TV and radio about 1969 saw him with Jerry Lee jr(who got killed in accident) in small club in Clearwater, Fl. He also played a lot of guitar that night besides piano. Natural talent .