The second of our occasional Monday Morning posts takes us back to New Orleans in 1954 and a single that has been overshadowed for more than fifty years by a (very good) cover version. Fats Domino had a No. 5 hit in 1957 with “Blue Monday,” a tune that was used in the 1956 Jayne Mansfield film, The Girl Can’t Help It. The tune – written by New Orleans genius Dave Bartholomew – was originally recorded, however, by Smiley Lewis in 1954.
Lewis’ version was released as a single on Imperial 5268, but it made neither the pop nor R&B chart, from what I can tell. (Joel Whitburn’s cataloging of the Billboard pop charts in Top Pop Singles begins in 1955, and Whitburn lists Lewis’ “Blue Monday” as a classic side pre-dating the chart. Whitburn’s R&B Top 40 book goes back further, but Lewis’ “Blue Monday” is not listed.)
Hit or not, Smiley’s version is worth a listen.
(I’ve posted Lewis’ version of “Blue Monday” before, but I have more information available to me now, and anyway, that was almost four years ago, which is a long time in blogyears.)
Tags: Smiley Lewis
Echoes In The Wind Archives 
July 11, 2012 at 8:33 am |
The original version of Blue Monday by Smiley Lewis has always been a favourite, and I’m glad to see that you’ve focussed your spotlight on it.
July 11, 2012 at 7:10 pm |
Frankie Ford (of “Sea Cruise” fame) covered “Blue Monday” for a single release on ABC Records in the first part of 1974; a late ‘American Graffiti’ cash-in attempt, perhaps? Compared to the Lewis and Domino versions, Frankie’s leaned a hair on the robin’s-egg side of the shade.