.

Song Stories

“Ain't It a Shame”

Fats Domino | 1955

Fats Domino and his producer/collaborator Dave Bartholomew pioneered the big beat of rock with "Ain't That a Shame." Domino's original single bore the title "Ain't It a Shame," and it's alleged that Pat Boone tried to retitle the song 'Isn't It a Shame' when he cut his whitewashed cover version. (Personally, Domino was partial to Cheap Trick's big, fat, hard-rock version, a Top 40 hit in 1979 from their At Budokan set.) Regardless of what it was called, the kids preferred Domino’s New Orleans-flavored original and made it a Top 10 hit. Bartholomew, who initially had his doubts about the song, warmed up to the simplicity of Domino’s lyric: "'Ain't That a Shame' will never die," he said. "It will be here when the world comes to an end."

prev
Song Stories Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus

Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

More Song Stories entries »