Chords for Roseanne Cash inducts Wanda Jackson Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 2009

Here to [G] induct Wanda Jackson into the Rock and Roll [D] Hall of Fame
_ [G] Roseanne Cash _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [C#] Wanda Jackson
_ Even her name sounds like a declaration and a promise
Wanda Jacks, _ _ I asked Wanda what she wanted people to know most about her and she said number one I can rock
_ _ [N] _
number two
_ Number two I was a lady and reputations are important
[G] And number three rock and roll and God are [N] not mutually exclusive
As _ _ _ _ one writer noted [B] Wanda was there at the beginning of rock and roll and for girls with guitars myself included
Wanda was the beginning of rock and roll
Everyone who cares about roots music and rock and roll reveres Wanda, but in particular every young woman
I know musician or otherwise
Worships her as the prototype the first female rock star as she so modestly acknowledges herself
_ _ _ _ but this
_ This is not a woman who used her staggering beauty to manipulate an audience
This is not a coy woman
This is not a woman who used her powerful energy as a means to just become famous
She's vibrant and edgy without being abrasive and sweet without being saccharine
this is a woman who has rhythm and joy in equal parts to the depth of her soul as
_ Marshall Grant one of the original Tennessee to my dad's bass player said about her
She was the only woman back then who could hold her own with Elvis's crowd
She came offstage every night to a standing ovation
She was a little tiger out there _ and as Bob Dylan noted.
This is an atomic fireball of a lady
_ _ When her husband when her husband of 47 years Wendell Goodman first met her he was dating her best friend
But he said that he was so impressed with this beautiful gorgeous sexy thing who never talked about herself
She was so humble
Well Wendell gave up the best friend and married Wanda in
1961 he also gave up his career as an IBM programmer to manage Wanda and travel with her and they've now been
partners in love
marriage spiritual faith and rock and roll for 47 years
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ She started her career _
She started her career when she was a junior in high school in
1954 and she said it was a family affair her father drove her to
Performances and managed her career and her mother sewed her outfits
She was put on package shows in the south with Elvis Carl Perkins [Bm] Jerry Lee Lewis Roy Orbison and my dad among others
Her buddies as she [N] called them it occurred to me to
Ask her how many times my dad had knocked on her motel room door on those tours _ _ _
And she paused and said well, honey, [Bm] you know, my daddy was out on the road with me
So I don't believe he knocked even once
_ [D#] _
well, if so
[N] Given Wanda's breathtaking beauty this shows unprecedented restraint on the part of my father _ _ _
[B] _ _ And as Marshall pointed out with a sigh of remembrance, there were a lot of people knocking on her door _
But even if they did not because Wanda herself says I was always a lady indeed
She was but she may be the only lady in history who had that kind of rock and rhythm and raw
Sensuality and not only didn't self-destruct but had fun and kept her soul intact in the process
She's not a red carpet celebrity hangout rehab tabloid kind of person
She's a person of strong religious conviction deep integrity a road warrior and a rock and roll queen
_ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ in the beginning _
In the beginning Wanda was a [Bm] country singer and one day on the road Elvis said to her you should do this new kind of music
Like I'm doing and Wanda said, but I'm just a country singer and Elvis said well I am too and that was that
Wanda was equally authentic and rockabilly as she was in country Elvis let the genie out of the bottle with that one little exhortation
She told her mother who was making her stage clothes that she didn't want to wear those big skirts anymore
She and her mother created the fringe dresses high heels and long earrings that brought her image and her musical style into an electric
cohesive sharp focus
But she never gave up doing [E] country as well as rockabilly
Sometimes she would release a record with the rocker on side a and a country song on side B
She had and still has enormous international popularity
_ Fujiyama mama was a huge hit in [G] Japan as well as the u.s. In 1958
[E] It was followed by her top 40 smash.
Let's have a party
She followed that with a couple of top 10 country singles and then topped the German charts in 1965 with Santa Domingo
Which she sang in German?
She followed with more success on the pop charts in America a television show stints in Las Vegas and in the 1980s had a resurgence
Popularity in Europe and Australia that still borders on fanaticism
_ Today she tours about 80 dates a year
[C] She's been recording for
54 years and has recorded in four [N] languages _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
She's made around 50 albums.
She's toured the world and inspired legions of people with her grace and her fire
She said she wants to keep doing this as long as my health holds up and as long as the fans want to come out
And see me, but it's not falling away yet
No, it's not and about tonight.
She said that it feels good to be up there with my buddies
It's come full circle
[C#] So Wanda you are now up there with your buddies Carl Elvis Jerry Lee and Johnny
And amongst so many others of your peers and those who have followed you
you are as Wendell always introduces you the first lady of rock and roll and the queen of rockabilly and now a
_ [D] member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Wanda Jackson _ _ _