1955 Songs: Ain’t That a Shame

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Along with music that’s 40 years old, we’re going way back to the advent of rock and roll in 1955. Yesterday in the teaser I mentioned good pop and bad pop. We start off a look back 70 years with an outstanding example of both. Ain’t That a Shame - Fats Domino Antoine “Fats” Domino helped desegregate music, for which we should be eternally grateful. You see, the “bad” part of music back in the 50s was that a number of R&B artists wouldn’t get airplay. Despite that, the songs were very popular…when a white singer did them. In many cases, that was mister white bucks and white bread himself, Pat Boone. Boone’s hits in the 50s included covers of R&B songs like “Chains of Love” (by Big Joe Turner originally), “I’ll Be Home” (the Flamingos), and “Tutti Frutti” (Little Richard). Picky Wedia pointed out that Boone’s success rivaled that of Elvis Presley’s in the 50s, which gives you an indication as to how popular this little charade was. Well, what do you know, when Boone covered “Ain’t That a Shame,” initially the same thing happened: Boone’s version went to #1, while Domino’s original peaked at #10. Soon, however, Fats’ original took over the popularity game. Today, you may know the Cheap Trick cover, but it may come as a total surprise that Boone did it. Fats Domino was part of the initial induction class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. See, they did do something right. Ain’t That a Shame Written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew Recorded by Fats Domino From Rockin’ and Rollin’ With Fats Domino, 1955 Oh well, goodbye: