Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Mae West Singing "Light My Fire"

"There are no good girls gone wrong...just bad girls found out"

This sounds like the lyrics of a rock song, but instead, these are words from the tongue of Mae West, one of the most famous actresses of the 1930s. This sassy bombshell certainly knew how to play the bad girl, both onscreen and off. With her hefty bosom and her opulent hips, she knew how to sashay around a room and magnetically attract men to herself. Mae West was a refreshing sensation in the 1930s and 1940s, and as she got older, she didn't let her age stop her from enjoying life to its fullest. 

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough" she famously said. She opened up her own one-woman show in Las Vegas where she surrounded herself on stage with wall-to-wall muscle men, invested in real estate, wrote several books, and also recorded two rock-n-roll albums. Her first album, cleverly titled "Way Out West" ( 1966 ), became a surprise chart topper and a few crazy teens actually danced to Mae singing such pop hits as "Twist and Shout", "Shakin' All Over" and "Day Tripper". But even more extraordinary was Mae's follow-up album ( released six years later ) called "Great Balls of Fire". This rad album featured Mae singing such rock songs as "Rock Around the Clock", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", "The Naked Ape" and her very own version of The Doors' classic "Light My Fire". Rock on, Mae! 

Check it out here! 

Mae West's Great Balls of Fire Album

1 comment:

  1. How interesting! I never knew Mae recorded any (then) contemporary pop songs in the ‘60s.

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