The song Paul McCartney sang as an impression of another singer: “It took my other voice to a very odd place”
It’s important to remember that at the end of the day, The Beatles were just four kids. Still so young when Beatlemania took hold and sent them racing around the world on a busy touring schedule, they were simply four lads who loved music. That makes it even more heartwarming when hearing stories of them meeting the legends that first inspired them or, in this case, getting into a kind of back-and-forth inspiration exchange as the Fab Four not only met their heroes but became their peers in a way.
There are certain strings that connect The Beatles’ entire career. What began as an early inspiration or simply an early artist that bonded the boys into a friendship would become covers they did, which would level up their fame, put them on their heroes’ radar, result in a chance meeting and often end in said hero saying how influential The Beatles were in return. Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Little Richard – all these people who were idols to the band, all becoming peers, somewhat friends, or simply meeting the band, allowing the four lads to have that ‘pinch me’ moment when their hero knew their name.
However, one of the key ones, and perhaps one of the band’s most important influences, was Fats Domino. When talking about strings that weaved through the band’s life or initially tied them together, Domino was a key one. George Harrison said that his track ‘I’m in Love Again’ was the first rock and roll song he had ever heard, putting him onto the whole genre. Elsewhere in the same city, before the band all met, John Lennon was learning ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ as the first track he could ever play on guitar.
When the group did get together, Domino was a key influence and a reference they all shared. He was an artist they all knew, loved, respected and were excited by, seeing him and his sound and career as a blueprint to follow or a goal to strive towards.
So flash forward only a few short years, when the band is being shuffled through an insane tour schedule in the US at the height of Beatlemania, hitting 25 cities in 30 days—of course, they were going to do anything to make sure they met their hero when they were briefly in his hometown of New Orleans.
When later asked if he got to meet The Beatles, Domino famously quipped, “No, they got to meet me.” But the band would certainly agree with that as they forgot their own position as music’s favourite act to instead be fans, freaking out over meeting their hero.
But even after that, Domino’s influence endured. In 1968, years after those touring years were done, McCartney still kept his voice in his head, hearing it clearly when he came to write one song. “‘Lady Madonna’ was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing,” he said in 1994.
He continued, “It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression. It took my other voice to a very odd place.”
So that’s why, on the track, McCartney is doing his finest impression of the American blues rock and roll legend, holding him so close as a vital inspiration that sometimes he came out in the song. And you know what they say: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
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