‘Chantilly Lace’ was a ‘one-take wonder’
This week in 1972: The U.S. Senate passed The Equal Rights Amendment; The U.S. called a halt to a Paris peace parley on Vietnam; President Richard Nixon asked Congress to halt busing to achieve deseg regat i o n ; and a singer from Ferriday, La., had his 32nd hit record.
Lots of hit records were recorded in just one take, while others took cut after cut before that final recording was in the can.
According to record producer Jerry Kennedy, Jerry Lee Lewis’ 1972 hit “Chantilly Lace” was one of those “one-take wonders.” Kennedy commented, “That recording session was more like a party and we only did the song one time. When we played it back, we were sure that we could never do it any better so that was it. Jerry Lee did a lot of talking on that record and the recording wound up being about eight minutes long, which was just too much. So we cut it down and I think the official time listed on the record is 2:50. It was a fun session!”
Lewis’ Mercury Records single “Chantilly Lace” came on the country music charts March 11, 1972, made it to No. 1 and stuck there for three weeks. It was his 32nd charted song and was on the charts for 15 weeks.
“Chantilly Lace” was written by Jiles Perry “The Big Bopper” Richardson—who recorded the song for Pappy Daily’s D records. The recording was purchased by Mercury Records and released in the summer of 1958. The single reached the pop music top 10 and wound up as one of the years’ most popular pop records.
Jerry Lee Lewis’ version peaked at No. 43 on the pop charts and was a No. 1 country record.
Lewis placed 65 songs on the country music charts between 1957 and 1989, including six No. 1s.
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Doug Davis & The Good Ole Boys will perform at 10 a.m. today at The Gardens on East 42nd Street.