Yet MORE Songs You May Not Have Known Were Covers: Blueberry Hill (#9)

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Happy Friday! I'm feeling a little better, even though I can't talk. I might try to make the Robbie show tonight, as he's touring with Jerry Lee Lewis' sister in support of their terrific new duet album. That's a big "if," though. What's NOT a big "if" is the next song on the countdown of songs you didn't know were covers. This one shocked me, proving yet again that I don't know "everything" about music. #9: Blueberry Hill Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill" is one of the staples of early rock and roll. Let's face it, if you don't know that signature piano riff and the opening line, "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill" you need to turn in your rock and roll fan card. One of the greats of rock and roll history, however, wasn't an original. In the 40s and early 50s so many big band acts recorded this song that it was probably as much a big band staple as it is now a rock and roll/oldies staple. But even the big band leaders were covering it. The first recording of this song came along in 1940....by..... Wait for it...... This even surprised me..... GENE AUTRY. Yes, that Gene Autry. "Back in the Saddle Again," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" Gene Autry. Owner of the California Angels Gene Autry. Autry was a western movie "singing cowboy" star in the 40s (along with people like Roy Rogers and Tex Ritter), and he did the original version of this song for a movie (The Singing Hill) in 1941. And yes, I didn't know that until I started this countdown. Blueberry Hill Written by Larry Stock, Al Lewis, and Vincent Rose Originally recorded by Gene Autry, 1940 Famously covered by Fats Domino, 1956 Also covered by Gene Krupa, Sammy Kaye, Louis Armstrong, Pat Boone, and about 42,000,000 others Gene Autry, back in the saddle and finding his thrill in 1941: