Blueberry Hill
{{short description|Single by Fats Domino}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Blueberry Hill
| cover = 4asallata.jpg
| caption = 1940 sheet music
| alt =
| type = song
| genre =
| published = 1940 by Chappell & Company, New York
| writer =
| composer = Vincent Rose
| lyricist =
}}
"Blueberry Hill" is a popular American song published in 1940 and first recorded and released by Sammy Kaye in 1940 on RCA Victor. It is best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino.
Glenn Miller peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1940 with his recording on RCA Bluebird Records featuring Ray Eberle on vocals.
In 1941, Gene Autry made a recording of this song for Regal Zonophone. He also sang it in the 1941 movie "The Singing Hill".{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuEk_G6l360&t=140s | title=Gene Autry - Blueberry Hill(1941) | website=YouTube | date=September 13, 2019 }}
Background
The music for "Blueberry Hill" was composed by Vincent Rose with lyrics written by Larry Stock and Al Lewis.
{{cite web
| url = https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/search/title/blueberry%20hill
| title = Blueberry Hill Work ID: 320068128 – Writers
| website = ACE Repertory
| access-date = April 14, 2018
}} The song was turned down by another publisher until being bought and published in 1940 by Chappell & Company.{{Cite web |title=Larry Stock {{!}} Songwriters Hall of Fame |url=https://www.songhall.org/profile/Larry_Stock |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=www.songhall.org}} The song was recorded over ten times that year.
Recordings
Sammy Kaye initially recorded and released the first recording of the song on RCA Victor Records with vocals by Tommy Ryan on May 31, 1940.Catalog #26643, with the flip side "Maybe"; matrix #51050[https://www.discogs.com/release/6017563-Swing-And-Sway-With-Sammy-Kaye-Blueberry-Hill-Maybe Blueberry Hill by Sammy Kaye. Discogs. Retrieved 7 October 2023.]
The first hit version and the most successful in 1940 was by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, which reached number 2 on the US charts featuring Ray Eberle on vocals.{{cite book|last=Whitburn| first=Joel |title= Pop Hits, Singles and Albums 1940-1954 |date= 2002}} It was recorded in Chicago on May 13, 1940 and released on RCA Bluebird Records as catalog number B-10768-A. It was released by the His Master's Voice in the UK as catalog numbers BD 5632 and MH 92.
Louis Armstrong's 1949 recording on Decca Records with Gordon Jenkins charted in the Billboard Top 40, reaching number 29. This recording would inspire Fats Domino to create the later cover in 1956.
Elvis Presley recorded the song on January 19, 1957; the recording appeared on his 1957 EP Just for You and the Loving You LP, and a live medley of "Blueberry Hill" and "I Can't Stop Loving You" was included on his 1974 LP Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis. Presley's fellow Sun Records alumnus Jerry Lee Lewis recorded "Blueberry Hill" in September 1973 for his LP Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis.
Fats Domino version
{{Infobox song
| name = Blueberry Hill
| type = single
| artist = Fats Domino
| album = This Is Fats Domino!
| B-side = Honey Chile
| released = 1956
| genre =
| length = 2:14
| label = Imperial
| composer = Vincent Rose
| lyricist =
| prev_title = When My Dreamboat Comes Home
| prev_year = 1956
| next_title = The Rooster Song
| next_year = 1957
}}
"Blueberry Hill" 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.{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=167}} The version by Fats Domino was also ranked number 82 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite web |title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Fats Domino, 'Blueberry Hill' |date=April 7, 2011 |publisher=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/fats-domino-blueberry-hill-19691231 | access-date=October 7, 2011}}{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/fats-domino-blueberry-hill-19691231 |title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Fats Domino, 'Blueberry Hill' | Rolling Stone |website=www.rollingstone.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218214530/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/fats-domino-blueberry-hill-19691231 |archive-date=18 December 2011 |url-status=dead}}
Popular culture
- On the American television show, Happy Days, this was Richie Cunningham's favorite song.{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |title=Television characters : 1,485 profiles, 1947-2004 |date=2006 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson NC |isbn=0786421916 |page=335/941 |url=https://archive.org/details/televisioncharac0000terr/page/334/mode/2up |quote=Richie's trademark became the song "Blueberry Hill" (he would frequently sing the first line — "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill").}}{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Garry |title=Wake me when it's funny |date=1995 |publisher=Adams Pub. |isbn=1558505261 |page=14 |url=https://archive.org/details/wakemewhenitsfun00mars/page/14/mode/2up |quote=On the first day of Happy Days, Ron Howard pulled my brother aside and said, "I'm really glad to be doing this show, but I'm not very funny." But a few months later he was singing that Blueberry Hill song and marking audiences laugh.}} (Section quoted written by Penny Marshall.){{cite book |last1=West |first1=Beverly |last2=Bergund |first2=Jason |title=TV therapy : the television guide to life |date=2005 |publisher=Delta Trade Paperbacks |location=New York City NY |isbn=0-385-33902-X |page=83 |url=https://archive.org/details/tvtherapytelevis00west/page/82/mode/2up |quote=...and the most alarming collection of plaid button-downs ever assembled in order to find his thrill on Blueberry Hill.}}
- Joe Edwards' restaurant Blueberry Hill, on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, Missouri, where Chuck Berry frequently played, is named after the song.{{cite web|url=http://www.stlmag.com/Blueberry-Hill-Turns-40/ |title=Blueberry Hill Turns 40 |first=Jarrett |last=Medlin |date=August 16, 2012 |work=St. Louis Magazine}}
- 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.{{cite web |title=This Exists: Vladimir Putin Serenades Audience With Rendition Of 'Blueberry Hill' |last=Martel |first=Frances |website=Mediaite.com |date=December 11, 2010 |url=http://www.mediaite.com/tv/this-exists-vladimir-putin-condemns-audience-to-listen-to-his-singing-piano-playing/ |access-date=October 7, 2011}}
- On The Rolling Stones concert film Charlie Is My Darling, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform the song impromptu during the tour of Ireland in 1965.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Glenn Miller}}
{{Fats Domino}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Songs written by Larry Stock
Category:Songs written by Al Lewis (lyricist)
Category:Louis Armstrong songs
Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings
Category:Imperial Records singles