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This was written by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock for the 1940 Western The Singing Hill before they decided it was good enough to be released commercially. The song was used in the movie, where it was heard for the first time performed by Gene Autry.
Stock, who wrote the lyrics, recalls that "One important publisher turned down Blueberry Hill, because, he claimed, blueberries don't grow on hills. I assured him I had picked them on hills as a boy, but nothing doing. So Chappell And Company bought the song and another hit was born." (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for above 2)
Fats recorded this in LA, at a session in which he ran out of material to tape. Domino insisted on recording the song over the vehement objections of producer-arranger Dave Bartholomew, and then forgot the lyrics while he was recording the song. The engineer pieced together the final version from many fragmentary takes.
In 1940, this was a #2 hit for Glenn Miller. In 1956, Louis Armstrong took it to #29 with the assistance of Gordon Jenkins and his orchestra (with a recording that was originally released in 1949). It has also been covered by Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Andy Williams, Kiki, Cliff Richard, Bruce Cockburn, and others.
Domino's real name is Antoine Domino. This is his biggest hit and best seller.
In the TV series
Happy Days, Ritchie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard), sings this whenever he has found a date. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for above 4)
Al Lewis, co-writer of the song, died February 4, 2006 at the age of 95. Lewis was the actor who portrayed "Grandpa" on the '60s TV comedy series The Munsters and he also portrayed "Officer Schnauzer" on the TV comedy series Car 54, Where Are You? during the same decade. (thanks, Mem - Nw Orleans, LA)
Ray Manzarek of The Doors admitted on his BBC Radio 2 program that the baseline to "
Light My Fire" was based on this song.
Domino Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin performed this song on December 10, 2010 at a charity event in front of an audience of international film and television celebrities. Videos of his performance quickly went viral worldwide. Putin's spokesman said the former KGB chief learned the lyrics to the song as part of his English language studies.
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- Shelly Binkley, Grants Pass, OR