Tag Archives: Fats Domino

Lady Madonna – From Fats to McCartney to Fats

22 Sep

In 1968, The Beatles released “Lady Madonna,” a short, fast-paced groove about an overworked mother. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon/McCartney. John Lennon did help with some of the lyric. In typical Beatles’ fashion, the song reached #1 in the UK and #4 in the U.S., and interestingly, was the Beatles’ last release on Parlophone. The Beatles would release “Hey Jude” on Apple Records a few months after “Lady Madonna.” Has anyone ever suggested that perhaps the Beatles were just too good. Perhaps they were all truly musical aliens, intergalactic hit machines. Well, some band had to be the greatest band to ever play, right?

Anyway, I mention Lady Madonna in this version of “Great Moments in Music Cover History,” not because it’s a cover (which it is not), and not even primarily because it spawned several covers, but because it was inspired by a musical legend, Fats Domino.  Yes, so I should perhaps title the category as “Great Moments in Music Inspiration History,” but you’ll all see how the covers fit into this in a few words.

  “‘Lady Madonna’ was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing,” said McCartney in a 1994 interview.  “It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression. It took my voice to a very odd place.”

You can hear the blues piano inspiration in this song and Fats Domino was such a champion of the burgeoning rock/piano genre. McCartney was also inspired by Humphrey Lyttelton‘s “Bad Penny Blues.” The beginning piano riff is somewhat similar to the piece. Take a listen:

The reason this fits into the cover category is because Fats Domino actually covered “Lady Madonna.” It’s sort-of like an ironic twist. McCartney thinks about how it would sound if Fats Domino was playing the piano, and then Fats gives McCartney the ultimate compliment and re-records the song. Here is the Fats version:

Not bad. The Fats flavor is cool. Plus, listening to Fats’ accent during the piece feels right. McCartney and Fats should perform this song together. That would be awesome.

Now, just for giggles, here is another cover of the song by…Elvis Presley! It is from a 1970 rare recording session (where he also performs “Got My Mojo Working”). He is obviously having a lot of fun with it. He doesn’t even know all the words.

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Great Moments in Cover History: “Blueberry Hill”

7 Jan

Mmmm...Blueberries...Homer Simpson guttural noises

“Blueberry Hill” has a history. It’s roots are in early 40’s music. This could come as a surprise to fans of the classic, most famously made a standard by Fats Domino 15 years after it was first released to the public. I’m sure when most of you read the title of the post the thought of a more recent cover came to mind. Yeah, probably someone covering Fats’ song. But, no, on the contrary, today’s great moment in cover history belongs to none other than Fats Domino himself.

So, where did “Blueberry Hill” come from? Slow the song down and you have the work of Mr. Vincent Rose, an Italian musician and band leader, who also wrote the music to Al Jolson‘s 1921 hit “Avalon.” Rose’s music was paired with the well-known lyric by Al Lewis and Larry Stock and the song was immediately recorded…in 1940. It was originally recorded by several orchestras. Glenn Miller and his orchestra laid down a version and so did Sammy Kaye, Russ Morgan, and Kay Kyser. But, perhaps the most famous recording was done by Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy for the aptly titled movie “The Singing Hill.”

Sounds slightly different than Fats’ hit, right. It has a country charm to it, obviously. The old-time guitar twang that comes off like a moan. It makes you feel like you are actually back in the 40s. Yes, the song is that dated. It also makes you yearn for the most innocent musical time ever. Seriously, this song was recorded when World War II was only a year old. It is 70 years old. Listen to that. The original song is 70 years old. Look what’s on the charts today. From Gene Autry to Kady Perry. Wow. That’s all I can say.

After Louis Armstrong did a version in 1949, Fats picked up the song in 1956 and put down the “Blueberry Hill” we all know and love.

Fats’ version hit at the right time. It is also clearly the best version of the song. The song works better up-tempo. It shot up to #2 in the Top 40 and was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks. It sold five million copies in its first year. It also set the stage for several other musicians to cover the song. Keep this in mind. After Fats’ cover, 14 other musicians – including musicians like Duane Eddy, Cliff Richard and The Everly Brothers – all covered the song within the span of 14 years. It was that influential. Now, if we took this as Fats’ classic, which it mostly is, I can pose the question of what is the best cover of Fats Domino’s version.

One of my personal favorites is this version recorded by Nat King Cole and 11-year-old Billy Preston on the Nat King Cole show. The version was recorded in November of 1957. I cannot embed it into the post, but do check it out. Billy Preston is incredibly talented, even at 11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1loV9_xLF8Q

But, let us not skip over one of the most awesome covers of the song performed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He did a good job performing the song in English and it was at a children’s charity event. It is slightly odd, but, heck, the man likes to sing and play the piano so good for him.

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