1956 HITS ARCHIVE: Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino (78rpm ‘no-wow’ version) (see description)

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Description

Blueberry Hill (Lewis-Stock-Rose) by Fats Domino

This we’ll call Version 1: the now-rarely-heard, undamaged, unedited original single master recording of Fats’ “Blueberry Hill,” released in 1956-57, but only on the steadily-shrinking 78rpm format.

Version 2 (also posted) was the slightly different 45rpm issue of “Blueberry Hill” that was heard on the radio in 1956-57 and was purchased by the majority of record buyers (it was also the version included on the 1957 Imperial LP 9028 “Fats Domino”). Note the brief slow-down--or ‘tape wow’--at the 1:06 point during the phrase “vows we made.”

Version 3 (not included in this posting) is the ‘repaired’ “Blueberry Hill,” an edited version that became the new default master and the one that has most commonly been reissued on LP and CD since 1960. Rather than reverting to the original clean 78rpm master (it may no longer have been available), Imperial Records chose instead to doctor the ‘wowed’ microgroove version by replacing the damaged “vows WE made” phrase with a copy of the similar-sounding “vows YOU made” passage from later in the track.

THE 1956 HITS ARCHIVE - here in one place, a good-quality library of original-release-version best-sellers and songs that made an impact that were either released or enjoyed a major chunk of their popularity within the calendar year 1956 (some were recorded in 1955).