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Robert Fontenot, Oldies Music Guide at
http://oldies.about.com,
does a great job of keeping up with oldies history, news, and information.
Here's his excellent summary of the song:
“Blue Christmas," Elvis
Presley
RCA 447-0720 b/w "Wooden Heart"
Highest chart position: #1 US (1964)
Recorded September 5, 1957 Hollywood, CA
Although many assume it was written for Elvis, like most of his hits
were, "Blue Christmas" actually dates all the way back to 1949, when
Russ Morgan, Hugo Winterhalter, and Ernest Tubb all had hits with it.
(The next year, Billy Eckstein scored with it as well.)
And while it was included as a track on 1957's Elvis Christmas Album, it
inexplicably never saw the light of day as a single until seven years
later -- promo copies were issued only to DJs in '57, and only as a way
to promote the entire album.
Nevertheless, it rocketed straight to Number One at a time when the
British Invasion, changing tastes, and lackluster performances were
starting to make the King persona non grata in the Top Ten.
His bluesy rendition -- a great way to pun on the title, really -- is
still considered the standard, backed as it is by the Jordanaires,
singer Millie Kirkham (the female voice you hear on the track), and the
classic RCA backup band of Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana.
Nailed in three takes, even!
Copyright 2008 about.com |
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Where It All Began...
I worked as morning man at WOW-AM in
Omaha, NE from 1983-1990, when Great Empire Broadcasting owned the
station and featured a country music format.
Each year, a couple of weeks before
Christmas, we would start adding in a Christmas song here and there,
gradually increasing the amount of seasonal songs in the rotation
until a few days before Christmas, when we'd be playing 100% country
Christmas music.
It was a Saturday morning a few days before Christmas
and the station was in 100%
Christmas music mode. I was on the air and somewhat burned out on
playing those songs, over, and over, and over. Looking through the
singles and albums in the studio (hey, punk, this was before the
Internet and mp3's, O.K.?), I came across an album titled Blue
Christmas.
It was a promotional album that contained
thirty different versions of the song "Blue Christmas" by various
country artists. I decided to use ONLY that album as the source of
music for an hour, beginning after the next hourly newscast. It was a
normal hour--weather, commercials, live promos, everything as usual,
except that each song was one of the versions of "Blue Christmas." I
acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary and I was playing a
variety of songs.
The listeners "got" it and went along with
it. Their phone calls confirmed that they thought it was a real hoot.
However, my planned hour-long venture into holiday insanity was cut short at
about :45 past the hour with a call from the program director, who
started the call by asking "What the HELL are you doing???"
The joke ended then and there and no
damage was done to the station, the listeners, and, thankfully, to my
career. I've never forgotten it. As I started my planning to add a new
Smooth Jazz Christmas channel to Radio George this year (2008), the search for
selections generated a lot of "Blue Christmas" returns. I remembered
that Saturday morning at WOW and knew that this was my opportunity to
finally finish that hour and get my
Revenge of the Blue Christmas.
Hope you enjoy it!
George Woods
| Aaron Tippin |
Ernest Tubb |
Meditation Singers |
| Anne Murray |
Fats Domino |
Melissa Etheridge |
| Billy Eckstine |
Grover Washington, Jr. |
Merle Haggard |
| Bing Crosby |
Hank Thompson |
Nancy Wilson |
| Booker T & the MG's |
Harry Connick, Jr. |
New Black Eagle Jazz
Band |
| Boxcar Willie |
Jerry Vale |
Ringo Starr |
| Brenda Lee |
Jimmy Dean |
Sheryl Crow |
| Brooks & Dunn |
John Anderson |
The Beach Boys |
| Celine Dion |
Johnny Cash |
The Blue Hawaiians |
| Chad Brock |
Johnny Mathis |
The Oak Ridge Boys |
| Chet Atkins |
Jon Bon Jovi |
The Partridge Family |
| Clay Walker |
Judy Garland |
The Platters |
| Christy Lane |
Lawrence Welk |
The Ventures |
| Dean Martin |
Lola & the Red Hots |
Vince Gill |
| Elvis Presley |
Loretta Lynn |
Willie Nelson |
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Copyright 2008 RadioGeorge LLC
All Rights Reserved |
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A Christmas...Treat? |
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Porky Pig sings
Blue Christmas |
No, not really.
It's Seymore Swine and the
Squealers, who were better known as John-Boy and Billy,
morning show hosts at WRFX-FM in Charlotte, NC, when they recorded the
song in 1985.
While not what anyone would call a cult
hit, the song is amazing in that you'd swear that the voice is really
that of Mel Blanc, the Warner Brothers cartoon superstar, who was the
voice of Porky, Bugs Bunny, and many others.
For a special...treat, I guess...just hit
the pause button on the player on this page, then
click here to experience it on the Radio George Video
Jukebox.
Or visit the Radio George Jukebox page
directly, using this
link and then return at your leisure to Revenge of the Blue
Christmas.
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