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Ain't That A Shame (WORD)
Ain't That A Shame (PDF)
Delightful! Thanks to Chris Hill for bringing this song to BUG. Tune down one semitone to play along with video. On the last G of each verse, you can try some sort of rhythm like:
[C7] Ain't that a [F] shame, you're the one to [G] blame [G] (d dud)
"Ain't That A Shame" 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, this 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 #1 on the US Pop charts and reaching #7 in the UK. This gave Domino's original recording a boost, and helped it cross over. This 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.