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Released in 1989

I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday

Written by Fats Domino • Dave Bartholomew • Roy Hayes

Last updated on September 4, 2016

Album This song officially appears on the My Brave Face CD Single.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1989

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Other Fats Domino songs

From Wikipedia:

“I’m Gonna to Be a Wheel Someday” is a popular song written by Roy Hayes, Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. The song was first recorded by Bobby Mitchell & The Toppers in 1957 and released in the same year. It was later covered by Fats Domino, Sandy Nelson, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, Boots Randolph, Defenders, Asleep at the Wheel, Orion and Herbie Hancock with George Porter, Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste, Sheryl Crow, Paul McCartney and Renard Poché.

Paul McCartney recorded “I’m Gonna to Be a Wheel Someday” in 1987 for his Choba B CCCP album. From the liner notes of this album:

I’m Gonna Be A Wheel Someday/Ain’t That A Shame/I’m In Love Again

It’s interesting to note that through their individual styles couldn’t be more diverse, when recording their innumerable hits at Cosmo Studios in New Orleans, both Little Richard and Fats Domino employed the very same band of musicians.

The living embodiment of the Crescent City’s rich cultural heritage, Fats Domino has been scoring million-selling hits worldwide since 1949, to the extent that he has amassed more gold record awards than any artist other than Elvis and The Beatles.

There is a timeless consistency common to Domino’s repertoire that attracts successive generations and, without question, Paul McCartney’s understanding of the Fat Man’s special qualities, rendering him the most genuinely skillful of the Big Man’s life-affirming music.

Be it the way he eases comfortably into the brisk characteristic 2/4 New Orleans beat of the confidence-boosting I’m Gonna Be A Wheel Someday, handles the singalong rolling blues Ain’t That A Shame or knowingly defuses the pent-up frustration of I’m In Love Again with one of the greatest of all catch phrases, “Oowee, baby, oowee”, McCartney is in his element.

In Western countries where Choba B CCCP was only released in 1991, “I’m Gonna to Be a Wheel Someday” was first released in 1989 on the My Brave Face CD single.

Lyrics

Well, I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

Ev'rything gonna roll my way

I won't need nobody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

You cry and you sigh,

Girl, you wonder why

I don't look at you when

You walk on by.

I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

Oh, you wonder why

I don't look at you

When I go walkin'.

Well, I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

Yeah, I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

Ev'rything gonna roll my way,

I won't need nobody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

You cry and you sigh

You wonder why

I don't look at you

When I walk on by.

I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

Well, you cry and you sigh,

Girl, you wonder why

I won't look at you when

I go walkin' by.

Yeah, I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be a wheel

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you.

Oh, I'm gonna be a wheel someday

I'm gonna be somebody

I'm gonna be a real gone cat

Then I won't want you,

Then I won't want you,

Then I won't want you,

Then I won't want you,

I'm gonna be a wheel someday

And I won't want you

Babe, I won't want you.

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday”

Live performances

“I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday” has been played in 2 soundchecks.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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