The Fat Man
The Fat Man is the title of the first single by the rhythm and blues singer Fats Domino from 1950, which is considered to be one of the first musical foundations of later rock 'n' roll .
History of origin
The talent scout, composer and producer Dave Bartholomew discovered Fats Domino at the end of November 1949 in the "Hideaway" in New Orleans, where he played piano for three dollars in the band Billy Diamonds . Bartholomew worked for Imperial Records, who signed Domino in November 1949. As early as December 10, 1949, a recording session was scheduled for almost six hours in Cosimo Matassa's recording studio, during which a total of 8 tracks were created. The titles The Fat Man / Detroit City Blues were selected from this. The Fat Man is a variation on Willie Hall's traditional New Orleans Junker Blues ("Drive'em Down"), which is also the melody forLawdy Miss Clawdy formed by Lloyd Price . The piano intro by Fats Domino shows clear boogie-woogie rhythms, while later the drums play a backbeat . The lyrics are a self-deprecating allusion to the obesity of Fats ("fat") Domino when he sings in his Creole accent that he is called the "fat one" because he weighs 200 pounds. From a rhythmic point of view, the boogie-woogie song is one of the foundations of later rock & roll.
The tried and tested studio band was used for this, which included Earl Palmer (drums), Frank Fields (bass), Ernest McLean (guitar) and saxophonists Herb Hardesty , Clarence Hall , Joe Harris and Alvin "Red" Tyler . Fats Domino sang and played the piano. His unmistakable boogie piano riffs can already be heard in the famous, unusually long intro and have become his characteristic trademark of his piano style in the future. He always played Domino's boogie chords with a heavy left hand, so that the actual rhythm was created here and not through the drums.
success
After its release in January 1950 as Imperial # 5058, the title made it onto the R&B charts on February 18, 1950 as Fats Domino's first record, where it reached second place for a week. Sales grew steadily, and it wasn't until 1953 that over 1 million copies of the record had been sold. Imperial Records was impressed with the rapid success of their new artist. With this pulsating recording, Domino laid the basic sound for his other hits, in which he hardly varied his style, had the same recording studio and almost always the same session musicians play. However, it was not until 1952 that he recorded his first crossover hit with Goin 'Home . The Fat Man received a BMI award and was only covered twice: first by Canned Heat as Big Fat (nickname of the also heavyweight Canned Heat singer Bob Hite ) on their album Hallelujah (1969) and later by Los Lobos on the compilation CD Goin 'Home - A Tribute to Fats Domino (September 2007).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rick Coleman, Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll , 2007, p. 35.
- ↑ Rick Coleman, Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll , 2007, p. 53.
- ↑ Recorded on January 28, 1941 by Champion Jack Dupree , published in April 1941 on OKeh # 06152.
- ^ John Boven, Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans , 1995, p. 30.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 51.
- ↑ Canned Heat - Hallelujah at Discogs (English)
- ↑ Various - Goin 'Home (A Tribute to Fats Domino) at Discogs (English)