Blue Monday (1954 song)

"Blue Monday"
Single by Fats Domino
B-side"What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You"
Released1956
Recorded1956
GenreRhythm and blues
LabelImperial
5417
Songwriter(s)Dave Bartholomew
Fats Domino singles chronology
"Blueberry Hill"
(1956) 		"Blue Monday"
(1956) 		"What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You"
(1956)
Official Audio
"Blue Monday" on YouTube

"Blue Monday" is a song written by Dave Bartholomew,[1] first recorded in 1953 by Smiley Lewis and issued as a single, in January 1954, on Imperial Records (catalog # 5268).[2][3] The single, with a slow-rocking beat, features an instrumental electric guitar solo by Lewis.

It was later popularized in a recording by Fats Domino in 1956, also on Imperial (catalog # 5417), on which the songwriting credit was shared between him and Bartholomew.[4] Most later versions have credited Bartholomew and Domino as co-writers. The baritone saxophone solo is by Herbert Hardesty.[5][6]

Domino's version was featured in the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It. It became one of the earliest rhythm and blues songs to make the Billboard charts, peaking at number five and reaching the number one spot on the R&B Best Sellers chart.[7] The single reached number 23 on the UK Singles Chart[8] It was included on the 1957 Liberty album This Is Fats and the 1959 Liberty album Fats Domino Sings 12,000,000 Records.

The song title was used for a 2006 biography of Domino by Rick Coleman.[9]

  1. ^ "BMI | Repertoire Search". January 13, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-01-13.
  2. ^ J. C. Marion, "Tee Nah Nah : The Story of Smiley Lewis" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Smiley Lewis - Blue Monday". Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  4. ^ Label shot of Fats Domino single[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Davis, Hank (1993). Fats Domino: Out of New Orleans. Bear Family Records. p. 42.
  6. ^ Sandomir, Richard (December 10, 2016). "Herb Hardesty, Fats Domino's Saxophonist at Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll, Dies at 91 (Published 2016)". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 167.
  8. ^ "Fats Domino - full Official Chart History - Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  9. ^ Coleman, Rick (2006). Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81491-9. editions:rsrKZ8bNWIsC.