Words Worth Noting - March 22, 2026

“My favorite reprobate, Jerry Lee Lewis, was so wonderfully gifted that no one has ever been able to produce anything more than plastic mechanical imitations of his music. They reconstruct the bones, but there is no life. Ranked among the five most original and influential pianists of the last century, he had no piano lessons and could not read music. When asked, he would drawl, ‘It was God who gave me my talent. I don’t question God. He can cut my water off anytime.’ The water flowed for more than 70 years. On his 80th birthday he played before a packed house at the London Palladium. Anyone who doesn’t know that Jerry Lee Lewis is an original musical genius has never gotten acquainted with his work. He died at 87 professing his faith in ‘the unlimited grace of Almighty God.’ With a nod to Oscar Wilde, Our Lord calls great saints and great sinners. Respectable folk can be Episcopalians.”

Brent Forrest in Gilbert: The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 28 #6 (July/August 2025)