When Jack White asked Wanda Jackson to record the risque Amy Winehouse song, “You Know I’m No Good,” the legendary rock/rockabilly singer balked. She is 74, after all, and a born-again Christian to boot. “It’s too sexually explicit,” Jackson said she told White. “And besides that, it’s not age appropriate.” So, the two compromised. The music producer wrote some new lyrics for the problem parts, and Jackson wound up recording the song for her White-produced album “The Party Ain’t Over.”
The Oklahoma-born singer with the distinctive growl did “No Good,” plus a ton of hits from a career that began in the 1950s, at the Granada Theater last night. Highlights: “Riot in Cell Block #9” and “Mean, Mean Man.” The smallish but adoring crowd included fedora-wearing hipsters as well as oldsters with mile-high, bouffant hairdos. They made it clear that Jackson is revered big-time as a gutsy pioneer among rock/rockabilly women.
And, so did Wanda. She recently toured with Adele, who credits Jackson’s “Funnel of Love” song with inspiring Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” Wanda said. And, she revealed that author Stephen King has written the liner notes for her new album, Unfinished Business, coming out Oct. 9. “He said some nice things about me,” Jackson said matter-of-factly. “If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have used him.”
