American Masters

-You know, just gather around quietly. Come on. Now, just stand by. Here he is now.

Say, Fats, a bunch of the kids would like to listen to you blowin' up a storm. Would you let them listen in? -Well, as a rule we don't do it. But for the kids, I'm more than glad.

-Hooray. I like the way you walk I like to hear you talk Let me hold your hand And try to understand I want a girl like you Tell my trouble to Don't be afraid You've heard what I said

MAN

Fats, how'd this rock 'n' roll all get started, anyway? -Well, what they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I've been playin' for 15 years in New Orleans. I love you the best Let the four winds blow

NARRATOR

A native son of New Orleans, Fats Domino would pioneer the big beat sound and become one of the world's most beloved entertainers.

Instrumental

NARRATOR

Antoine Domino, Jr., arrived on February 26, 1928, delivered by a midwife with the assistance of his grandmother, Carmelite, who had been born into slavery. Antoine Jr. was the last of eight Domino children and the only one to be born in New Orleans.

MAN

The -- the neighborhood that Fats Domino grew up in is called the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. And it's arguably where a lot of the best musicians came from. And it's a part of the city that enjoys a reputation in New Orleans for being... That's the -- the heart, really, the heartbeat of the city.

It was almost like another, uh, world, like another world. There was always talk about... When you talked about the Lower Ninth Ward, you talk as if the people who lived down there didn't have as much goin' on as the people mid-city. Of course, some of the people who lived down there had a lot goin' on.

DOMINO

I was born on Jourdan Avenue down here in the Ninth Ward. They said I was born in a house at 1939 Jourdan Avenue. Thank you. Thank you very much.

I went to a school right down the street here. It was about 10 blocks from here, McCartey School. And then I remember years ago when I used -- used to come home from school. My mom used to be cooking, um, on a wood stove.

And sometimes I got from school, uh, and I had to cut wood that evening. Another thing I remember when I lived on Jourdan Avenue, I used to pick iron and copper in the street, Jourdan Avenue, I used to live on. The street was so bad, the holes were so big they used to get stuff from the cotton bale and -- and and fill the street up with nothin' but tin and iron. That -- that's the way Jourdan Avenue was.

And I used to sell it to -- sell the scrap. If you made your 20 cents or 25 cents livin'... That was a lot of money, 25 cents, in that time. -When he got out and about, he was, uh, roamin' the streets of the Ninth Ward.

And he would love to pick up things that he'd see. And sometimes he'd sell 'em to the junkman who, uh, ironically, would become part of the song "The Junker's Blues" that he'd later record. His life was changed, basically, when his sister married Harrison Verrett, who was a, uh, relatively well-known New Orleans musician who played banjo. My brother-in-law Harrison used to play with Papa Celestin Band.

You know, and, uh, one time I went to the French Quarter, and I heard them play out there several times. That's where I really learned from my brother-in-law, Harrison Verrett. He had a lot of patience. He would take...

He -- he just loved bein' with children, you know? And that's what I loved about him.

COLEMAN

Fats had always played around on the family piano since they had bought it. First of all, they put it out in the garage to keep him from, uh, drivin' them crazy a little bit. But he even quit school because he wanted to play the piano so much. And, uh, so he only went to the fourth grade.

Harrison actually taught him how to play it. And he put the notes on the piano on pieces of tape. And it was a beat-up piano. You could actually see the metal through the -- the ivory.

But, uh, Fats, you know, got some sound out of it.

DOMINO

We had an upright piano in the house. He'd teach me the chords, the foundation. If you know how to play the chord, he'd write the chord down to you. And you play this famous song, playin' in the band, just by the chord.

And after I learnt that, that's when I just went on my own. Everybody had a piano. I used to stop. And the -- the manager said, "Where's Fats at?" His son would say...

His son was Willie. Willie'd say, "I don't know." Say, "Well, you got a piano over there. You better go look. He might be where you left the piano.

Where the piano at, where Fats at."

COLEMAN

From the late '30s to the '40s, Fats started listening more to jukeboxes. That's basically the way that blacks heard music in those days because not a lot of 'em had record players. There was no radio that played black music at that time.

Upbeat music playing

COLEMAN

Fats' primary love for music was in the boogie-woogie piano players. He always listened to Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson, the great piano players. His cousins had a, uh, bar. And he actually not only had a jukebox there, he also had a sounding machine, which was I guess kind of a luxury in those days.

The one he particularly remembered, I think it was a video called Low Down Dog. It was actually a comedian who was found his woman foolin' around with different guy in the kitchen, okay, and somethin' like that. And he -- he chased her. And he -- he started singin' this song, pointin' his finger at her sayin', "I ain't gonna be your low-down dog no more." I ain't gonna be your low-down dog no more Ain't gonna be your low-down dog no more People that knew it at the time was Joe Turner who was singin'.

He was just mimin' the song. And was Pete Johnson who was playin' the boogie-woogie piano. Work all day, don't you know, my babe -Fats loved that video. And he actually started playing "Low Down Dog." And he kept playin' it for the next half a century.

Ooh wee Oo-ooh wee It's a low down shame...

CLEARY

It's very hard to find out what his formative influences are. Basic blues, old-style blues piano. It's -- and it's -- And boogie-woogie, I mean, that, you know, that -- Straight-up boogie-woogie. Bad, bad whiskey Bad, bad whiskey Bad, bad whiskey made me lose my happy home

COLEMAN

Another favorite performer of Fats' was Amos Milburn, who was a great boogie-woogie player. Amos played these low-down blues. And they were all really sexy. Fats played blues like Amos Milburn.

Another influence of Fats' was Louis Jordan, who was the most popular black singer-performer of the 1940s. And he was famous for all of his novelty songs. But more significantly, he did some songs that I would almost consider rockers, like "Caldonia." Walkin' with my baby She got great, big feet She's long, lean and lanky And ain't had nothin' to eat But she's my baby And I love her just the same Crazy about that woman 'Cause Caldonia is her name He's shouting. And he's -- and he's playing this heavy boogie-woogie beat.

And so that was a song that almost everybody in New Orleans played at one time or another. I've always loved you, baby 'Cause Caldonia is your name After Fats started playing in the little Ninth Ward clubs, he started running into different people who would be influential in his career. The first one was probably Billy Diamond, who was a local band leader. He was a bass player.

He was a little short go-getter. Fats told me during those days, Billy Diamond was the only person who could find a gig. Uh, he could find a gig when nobody else could. -I gave him the name Fats before then, before he even had a record.

I gave him the name Fats after a guy named Fat Waller back in them days. He was a great piano player. He got mad when I played piano, called him fat. "Don't call me fat.

Don't call me fat, brown boy. I don't know what you callin' me fat for. I don't call you Fat Billy."

NARRATOR

While Fats was pounding out boogie-woogie with Billy Diamond's Band at the Hideaway and other neighborhood clubs, a New Orleans trumpet sensation by the name of Dave Bartholomew was on a roll.

COLEMAN

Dave Bartholomew was one of the most popular, if not the most popular, band leader in the city. And occasionally Fats went and see him and check him out. Earl Palmer, who was, uh, Dave's great drummer, had him sit in one time. Fats got up there and played that little jam and boogie-woogie, "Swanee River Boogie," or whatever it was, and maybe another song or two.

Dave Bartholomew did not like that. As a matter of fact, he came up to Earl Palmer and said afterwards, "I thought I told you not to let that guy sit in." Of course, he had no clue that they would have a incredible history to come, as far as making some of the most influential records in the next 10 or 15 years.

NARRATOR

One night, Bartholomew brought a man from Imperial Records, a Mr. Lew Chudd, to see Fats perform at a local club.

DOMINO

I work at the Hideaway. I was real famous at the Hideaway for just playin' other people number. Dave and Lew Chudd came down there one night. Lew Chudd wanted to hear me sing and play.

So I did.

COLEMAN

Fats played "The Junker's Blues." They call, they call me a junker Champion Jack Dupree was the barrelhouse piano player from New Orleans who recorded the original version of "The Junker Blues" in 1940 and had a, you know, mild success with it. And that was a song that really sold Fats to Lew Chudd. Lew said, "You know, I gotta have this guy." And he actually signed him right there on the spot that very night.

DOMINO

And about a week later, say about 2 weeks later, we had got together to record the first record, "Fat Man," 1949. -And we never looked back for 25 years.

Upbeat piano

DOMINO

-Dave said, "We gonna record 'The Fat Man.'" I said, "We are?" Oh, I got excited. Durin' that period of time, we had a radio program, "The Fat Man." So when we got in the studio, Dave said, "This is Fats, The Fat Man." I look at Dave, said, "Dave, The Fat Man is a white man." They call, they call me The Fat Man 'Cause I weigh 200 pounds All the girls, they love me 'Cause I know my way around I was standin' I was standin' on the corner Of Rampart and Canal I was watchin', watchin' Watchin' all the Creole gals

Vocalizing

DOMINO

-"Fat Man," the first hit that he -- hit that he had, the first record in 1949, was basically "The Junker's Blues." And he told me this the other day. He said, I asked him about "The Fat Man. " He said, "It's just The Junker's Blues. I just changed it to...

From 'they call me a junker,' to -- to, 'they call me The Fat Man'." -Fats played it as if it was his own. It was very final when Fats played. If you had never heard whoever played the original, if you heard Fats Domino's version, that was enough. You can just take it from there.

-So I would say, "What we gonna call him?" I said, "Hell, we gonna call him Fat Man." As soon as they heard it, that was it. I'm goin', I'm goin', goin' away And then I'm goin', goin' to stay 'Cause women and a bad life They're carryin' this soul away

NARRATOR

With "The Fat Man" rising to number one in the February 1950 rhythm and blues charts, Lew Chudd's hunch had paid off. He quickly reassembled Fats with Dave Bartholomew and band for additional sessions at Cosimo Matassa's Rampart Street studio. Cosimo's J&M Music Shop was the only recording studio in town and was quickly becoming the Mecca for record men looking to cash in on the New Orleans rhythm and blues sound. And Dave Bartholomew's little orchestra became the house band backing nearly every performance recorded there.

-New Orleans produces a disproportionately large amount of talented musicians. And it really comes up with the raw material.

MAN

It's the only place in the world where everybody, even white listeners, clap on two and four instead of one and three. Right away, you can tell if a white dude's from New Orleans, man, when you hear him clap. He's on the beat. And that's -- that's kind of, uh, a -- a natural thing with New Orleans people.

You got kids in the street, man... It's a lot of talent, musically, if you stand on a certain way. Well, look at the history of the town. There's always been music.

That's maybe why you're born with a lot of it instilled in you. -You can call it the big beat, the sweet beat whatever it is. But New Orleans got the beat. -There have always been gigs in New Orleans.

There's only really a few periods in the history of New Orleans in the 20th century where there's been a really thriving recording scene. And, um, the fact that there was is largely due to Dave Bartholomew and Cosimo Matassa.

TOUSSAINT

Cosimo Matassa and Dave Bartholomew put New Orleans on the map. -The room was 15-by-16. I started recording direct to disk, which, uh, had a couple of good features about it. For one thing, you didn't do any editing.

You didn't do any pickups. You didn't do any overdubbing. You played the damn thing from beginning to end. And -- and that made for performance.

And I think that helped me. I started on the fact that everybody performed together beginning to end. Had to be right. I always, 'til today, thought that my job was to put on disk what was happening out in the studio.

It was OJT, as Dave told me -- "on the job training." -Imperial wanted us to go on a tour after Fats' first record, which was "Fat Man Blues." The other side was "Detroit City Blues." We had 3 days... It was late startin' this tour 'cause Fats would hide every time we go to look for him 'cause he was afraid to go on the tour. He was, you know, shook up. First time he'd ever went on any tour.

And we -- we got to go on -- go with us on the trip was Professor Longhair. -I got nothin'

but stars with me

Lee Allen, Professor Longhair, Fat Domino, Dave Bartholomew, Bob Foreman, Frank Fields. We're playin' in a dump.

At 11

30,

12

00, I said, "Wasn't he supposed to pay me at intermission?" Earl Palmer say, "I seen that man go out the door." I said, "Well, he goin' home to get the money." That been 40 years. He ain't come back yet.

Laughs

12

Whistling

NARRATOR

Between 1950 and 1955, Fats recorded a steady stream of singles for Imperial with many of them charting high in the R&B charts. Things were buzzing at Cosimo's studio. And Dave Bartholomew was the go-to guy for all the record labels wishing to record in New Orleans. Well, I'm goin' to New Orleans I'm goin' to see the Mardi Gras Well, I'm goin' to New Orleans I'm goin' to see the Mardi Gras When I get to New Orleans I want to know what's carnival for

Whistling

NARRATOR

He produced the sessions, wrote the arrangements, and used his band to back the performers. -He was the man number one. He was the boss with the hot sauce.

MATASSA

We didn't call him The Chief for nothin'. He was the chief. He kept us focused, and particularly people like Fats he kept focused because Fats tended to doodle and ramble and -- and -- and that sort of thing. I think, uh, without a Dave, there might not have been a Fats in the national sense of it.

Cheering and applause

DOMINO

Thank you.

COLEMAN

Fats showed up in his Cadillac at Cosimo's studio. And Dave was cutting a session with Lloyd Price. And the piano player at the time in Dave's band -- I think it was Salvador Doucette -- was not really cutting the triplets too well. And so Fats was the perfect answer to that problem.

And he asked Fats if he would sit in. And then he played that amazing introduction to "Lawdy Miss Clawdy." And then the triplets and then a -- a solo in the middle. And it... "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" became the biggest hit of the year and knocked his own number one, "Goin' Home," out of the charts.

Playing

COLEMAN

-I think I played on that one.

MAN

Yeah, you did. Yeah. -Yeah. You did.

And here it is, "Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Party."

And here he is in person

Alan Freed.

Cheers and applause

And here he is in person

-Hello, everybody. How are y'all? Welcome to our rock 'n' roll jubilee of stars. And here we go to rockin' with wailin' tenorman, Freddy Mitchell and the rock 'n' roll boogie!

Here we go.

COLEMAN

Alan Freed had actually started using the phrase "rock 'n' roll" at the end of 1954. And the first ever so-called rock 'n' roll concert was his show in New York, January of '55. And it was an all-black show. Alan Freed was using the phrase rock 'n' roll to popularize rhythm and blues primarily with white teenagers.

Oh well good-bye Although I'll cry Ain't that a shame My tears fell like rain Ain't that a shame You're the one to blame And so this -- this crossing point was very significant because Fats Domino came along with his biggest hit ever. And, of course, that was "Ain't That a Shame." Goodbye Ain't that a shame My tears fell like rain Ain't that a shame You're the one to blame You broke my heart When you said we'll part -That's nothing. That was one sentence. "Ain't That a Shame," it don't have no bridge to it, no middle.

It's the same, uh, sentence over and over again. But we sold it with -- with the music. Duh-duh, duh-dum, boom. In other words, I had the whole band playin' like a bass.

Boom, boom. Me cry When you said goodbye Ain't that a shame It was also one of his simplest songs ever. If you listen to "Ain't That a Shame," you'll see, "You made me cry when you said goodbye." And that's actually a classic Fats Domino lyric because he -- he just wrote things in the most simple terms possible.

DOMINO

I remember them tellin' me, "Your record goin' pop." I didn't know what he was talkin' about. Lew Chudd, see, "The record goin' pop. You got a big record." Well, I'm like... We had sellers before.

"Goin' Home," "The Fat Man," you know -- that's what broke me through everybody buyin' my record, black and the white. He say, "You got a big one now." Tears fell like rain Ain't that a shame

NARRATOR

The surprise success of "Ain't That a Shame" was a game-changer for both Fats and Imperial Records. Though finally achieving a crossover hit that was selling phenomenally to both black and white audiences, Dave and Fats could not have predicted what would happen within a week of its release. You make me cry When you said goodbye Ain't that a shame My tears fell like rain

DOMINO

Mine was not a week. Somebody told me, you know, a fellow by the name of Pat Boone comin' out with your record next week. Hollerin' somethin' crazy. -And Pat Boone was a very, um, innocent, white crooner, should we say.

And, uh, he just was kind of, uh, you know, tryin' to croon a song that should have been a rocker. -Keep in mind, it was him, you know. A lot of people wasn't gonna buy us at all because we were black, at that time. You know, there was segregation in music too.

I know that, you know, "I don't wanna hear it." But after they heard it a while, it started growin' on you, and that's it, like anything else. He did it all right. It sold a lot of records.

NARRATOR

While "Ain't That a Shame" was burning up the 1955 R&B and pop charts, other black artists such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard were following Fats' lead. Woo, hoo, hoo, hoo baby Havin' me some fun tonight The rock 'n' roll era had begun.

MAN

Rolling master A. Master A, take one.

Applause

NARRATOR

By early 1956, Elvis Presley was the king of the pop charts. You know I can be found Sitting home all alone Rockers Bill Haley and the Comets, Gene Vincent, and Carl Perkins were also grabbing the attention of the nation's youth. By March of 1956, Fats' "I'm in Love Again" became his second top-10 hit. Dave Bartholomew's big beat was making Antoine Domino a very famous man.

Yes, it's me, and I'm in love again Had no lovin' since you know when You know I love you, yes I do And I'm savin' all my lovin' just for you I need your lovin', and I need it bad Just like a dog when he's goin' mad Whoa-wee, baby, whoa-wee Baby, won't you give your love to me Eeny-meeny and miney-mo Told me you didn't want me around no more Whoa-wee, baby, whoa-wee Baby, don't you let your dog bite me

Instrumental

NARRATOR

Yes, it's me, and I'm in love again Had no lovin' since you know when You know I love you, yes I do And I'm savin' all my lovin' just for you Eeny-meeny and miney-mo Told me you didn't want me around no more Whoa-wee, baby, whoa-wee Baby, don't you let your dog bite me

Instrumental ending

NARRATOR

The year 1956 belonged to Fats Domino. With nine records scoring in the top-10 pop and rhythm and blues charts, there was no stopping him. And in that year, he recorded the song for which he will be forever remembered. I found my thrill On Blueberry Hill

COLEMAN

"Blueberry Hill" was a pop standard that had originally been recorded in 1940 by Gene Autry for a singin' cowboy movie. But the most significant version for Fats was the Louis Armstrong version. It was a phenomenal time for him. The unfortunate thing is that Lew Chudd of Imperial Records actually tried too hard to sell Fats Domino to a white audience.

He thought that if you made it sound more pop, it would sell more white. But he kind of missed the point of Fats Domino. And so he was having him record all these standards. Some worked, some didn't.

As "Blueberry Hill" proved, when Fats redid a standard, he changed it all around so the people that knew the old standard, they barely recognized it. -And the rest is history. A record that has, I've been told, sold over 5 1/2 million records, "Blueberry Hill." And of course, his number one record of all time. I found my thrill On Blueberry Hill On Blueberry Hill When I found you The moon stood still On Blueberry Hill And lingered until My dream came... The wind in the willow played Love's sweet melody But all of the vows we made Were never to be Though we're apart You're part of me still For you were my thrill On Blueberry Hill The wind in the willow played Love's sweet melody But all of the vows we made Were never to be Though we're apart You're part of me still For you were my thrill On Blueberry Hill He had an amazing string of success at that time.

But with "Blueberry Hill," "Blue Monday" and "I'm Walkin'," Fats had three huge hits at the time. Even Time magazine recognized it. He was huge. He -- he was actually headlining the biggest shows in rock 'n' roll at that time.

People like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis were all underneath Fats. They did not even approach his record sales at that time. He was selling a million records every month.

RAY

There was a time he and Elvis Presley, for a year or two there, were neck and neck in sales. People don't realize this. I'm beat to my socks My gal calls, got to tell her that I'm out 'Cause Thursday is a hard workin' day And Friday I get my pay

HARDESTY

We did it in California. And -- and recordin' "Blue Monday," they had another saxophone player playin' the baritone. He... Fats didn't like the way he soloed on it.

He said, "Herbert, I want you to play the baritone." You want me to play the baritone? I got my tenor here. He said, "No, please, play the solo on baritone." So I played the solo on baritone. And he went wild.

And the, uh, people love it, like the da, da, da-da. Let me see if I can play it on my saxophone. I don't have my strap.

Playing

HARDESTY

-"Blue Monday," I think that's one of the greatest things I ever wrote. Saturday mornin', oh Saturday mornin' All my tiredness has gone away Got my money and my honey And I'm out on the stand to play Sunday mornin' my head is bad But it's worth it for the times that I've had But I've got to get my rest 'Cause Monday's a mess The big beat keep you rockin' in your seat

NARRATOR

By the end of 1956, all of the major television networks and Hollywood began to call. And the entire nation was tuning in. The sun's gonna shine In my back door some day Just you wait and see Just you wait and see Girl can't help it She was born to please Can't help it, the girl can't help it And she's got a figure made to squeeze Can't help it, the girl can't help it And she's got a figure made to squeeze Can't help it, the girl can't help it -Let's face it, rhythm and blues, uh, is here. So we have a man here today who is just about the hottest attraction in that field.

As a matter of fact, I have a -- have a little award to present to him a bit later, something I don't know if he knows about yet. The one and only Fats Domino. When my dreamboat comes home

BARTHOLOMEW

You wanna make a good impression because this means an awful lot to you to be on those type of shows. You're not only help -- helpin' them, you're helpin' yourself, gettin' yourself exposure all over the world. So you think about that. And you wanna do the best you can.

-When Fats appeared on network TV show, it increased sales tremendously. -Uh, Fats, as you know, is one of our great disciples of rock 'n' roll. And Fats, according to a clipping in "Down Beat," Dizzy Gillespie just finished a tour in the Middle East where he was a smash.

DOMINO

Crazy, man. -And Louis Armstrong was a big hit in South Africa. Crazy, man. -And a rumor has it that you're going to introduce rock 'n' roll to Alaska.

Cool, man. I'm walkin', yes indeed And I'm talkin' about you and me And I'm hopin' you'll ask me back again I'm flyin', I'm flyin' high I'm shy, me, oh, my I'm hopin' you'll ask me back again, again What you gonna do when the well runs dry You gonna run away tonight I'm gonna run right by your side For you, Perry Como, I'd even die

COLEMAN

This is November 18, 1956, a very significant date, a very cold night in New York City when Ed Sullivan announced Fats Domino.

ANNOUNCER

"The Ed Sullivan Show." -I had a lot of respect for him. He spent a lot of time with us. He -- he -- he gave us his all. And you know what I mean.

He would be with us all day long. And -- and that wasn't all. And then he had us as many times that we wanted to. -...New Orleans, another...

Well, he's had so many. This... He's had 1 million record, million sales record. Here is Fats Domino singing "Blueberry Hill." So, let's hear it...

Playing

COLEMAN

He put Fats' band behind a curtain. And he put Fats just playing the piano by himself, which was a very strange thing for Fats. And then even stranger was at the very end of the show -- of the song, I should say, Fats stood up. It was kind of like Ed Sullivan wanted people to see how chubby he was so that, you know, he looks harmless.

For you were my thrill -One of the great record stars, high on the list of all hits in the country today, is a very happy, little, rotund fellow named Fats Domino. -That was the beginning of the "harmless Fats Domino" mythology, which still continues to some degree today. -Well, Fats, I have this surprise for you now. This is from "Cash Box," one of the important, uh, record industry, uh, trade papers.

And they want you to have this award because you've been voted by the Disc Jockeys of America the most programmed rhythm and blues male vocalist of the year 1956. Congratulations. -Thank you. Thank you.

NARRATOR

In 1957, the Fats Domino band traveled 30,000 miles around the country, working a total of 355 shows and selling out nightclubs and concert halls everywhere they ventured.

ALLEN

He was one of the biggest stars out. There was no other bigger star than Fats in -- in the rock 'n' roll field.

MAN

We -- we got to knock and push 'em off of us. You know, I mean, you know, they -- they was just somethin' else. They knock down the walls to get to Fats Domino. I'm not kiddin'.

They really did.

RAY

I did a lot of travelin'. Nothin' like bein' with Fats Domino. We'd drive and drive. And I keep sayin', "Well, aren't we gonna stop for lunch?

Aren't we gonna -- are we gonna eat?"

McLEAN

You know, him and his brother came in the house and said, "No, we want you to come and go to Pensacola, Florida with us. We got to be there tonight." I say, "It's Christmas. I don't wanna go nowhere." And you know what happened? They took and carried me and picked me up, I'm helpless, and put me on the bus.

And, you know, I was in Florida.

BARTHOLOMEW

That was my life out there. A lot of times we was doin' them one nighters, all night long sleepin' in the car and all that kinda (bleep).

HARDESTY

The most fun was after we got off in the hotels. There was party, party, party, parties goin' on from the bottom to the top floor.

NARRATOR

With Fats' enormous popularity, promoters had little trouble filling concert halls and ballrooms to capacity. White and black fans clamored to see Fats live, sometimes with explosive results.

COLEMAN

He had more riots than any other rock 'n' roller, uh, maybe ever. He had four major riots at his shows, partly because of integration but also the fact that they had alcohol at these shows. So they were mixing alcohol plus dancing plus the races together for the first time in a lot of these places. And it was leading to a little fights which soon bloomed into huge fights.

And they called the police.

HARDESTY

We got caught in two riots. And it wasn't -- it wasn't a racial thing. There was a fight. And with -- within the fight, the police decided to throw tear gas in the hall.

And everybody panic. Well, it turned out not to be a riot, but people tryin' to escape -- tryin' to get away from the tear gas. When they started broadcastin' that there was -- where Fats Domino was playin' and there was a race riot, that was a $1 million exposure right there. All the news media picked it up.

So that was publicity. But there... It wasn't a real race riot.

COMO

Fats, this rock 'n' roll music seems to be under an awful heavy attack from all over the country. There's been riots. It's been banned in certain parts of this country and abroad. You know of any reason for that?

-Well, as far as I know, music make people happy. I know it make me happy. You wouldn't blame it on rock 'n' roll. -No, indeed.

-What happened up in Rhode Island where you where playin'? -Well, you know how it is when the Navy and Marines get together. -You don't think it was the music? -No, couldn't be.

NARRATOR

Life on the road for an African-American rock 'n' roll band, even the country's most popular one, was mired in the pre-Civil Rights mores of the day.

DOMINO

Sometimes we used to go up 100 mile out the way to get a place to sleep. -It was tough. We stayed in little, small-like hotels. We didn't have the privilege and the -- the restaurants.

I started drivin' the bus. And I would go into these restaurants or these places and sort of help integration along to push things, you know? And when the hotels first integrated, that was -- I was the first ones in them. -Well, I think there is, uh, no doubt about the fact that, uh, the Negro is more determined now than ever before to be free.

I think that there is a discontent in the Negro community, a frustration and an impatience, if we can use that word, uh, that we haven't seen before. I've been around the country for the last few days, uh, speaking. And I don't think I've ever seen, uh, the Negro population of our nation more aroused and more determined as I've seen on these particular trips.

DIAMOND

Before Martin Luther King got killed, Fats was in that same hotel 2 weeks before then playin' for the -- the garbage workers there. He'd bring the -- the workers together when -- whenever he'd play, white and black. It's somethin' about his person that draw a lot of people in, you know.

MAN

Once it was recognized, once it accepted, and once the -- the audience, the people started wantin' this music, there was nothin' that the radio stations or television can do about it. They had to accept it.

COLEMAN

So there was this historic moment in American history that -- that things were kind of coming together. And people don't really credit rock 'n' roll with integrating America. But it really did.

NARRATOR

Constantly far away from his loving family and his Ninth Ward home, life on the road was beginning to take its toll.

DOMINO

Anybody, when you first leave home, especially New Orleans, you still got your home on your mind. And the whole band is like that. Every time I had a Monday night off, I usually fly home.

NARRATOR

Although he received the adulation of millions of fans, Fats always longed to be on that last stretch of highway that led to the city he loved. This time I'm walkin' to New Orleans I'm walkin' to New Orleans I'm gonna need two pair of shoes When I get through walkin' these blues When I get back to New Orleans I've got my suitcase in my hand Now ain't that a shame I'm leavin' here today Yes, I'm goin' back home to stay Yes, I'm walkin' to New Orleans You used to be my honey 'Til I lost all my money No use for me to cry I'll see you by and by 'Cause I'm walkin' to New Orleans And I got no time for talkin' I'm walkin' to New Orleans By the end of 1963, a new generation of rockers, many of whom idolized Fats, were grabbing the world's attention. Although Fats continued to record, his top-10 hit records were now well behind him. For the next 40 years, he brought the big beat around the world, performing his hits at sold-out shows from New Orleans to Japan.

I'm walkin' Yes, indeed I'm walkin' Up until his final public performance in 2006, Dave Bartholomew and Herb Hardesty were often in the band. For 65 years, Fats never departed from his boogie-woogie roots and always ended his shows with a gumbo-spiced ode to New Orleans -- "When the Saints Go Marchin' In." Oh, when the saints Go marchin' in Oh, when the saints go marchin' in

BARTHOLOMEW

Always close with the saints. Sometimes we couldn't get off the bandstand, we'd go back. When the saints go marchin' in Oh, when the sun Refused to shine Oh, when the sun refused to shine -A gentlemen. When you work with a man 50 years, that should speak for itself.

Oh, when the saints Go marchin' in Oh, when the saints go marchin' in -The stories he told was so charmin', even when he was tellin' a hard luck story. A prince of a man. Oh, when the sun Refused to shine Oh, when the sun refused to shine I say I want to be in that number -Colleges and universities that had courses only on jazz artists. I can...

Why not on -- on -- on artists like Fats or Chuck Berry? I can never understand why the cities that they represented didn't recognize them the same way they would recognize a Louis Armstrong.

COLEMAN

John Lennon, the first song he ever learned was "Ain't That a Shame." First rock 'n' roll song that George Harrison ever heard was "I'm in Love Again." And Paul McCartney's just recorded a slew of Fats Domino songs. Uh, on top of that, Elvis Presley once even called Fats the king of rock 'n' roll. Little Richard said that he worshipped Fats and was honored to touch his hand. And, of course, he recorded most of his hits with members of Fats' band.

-Here you have a formula that they haven't had to change in over half a century. It's as good now as it was then. The music business changes every week. Here is something that you're witnessing and listening to the same sound that music lovers would have been hearing half a century ago.

And it still does the trick. It does the trick because it's really good. -Two Daves, I don't think that would have worked. Uh, two Fats wouldn't have gotten off the ground.

Two Fats would have had to find another one Dave somewhere. -I'm glad I could join the elites and just be one in a crowd. Together we stand, divided we fall.

Cheers and applause

COLEMAN

NARRATOR

To learn more about Fats Domino and other American Masters, visit pbs.org/americanmasters, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. "The

Big Beat

Fats Domino and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll" is available on DVD. To order, visit shopPBS.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

DOMINO

Whoo!

MAN

Antoine, you know, you still got it, man.

DOMINO

You -- You -- You still got it, too.

Both laugh