The Fat Man (song)

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This article is about the Fats Domino song. For other songs, see fat man (disambiguation).
"The Fat Man"
Single by Fats Domino
A-side"Detroit City Blues"
ReleasedDecember 1949
RecordedJ&M Studio;
December 10, 1949
Genre
Length2:35
LabelImperial
Songwriter(s)Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew
Fats Domino singles chronology
"The Fat Man"
(1949) 		"Boogie-Woogie Baby"
(1950)

"The Fat Man" is a song by American

first rock and roll records or at least a strong influence on the genre. This was a "rollicking" song, according to The Guardian "but what made it a rocker was Fats's barrelling piano triplets, combined with a solid big beat".[2]

The recording is one of four Fats Domino songs to have been named to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Domino received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.[3]

Recording

The song was recorded for

New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday, December 10, 1949. Imperial's Lew Chudd had previously asked Dave Bartholomew to show him some locally popular talent, and was most impressed with the 21-year-old Fats Domino, then playing at a working class dive in the 9th Ward of New Orleans
.

Domino sang and played piano, along with

78
copies.

Music and lyrics

The tune is a variation on the traditional New Orleans tune "

Dixieland "out chorus."[5] Domino also scats a pair of choruses in a distinctive wah-wah
falsetto, creating a variation on the lead similar to a muted Dixieland trumpet or a harmonica.

They call, they call me the fat man
´Cause I weigh 200 pounds:
All the girls they love me
´Cause I know my way around

The lyrics refer to watching Creole women at the intersection of Rampart Street and Canal Street, which at the time were the business centers of the city's African American and Caucasian population, respectively.

Personnel

Release and reception

"The Fat Man" was released in December 1949 by

R&B Singles chart.[1]
It was Domino's debut single, the B-Side being "Detroit City Blues". Imperial advertising claimed it sold 10,000 copies in New Orleans in 10 days, and the record became a national hit in late January 1950.

"The Fat Man" is often cited as one of the

backbeat hits."[7] According to Biography.com, it "became the first rock 'n' roll record to sell 1 million copies".[3]

The artist was not convinced that his work was of a new genre. Years later, in 1956, he made this comment: "What they call rock and roll is rhythm and blues, and I've been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans." [8]

References

  1. ^ a b Kolanjian, Steve (1990). My Blue Heaven: The Best of Fats Domino - Volume 1 (CD liner notes). EMI. CDP-7-92808-2.
  2. ^ How Fats Domino invented rock'n'roll
  3. ^ a b Fats Domino Biography (1928–2017)
  4. ^ "Fats Domino - Out of New Orleans (8 CD, booklet) (DE, Bear Family BCD 15441 HI, November 1993)". musicbrainz.org. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  5. ^ Perrone, Pierre (22 September 2008). "Earl Palmer". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  6. ISBN 185828421X
    . Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  7. ISBN 978-1569763230
    . Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  8. ^ "Fats Domino, piano-playing prodigy and rock and roll legend, dies at 89". NOLA.com. July 7, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2022.

Further reading

  • Coleman, Rick (2006). Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'N' Roll, Da Capo Press
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