4
Cool Love
Country star Tex Ritter announces
Wanda’s performance of Cool Love- the eventual fl ipside to Let’s Have A
Party – on the Town Hall Party TV show
as “Real Cool”, ushering in a showing of
utter rockin’ perfection. Joined again by
the fret fl utterings of guitar master Joe
Maphis on an impressive-looking double-
headed electric, Wanda – in trademark
fringe dress – is joined by the cast of the
show. Interestingly, it was while performing
on the show that Jackson fi rst heard The
Collins Kids playing Let’s Have A Party – “I
thought, ‘Boy, that’s a cute song,’” she told
Clash. “So I learned it, and started opening
my shows with it, and gosh, people loved it.”
And a carefree hit was born.
5
Fujiyama
Mama
“I’ve been
to Nagasaki,
Hiroshima
too!/ The
things I did
to them
baby, I can
do to you!” This hiccupping classic is a
cover version of an R&B swinger written
by Jack Hammer and fi rst released in the
mid-50s (also on Capitol) by the sublimely
voiced Annisteen Allen. Astonishingly,
Wanda’s version made No.1 in Japan despite
its explosive – what would now be seen
as highly inappropriate – lyrical simile
comparing sexual passion to the dropping of
the atom bomb. Hmm. Back then, however,
it went down a storm, in part thanks to a
cracking guitar solo and, of course, Jackson’s
incendiary vocal prowess. Those seeking
out their live fi x should check out her
performance – at 74 years of age, no less –
with Jack White and band for the Wanda
Live! At Third Man Records album.6
Let’s Have A Party
As Wanda sings “movin’ and
a-groovin’s gonna satisfy my soul” on
this, the 1960 cross-Atlantic hit taken from
her 1958 eponymous debut album, it’s clear
that it’s intended as a whole heap of fun and
nothing else. And there’s nought wrong with
that. Written by Texan-born LA songwriter
Jessie Mae Robinson, Let’s Have A Party
was another to be sung – and made famous
by – Elvis, this time in the movie Loving
Yo u. Elvis may
have recorded
it fi rst, but
Wanda’s
snarling
vocals claim
it as her own.
Check out her
live rendition- surrounded
by balloons no less – on late-60s Nashville
TV show Billy Walker’s Country Carnival - “You knocked ’em out, Wanda,” says host
Walker. “I knocked myself out!” comes
Wanda’s reply. Wanda’s version was later
used as part of the soundtrack for the Robin
Williams fi lm, Dead Poet’s Society.
7
Thunder
On The
Mountain
It had been a
while since
Wanda had
put out a
studio album – fi ve years to be precise –
but when she sidled up to modern-indie
bluesman Jack White the product was the
aptly-named collection The Party Ain’t Over,
a White-produced set fuelled with as big a
serving of gusto as any in her catalogue –
and referencing that timeless hit Let’s Have
A Party. A cover of Bob Dylan’s original
from his 2006 Modern Times album, this
track was built for Wanda and is a clear
standout on the record – the accompanying
video is well worth a watch too.8
Black Cab Sessions
One more vastly different
appearance in the company of Jack
White, is
this intimate
acoustic
session
recordedin the back of a London cab that includes
playful sections of Funnel Of Love, Jimmie
Rodgers’ Blue Yodel No.6 (with some expert
yodelling from Wanda), as well as Presley’s
Like A Baby – the whole time with the cab
driven by actor-comedian John C Reilly.
“Elvis wasn’t that good lookin’,” jokes White
as he claims Wanda as his new girlfriend.
“Oh he was too... Are you kiddin’!? Maybe
not as good lookin’ as you, but right up there
with ya,” replies Wanda, before telling a
story about Elvis getting his quiff permed.
Priceless.9
Yo u
Know
I’m No
Good
She’s known as
a legend of both
rockabilly and
country music,
but when a 74-year old Wanda showed up
on the UK’s TV screens to bring in 2011 on
Jools Holland’s Hootenanny and absolutely
owned Any Winehouse’s You Know I’m
No Good backed by Jools himself on piano
and his band, her incredible versatility
was vindicated yet again. Her other
performances that night – Rip It Up and
Let’s Have A Party – are also recommended
viewing for Wanda fans.10
Tore Down
Soon after her musical fl ing with
Jack White, Jackson teamed up
with Steve Earle’s son, celebrated guitarist
and producer Justin Townes Earle, to
record 2012’s Unfi nished Business, a laid-
back classic that distilled Jackson’s sound
beautifully. This wonderful cover of the
60s Freddy King original opened the album
and arrived with a Seth Graves-directed
video in which Wanda fronts an all-girl
band, cut with footage of three rockabilly
chicks wielding fl ick-knives at leering men,
smashing car windscreens and generally
being pretty badass. Aside from the many
cameos from musicians here, keep your eyes
open for porn star Ron Jeremy.Wanda Jackson