I love unlikely cover versions, pairings of song and artist that make me go “Huh?” And looking back over the past few weeks of posts here, I realized that I’d mentioned for the second time – without ever posting it – one of the most intriguing and unlikely covers I know about: Fats Domino’s take on the Beatles’ “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey.”
Domino recorded the tune for Reprise in 1968, but a single release didn’t hit the charts. The track was supposed to show up on an album, but I don’t think it did. The liner notes of the sampler titled The 1969 Warner-Reprise Record Show – which is where I found the track – say that “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide . . .” is on the album Fats Is Back, but the 1999 CD release on the Bullseye Blues label omits the track. So I checked a couple of discography sites, and neither the track listing at Discogs nor the listing at Both Sides Now show “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide . . .” as being on Fats Is Back.
It’s possible, I suppose, that both discography sites are relying on the track listing from the Bullseye Blues release, but I kind of doubt it. I think that, despite its being promoted in the Warner-Reprise sampler, the track was omitted from Fats Is Back when it was released in 1968. And that makes me wonder what happened.
Anyway, here’s Fats and Reprise 0843 : “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey.”
The track has since shown up on a CD released last year in Britain: Come Together: Black America Sings Lennon & McCartney. The album includes twenty-three other tracks; at least one of those – Chubby Checker’s take on “Back In The U.S.S.R.” – has been featured in this blog.
Tags: Fats Domino