On This Day in 1972, Jerry Lee Lewis Turns a Flirty Telephone Call Into a No. 1 Hit With “Chantilly Lace”

The landscape of rock music shifted forever in July 1957, when Jerry Lee Lewis made his TV debut on The Steve Allen Show. For more than seven decades, the Louisiana-born rockabilly pioneer churned out hit after hit, including “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On.” Lewis kept going right up until his death on Oct. 28, 2022, at age 87. On this day in 1972, he topped the charts with his version of The Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.”

Videos by American Songwriter

Jerry Lee Lewis Embraced His Rock n’ Roll Roots on “Chantilly Lace”

After rocketing to global fame with 1957’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” Jerry Lee Lewis took a hit to his public image following his marriage to 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, his first cousin once removed. Lewis was 22 years old at the time.

In 1968, Lewis revived his career with his cover of Jerry Chestnut’s “Another Place, Another Time.” The song’s success marked Lewis’ pivot to country music. However, the four-time Grammy Award winner reminded listeners just how much he could rock out with his 1972 cover of “Chantilly Lace.”

Written by Jerry Foster, Bill Rice, and The Big Bopper, who released the song in 1958, “Chantilly Lace” depicts one side of a flirty telephone conversation. The narrator, a young man, lists his girlfriend’s positive attributes: Chantilly lace and a pretty face / And a ponytail hangin’ down / A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk / Make the world go ’round.

“It Was a Mess”

Because Jerry Lee Lewis wanted to steer clear of overdubbing on the record, 10 musicians and six backing singers crammed themselves into the Mercury Records’ studio in Nashville to record “Chantilly Lace.”

 “He wanted everybody there,” producer Jerry Kennedy recounted to Lewis biographer Nick Tosches. “He didn’t want anything overdubbed later. It was a mess. We had an acre of people there—voices, strings, everything. And, as always, Jerry Lee started changin’ keys, and the arranger was goin’ crazy, havin’ to rewrite stuff for the string section..”

[RELATED: Behind the History and Meaning of the Classic Jerry Lee Lewis Hit, “Great Balls of Fire”]

It paid off, as the song spent three weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. “Chantilly Lace” also cracked the top 50 on the U.S. Pop Singles Chart, reaching the top 40 in the United Kingdom.

Featured image by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images