Blueberry Hill (song)

"Blueberry Hill" is a popular song published in 1940, best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino. The music was written by Vincent Rose, the lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis.[1] It was recorded six times in 1940. Victor Records released the recording by the Sammy Kaye Orchestra with vocals by Tommy Ryan on May 31, 1940.[2] Gene Krupa's version was issued on OKeh Records[3] on June 3 and singer Mary Small recorded a vocal version on the same label with Nat Brandwynne's orchestra, released June 20, 1940.[4] Other 1940 recordings were by: the Glenn Miller Orchestra on Bluebird Records (10768), Kay Kyser, Russ Morgan, Gene Autry (also in the 1941 film The Singing Hill), Connee Boswell, and Jimmy Dorsey. The largest 1940 hit was by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, which reached #2 on the US charts.[5]

"Blueberry Hill"
Single by Fats Domino
from the EP This Is Fats Domino!
B-side"Honey Chile"
Released1956 (1956)
Format78 & 45 rpm records
Genre
Length2:14
LabelImperial
Composer(s)Vincent Rose
Lyricist(s)
Fats Domino singles chronology
"When My Dreamboat Comes Home"
(1956)		 "Blueberry Hill"
(1956)		 "The Rooster Song"
(1957)

Louis Armstrong's 1949 recording charted in the Billboard Top 40, reaching number 29. It was an international hit in 1956 for Fats Domino and has become a rock and roll standard. It reached number two for three weeks on the Billboard Top 40 charts, becoming his biggest pop hit, and spent eight non-consecutive weeks at number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart.[6] The version by Fats Domino was also ranked number 82 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[7][8]

Recorded versions

  • In the popular 1970s sitcom Happy Days, set in the 1950s, lead character Richie Cunningham, played by Ron Howard, would often sing "I found my thrill..." (the first line of Domino's 1950s version of "Blueberry Hill") in reference to pretty girls he dated or wanted to date.
  • Joe Edwards' restaurant Blueberry Hill, on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, Missouri, where Chuck Berry frequently played, is named after the song.[12]
  • The Far Side, a comic written by Gary Larson, features a comic parodying the lyrics of this song. A man is talking in a phone booth on top of a hill named "Blueberry Hill." He says into the phone "Norm? This is Mitch. ... You were right—I found my drill." The parody is of the line "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill."
  • 12 Monkeys, a 1995 film by Terry Gilliam, features the Fats Domino version sung by a group of doctors.
  • Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin made a cover performance of the song on December 10, 2010 before an audience of international film and television celebrities, in support of a charity for ill children. Videos of his performance quickly went viral worldwide.[13]

References
  1. "Blueberry Hill Work ID: 320068128 – Writers". ACE Repertory. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  2. Catalog #26643, with the flip side "Maybe"; matrix #51050
  3. No. 5672
  4. OKeh Records No. 5678
  5. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Pop Hits, Singles and Albums 1940-1954.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 167.
  7. "500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Fats Domino, 'Blueberry Hill'". Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
  9. "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #2". 1972.
  10. "Adriano Celentano - Blueberry Hill". Discogs. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  11. "Pat Boone - Blueberry Hill". Discogs. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  12. Medlin, Jarrett (August 16, 2012). "Blueberry Hill Turns 40". St. Louis Magazine.
  13. Martel, Frances (December 11, 2010). "This Exists: Vladimir Putin Serenades Audience With Rendition Of 'Blueberry Hill'". Mediaite.com. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
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