Tuesday Is Blues Day With The Fat Man

Fats Domino - If You Don't Know What Love Is

When ABC-Paramount signed Fats Domino in 1963, it appeared that the label had scored a second coup in the music world, having signed Ray Charles a few years earlier. Unfortunately, however, Domino's recordings for the label were not very successful and, despite getting some minor hits with tunes like "Red Sails In The Sunset," Domino left ABC in 1965 after three albums and a handful of singles. The lack of success probably came from changing times in the pop and R&B field (most notably, in the former case, the British Invasion of 1964) and the fact that Domino's ABC sides lacked the production work of Dave Bartholomew, whose talents had made Domino a household name in the prior decade. Although Domino's legend can safely rest on the Imperial hits and outlying stuff like his classic Reprise recording of "Lady Madonna," the ABC material is worth a listen, and one of those recordings is featured today. "If You Don't Know What Love Is" was a 1964 ABC-Paramount single, and the Domino-penned blues shuffler features a very brassy arrangement and, curiously, some down-home harmonica squalling. It's a tasty tune that fits nicely on "Tuesday Is Blues Day."