On October 28, Bob Dylan finished his concert at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, with a special surprise. He sang a song called “I Can’t Seem to Say Goodbye” to honor Jerry Lee Lewis, a famous rock and roll star who had passed away that same day at age 87.
Before singing, Bob told the crowd, “I don’t know how many of you know, but Jerry Lee’s gone. We’re gonna play this song, one of his. Jerry Lee will live forever. We all know that.” The song was one Jerry Lee recorded a long time ago for his 1970 country music collection called A Taste of Country. It was written by a man named Don Robertson and became pretty popular, reaching No. 7 on a big country music chart.
Bob and Jerry Lee actually met back in 1969 when they were making music in the same building. Bob even wrote a song called “To Be Alone With You” for Jerry Lee, but Jerry didn’t use it because it didn’t match the slower songs he was working on for his album She Still Comes Around (To Love What’s Left of Me). So Bob kept the song and put it on his own album, Nashville Skyline, that same year.
Years later, Jerry Lee sang some of Bob’s songs too! In 1979, he recorded Bob’s song “Rita May” for his own album. Then, in 2014, Jerry Lee sang another Bob song called “Stepchild” on his very last album, Rock & Roll Time. That album also had songs by other big stars like Johnny Cash and Chuck Berry, and famous musicians like Keith Richards and Neil Young joined Jerry Lee to make it extra special.
Bob Dylan is still traveling around the U.K. for his tour until November 7, sharing music from his latest album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, which is his 39th album. His tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis was a sweet way to say goodbye to an old friend through music!
