Blue Christmas

1958

Elvis Presley

Ahhh, Christmas...as a certain Mr Ives sings, 'The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

...And for the next at least 25 days or so, if not the entire month, very little that does not have at least something to do with Christmas will get accomplished. Oh, Our bosses like to think non-Christmas tasks will get our full and undivided attention...but they actually know better. They know that we;'re really trying to figure out how to get Aunt Bertha's super-secret eggnog recipe away form her , how to get all of the Christmas shopping done, and generally enjoying the holiday and it's unique festive air./ Deep down there are very few people who don't enjoy the Season on at least some level...and they don't really want to think about all that much non-Christmas right now

And in that same vein, there won't be any non-Christmas songs on this blog until 2013 becomes 2014. Somehow it just wouldn't seem right...and besides there is a lot of Christmas Music out there, and a pretty good bit of it made a pretty good sized dent on the charts and became 'Must Play' Christmas music.

So just for the fun of it, I'm going to see just how many Christmas Songs..especially of the Pop and Rock variety...I can post. And we start off with...The King. Elvis himself. Who, By The Way, was not the first one to record Blue Christmas...not by a long shot. He was just the one who made it a Christmas Music On The Radio Staple.

It was originally a country song. written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson...old school country at that. I mean it's about a guy who's missing his girl on Christmas. It just about had to be a Country song...and that's what it was recorded and released as by two of the no fewer than four artists that released and/or covered it a decade or so before The King.

Doye O'Dell was first in 1948, then three more versions a year later...one by Country singer Ernest Tubbs and a pair of Orchestra-performed versions by Hugo Winterhalter, and Russ Morgan, both, of course, with their orchestras. Russ Morgan lent his vocal talents to his version, backed by his own vocal group, The Morganettes. Tubb's version got massive airplay on the Country side of the musical coin, and Winterhalter's and Morgan's versions both not only charted but did well...Winterhalter's scored the 9-spot on Most Played By Disc Jockeys' chart (Yes, Billboard did indeed have such a chart back then) and Morgan's version just barely missed the Top 10, hitting #11 on The Best Selling Pop Singles chart (The Hot 100's predecessor) but it took Elvis to really make it a Christmas classic a decade later.

The King recorded and released his version of 'Blue Christmas in 1957 ('57 and '58 ended up being good years for Pop Christmas songs, with a couple of real true modern classics released in those two years). He recorded it for his 1957 LP 'Elvis' Christmas Album'. It was finally released as a single in 1954, and became a huge hit on both sides of he Pond (As Elvis' songs were very much wont to do!)

It's been a Christmas Classic ever since, and you will hear this one multiple times during The Christmas Season.

Not to be outdone, The Beach Boys covered it in '64 as well, and took it to #3 on The Billboard Christmas chart that year, and it's been covered by at least nine artists in the intervening 56 years. But The King's version is the one you're gonna hear!

So enjoy! “Blue Christmas' by Elvis Presley.

And for the Beach Boys faithful among us, their version of Blue Christmas, with a completely different sound and feel.