Includes bibliographical references (pages 477-481) and index.

Introduction: Jolson in the river -- The father of waters -- Whiskey in the ditches two feet deep -- The big house -- Mr. Paul -- Sun -- "I been wantin' to meet that piano player" -- Too hot to rock -- England -- "Who wants some of this?" -- American wildness -- "He who steals my name" -- Jet planes and hearses -- The year of the gun -- "Babies in the air" -- The fork in the road -- Last man standing -- Stone garden -- Epilogue: Killer.

"A memoir from a monumental figure on the American landscape, Jerry Lee Lewis, who spent his childhood raising hell in Ferriday, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi; galvanized the world with hit records like "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire," that gave rock and roll its devil's edge; caused riots and boycotts with his incendiary performances; nearly scuttled his career by marrying his thirteen-year-old second cousin--his third wife of seven; ran a decades-long marathon of drugs, drinking, and women; nearly met his maker, twice; suffered the deaths of two sons and two wives, and the indignity of an IRS raid that left him with nothing but the broken-down piano he started with; performed with everyone from Elvis Presley to Keith Richards to Bruce Springsteen to Kid Rock--and survived it all to be hailed as "one of the most creative and important figures in American popular culture and a paradigm of the Southern experience"" --Provided by publisher