This is hardly one of the day’s dominant issues, but there is a fascinating story in the Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer about how Fats Domino may have gotten his inspiration for his 1960 hit “Walking to New Orleans.” Guess what? It involves gambling.
From the Ledger-Enquirer:
Fats Domino has always had an expressive voice.When he mourned over “walkin’ to New Orrrrrleans,” listeners all across the nation could imagine the big fellow stepping down a dirt highway, the soles of his shoes wearing thin and a beat-up suitcase in his hand.
That trip might’ve started right here in Columbus, says a man who tells a story about the night Domino got the idea for one of his most endearing, enduring hits.
It was fall 1957. The legendary R&B performer and his six-piece band performed a long show at the Masonic Lodge on Sixth Avenue.
Charlie Frank Bass wasn’t at the show. He was running his nightclub around the corner — a place called Club Flush, on the second story of a building known as Porters Auditorium.
It was around 2 a.m., as Bass remembers. He and his partner were cleaning up and getting ready to close up shop when they heard the telltale creaking of folks coming up the stairs. He was prepared to turn them away, until he saw it was Domino himself followed by his six players.
“They were walking up the stairs, toting their own bottles,” Bass recalls.
You don’t turn Fats Domino away at the door.
So the band came up and started playing pool. And Domino, who is reputed to be a gambler, got into a friendly game of poker with Bass and his buddy.
Before long, the singer had lost all the money he’d just made playing the lodge around the corner, something around 500 bucks. Domino hit up his band for cash, and lost all their money, too. Then he went to a Western Union and had some cash wired his way, and went back to the club and lost it to Bass, too.
That’s when he blew up.
He cussed Charlie Frank Bass, yelling, “You done broke me again! Now I’m walking back to New Orleans.”
The big singer paced the upstairs club until he regained his composure. He walked back to the poker table and said, “Charlie Bass, you broke me tonight, but you made me one rich man. I’m going to write a song about this.”
Bass didn’t know what to think. “I asked him, ‘Are you gonna give me a copy of that record?’ ” Bass said. “He said, ‘Hell no.’ “
Some say R&B legend got idea for song after gambling money away in Columbus
Domino did not comment on the story, but it seems plausible. It’s unfortunate that Domino would chase his losses like that, but he seems to have done more with his misfortune than most. Many gamblers would just mumble something about “a bad beat” and try to borrow money to get back on top.
Gambling, it seems, is everywhere you look, and many places you don’t.