cover image Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll

Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll

Rick Coleman. Perseus Books Group, $26.95 (364pp) ISBN 978-0-306-81491-4

""When people get started dancing and having a good time, they don't care what color you are,"" reflected Herbert Hardesty, one of Antoine ""Fats"" Domino's band members, on the ability of Domino's music to break through the color barrier in postwar America. It is a recurring theme in Coleman's biography, as are, not surprisingly, segregation and mainstream society's reception to rock 'n' roll, particularly songs by African Americans. Based on interviews and years of research, Coleman's book is well-written and full of lively details about life on the road, recording sessions and how things worked in Domino's inner circle. After making quick work of Domino's grandparents and childhood, Coleman begins a chronological journey through Domino's life, peppering his narrative with important events in music and the civil rights movement. Although Coleman touches lightly on some of Domino's irresponsible behavior-his drinking, womanizing and ambivalence to curtain times set the mold by which later rock stars would be cast-the book borders on hagiography. Also, Coleman's suggestions that the earliest African-American performers of rock 'n' roll are largely forgotten and that there still persists a myth that it all began with Elvis are outmoded at best. However, Coleman's book succeeds as a warm tribute to an American music icon.