Domino also transformed other writers’ songs. Who could forget how Fats adopted Gene Austin’s venerable 1927 pop classic “My Blue Heaven” (a song that even blues icon Robert Johnson had in his repertoire) with his Creole drawl-“Mah Bleu Heav-VAWN…?” When obtaining songs from contemporary writers, Domino and Bartholomew, in a then-common business practice, almost always took a co-credit though-in most cases-and Fats and Dave rearranged and rewrote the songs. “I always changed them up to something that would fit me,” says Fats. For instance, judging from the original demo of Jimmy Donley’s “What a Price,” Domino extensively rewrote the lyrics. Fats also changed some of the words of Bobby Charles’ “Walking to New Orleans,” which has gained latter-day fame as one of the melancholy theme songs of New Orleans after Katrina, and was performed on television benefits by both Neil Young and Dr. (Domino’s original version played over the closing credits of Spike Lee’s When the Levee Broke.) Domino also modified two songs, both lyrically, that became significant hits for him in 1959. He altered “Be My Guest,” originally written by 19-year-old Tommy Boyce (later the co-author of several Monkees’ hits), to reflect a New Orleans party atmosphere and gave it an offbeat rhythm. The tune proved so influential in Jamaica that the song became one of the inspirations for ska-the forerunner of reggae. Fats took “I’m Ready,” written by three Tin Pan Alley writers and reportedly performed on a demo by Bobby Darin, and turned it into a rousing rock ‘n’ roll anthem that later performed by Elton John, The Band, Bruce Springsteen and The Beatles. He bellowed the song with such conviction that people actually believed he didn’t like phone calls and couldn’t read. “Fats made things his own,” remarks New Orleans studio owner/engineer Cosimo Matassa. “Even on little frothy tunes whipped up in the studio, the phrasing and delivery was always Fats. It’s an amazing singularity I think most artists would die for. That fantastic uniqueness.”
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Of course, Domino’s best known song written by another was “Blueberry Hill,” a song originally recorded by Gene Autry in 1940, which became a number one hit by Glen Miller that year. Domino and Bartholomew had to improvise their own version of the song because they really didn’t know it that well and didn’t have the sheet music. In fact, Domino’s brother-in-law Harrison Verrett, the jazz sideman who had taught him piano chords as a child, showed him how to play the song in the studio. On “Blueberry Hill” Domino improvised the very famous piano introduction. “I know [legendary New Orleans drummer] Earl Palmer was tellin’ me it was the wrong note,” recalls Fats, “but I liked the way it sounded. And the introduction had something to do with selling that record, soon as you played it. I always did like the song, ‘cause I heard it by Louis Armstrong, see? A lot of people think I wrote that.” Though some critics have stereotyped Domino’s piano playing by the triplets that he popularized throughout popular music, as on “Blueberry Hill,” he also played other, distinctive piano parts: the rolling boogie-based rocking on “The Fat Man” and “I’m Ready,” the two-beat shuffles on several of his uptempo songs, the honky tonk workout in “Whole Lotta Loving” and the majestic rolling intro and solo on Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.”
Could “Fats read sheet music?