Various Artists - Covered: Fats Domino & Dave Bartholomew, Volume 2: 1990-2012

Yesterday, I posted Volume 1 of my Covered Series focus on the songwriting team of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Here's both the second and the last volume.

I already said most of what I wanted to say in my notes for Volume One. Refer to that if you want to know more about the artists here and some of their history together.

However, I do have comments about a couple of songs. One is that between the two volumes, I believe I have included all of the big hits written by Domino and/or Bartholomew. However, Domino did have a few hits that neither of them had a role in writing. The biggest of these by far is "Blueberry Hill." It's considered one of Domino's best known hits, maybe even his signature song. But it actually was first done in 1940, and was a hit for Glenn Miller and then again for Louis Armstrong. Domino merely revamped it into a rock and roll song.

I think the song "The Monkey" is an especially fascinating one. It was written just by Bartholomew. It  was released as a single performed by him in 1957, but it wasn't a hit. However, the lyrics are remarkable for its era. Remember, this was the time of McCarthyist witch hunts, when too much criticism could get a person blacklisted. By using the conceit of a monkey criticizing the human race, he was able to make some stinging social criticism. For instance, here's one of the verses that implicitly knocks the whole capitalist system:

And another thing you will never see
A monkey build a fence around a coconut tree
And let all the coconuts go to waste
Forbidding other monkeys to come and taste
Why, if I put a fence around this tree
Starvation would force you to steal from me

The whole song even subtly mocks racism, as well as creationism, since the monkey in the song knocks the idea that monkeys and humans are related, because monkeys don't see humans as being worthy of them. That cleverly turned the idea of humans thinking they couldn't be related to monkeys on its head. That's especially meaningful given that Bartholomew was a black man, just like Domino. Kudos to Elvis Costello for covering this obscurity decades later and giving it some more attention. I noticed on YouTube that he even played the song in concert with Bartholomew, which is nice.

One rule I had in putting these two volumes together is I didn't want to include two songs by the same artist. But I'll admit I bent that rule a bit, because Robert Plant sings lead on two of the songs here, even though he does it with two different bands.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 Goin' Home (James Brown)
02 Be My Guest (Yellowman)
03 I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday (Sheryl Crow)
04 It Keeps Raining (Bitty McLean)
05 Real Gone Lover (Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis)
06 The Monkey (Elvis Costello)
07 Walking to New Orleans (Neil Young)
08 Valley of Tears (Robert Plant & the Soweto Gospel Choir)
09 Honey Chile (Lucinda Williams)
10 I Want to Walk You Home (Paul McCartney with Allen Toussaint)
11 Whole Lotta Loving (Lenny Kravitz with Rebirth Brass Band)
12 My Girl Josephine (Super Cat with Jack Radics)
13 I've Been Around (Lil' Band O' Gold with Robert Plant)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17301668/COVRDDOMINBARTH1990-2012Volum2_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/c7vH9S4J

For once, I didn't have to make a lot of edits to get a color photo of two songwriters together. The cover photo here is exactly as it originally appeared, with the two of them leaning against each other. However, I did make one edit, and that was to change the black background to a light blue one.

UPDATE: On September 29, 2024, I upgraded the photo with the use of the Krea AI program.

Various Artists - Covered: Fats Domino & Dave Bartholomew, Volume 1: 1949-1989

It's been a long time since the last time I posted something new for my long-standing "Covered" series. But never fear. This series will never die, not as long as I can help it. ;) I enjoy writing songs myself, so I really appreciate talented songwriters. And that's what this series is about, highlighting the songs of the best songwriters through cover versions others have done of their songs.

In most cases in the Covered series so far, the songwriters had most of their hits done by others, such as the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. But in the case of the songwriting team of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew, Fats Domino had a couple dozen big hits with these songs. Bartholomew also had a solo career, but he just dabbled in that with a small number of records compared to Domino, and didn't have any big hits. However, I wanted to post something from this team, because I get the impression that Domino's songwriting talent isn't well known, compared to say, Chuck Berry from the same era, and Bartholomew's contribution is even less known. I've found enough material for two volumes.

Domino had most of his hits in the 1950s and early 1960s. They were such big hits that I think it took a while before many people decided to make their own versions. So even though this volume begins way early, in 1949, with the songs in chronological order, it quickly moves to the 1970s and after. I didn't include any of Domino's own versions, since the whole point is to highlight these songs through cover versions. However, I did include one song recorded by Bartholomew, since few people have heard his stuff. 

If you want to know more about these two, here are their Wikipedia pages:

Fats Domino - Wikipedia

Dave Bartholomew - Wikipedia 

Domino and Bartholomew had a long and fruitful songwriting collaboration, from Domino's first hit in the late 1940s until 1963, when Domino finally switched record companies. That put him in a different company than Bartholomew and effectively ended their partnership, although it seems they stayed on good terms. That probably was a bad move on Domino's part, since that's when his hits stopped, although the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion coming the next year probably was a big factor as well. Generally speaking, the songs co-written by both of them were recorded by Domino. But Bartholomew was a producer as well, and he had a number of hits done by others, such as "I Hear You Knocking" and "One Night." Domino died in 2017, and Bartholomew died in 2019.

I'll have more to say in Volume Two. This volume is 44 minutes long.

01 3 x 7 = 21 (Jewel King)
02 Toy Bell (Bees)
03 I'm in Love Again (Fontane Sisters)
04 Shrimp and Gumbo (Dave Bartholomew)
05 I'm Walkin' (Ricky Nelson)
06 The Big Beat (Del Vikings)
07 Witchcraft (Elvis Presley)
08 Let the Four Winds Blow (Searchers)
09 The Land of a Thousand Dances (Wilson Pickett)
10 I Hear You Knocking (Dave Edmunds)
11 Grow Too Old (Bobby Charles)
12 I'm Ready (Band)
13 Sick and Tired [Return of Django] (Neville Grant)
14 Ain't That a Shame (John Lennon)
15 Blue Monday (Cat Stevens)
16 The Fat Man (Robbie Robertson)
17 One Night (Joe Cocker)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17301673/COVRDDOMINBARTH1949-1989Volum1_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Fo5fETaQ

I couldn't find any good photos of Domino and Bartholomew together when they were young (although I did find a good one for Volume 2), so I had to make one from scratch. I took a photo of Domino and another of Bartholomew and put them together. The one of Domino was in color, but it clearly was colorized by someone before I got my hands on it. I adjusted the colors somewhat to hopefully make the colorization less obvious. I took a black and white photo of Bartholomew and colorized it. He's in a grey jacket and Domino is in a blue one.

UPDATE: On September 29, 2024, I upgraded the photo with the use of the Krea AI program.