Thursday Inspiration — Ain’t That a Shame

Fandango

For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams has asked us to write a post using the prompt word “shame ” or “anything else that you think fits.”

She made him cry when she said goodbye. His tears fell like rain and she was to blame. Ain’t that a shame? Oh well, goodbye.

Well, that’s how Fats Domino felt when he recorded the song “Ain’t That a Shame” back in 1955. The song, co-written by Dave Bartholomew, was a hit, eventually selling a million copies. It reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 10 on the pop chart.

This was the first song to crossover from the R&B charts to the mostly white pop charts of the day. Like several other songs previously heard exclusively in black bars or nightclubs, it was covered by the crooning Pat Boone. Concerned about how educated, upper-class whites would respond to the title, he originally wanted it changed to “Isn’t That a Shame,” but the producers realized the original title would sell better and kept it.

Boone’s cover was a huge hit, going to number 1 on the U.S. Pop charts and reaching number 7 in the UK. This gave Domino’s original recording a boost and helped it cross over.

“Ain’t That a Shame” was Fats Domino’s first hit song that was not recorded in New Orleans, where the singer lived. He recorded it on March 15, 1955 in a Hollywood studio when he was on tour in Los Angeles. Imperial Records had the engineers compress Fats’ vocals and speed up the song a bit to make the song sound less bluesy and give it more mainstream appeal. This also made it more difficult for other artists to cover the song.

Here’s Fats Domino’s song:

And for you white bread fans, here’s Pat Boone’s cover:

And for you classic rock fans, give it up for Cheap Trick:

Which is your favorite

14 thoughts on “Thursday Inspiration — Ain’t That a Shame”

  1. rugby843 May 30, 2024 / 10:44 am

    if I put on the song, I always try to find the original recording. I absolutely think that Fats Domino should receive the kudos for this song and keeping the title. I personally never cared for Pat Boone, or his voice. It was too boring, it had no life to it, that’s just my opinion, of course, I think my mom liked him. I used to watch the auditions on AGT and the voice and all that and what I noticed was that I loved the original audition and the way that the people sang it. Then after the production staff changed the person completely it seems like they a lot lost their original talent. Ain’t that a shame 😂

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    • Fandango May 30, 2024 / 2:19 pm

      I had a whole collection of 45s, too.

      Like

      Reply
  3. newepicauthor May 30, 2024 / 11:51 am

    Fats Domino all the way for me, but it was nice getting to hear the other covers. Thanks for participating again with your music, Fandango.

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  4. bushboy May 30, 2024 / 2:51 pm

    The Pat Boone one is terrible, fats is fabulous and I love Cheap Trick getting it on

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  5. Ernie Federspiel May 30, 2024 / 6:01 pm

    Good thing I’m not a fan of white bread, Cheap Trick’s version was great, seen them live in 82 and this song rocked the house. What’s a shame is seeing all those white people just standing around. Very nice job with this post Fandango.

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  6. The Sicilian Storyteller May 30, 2024 / 9:03 pm

    Cheap Trick’s version is great. I could never understand why/how Pat Boone had a hit with this song. It’s an over-the-top mess of bad acting/singing. Nice write-up, Fan.

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  7. leigha66 June 1, 2024 / 9:51 am

    I had forgotten about Cheap Tricks version, but Fats Domino still rules that song!

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