“Blue Christmas” | ||||
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Single by Elvis Presley | ||||
from the album Elvis’ Christmas Album | ||||
B-side |
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Released | November 9, 1964 (447-0720) November 26, 1965 (447-0647) |
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Format | 7-inch | |||
Recorded | September 5, 1957, Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:07 | |||
Label | RCA Victor 447-0720 RCA Victor 447-0647 |
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Songwriter(s) |
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Elvis Presley singles chronology | ||||
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“Blue Christmas” | ||||
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Single by The Beach Boys | ||||
from the album The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album | ||||
A-side | “The Man with All the Toys“ | |||
Released | November 9, 1964 | |||
Format | 7-inch | |||
Recorded | June 24, 1964 – June 28, 1964 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:41 (for both songs) | |||
Label | Capitol Records | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Brian Wilson | |||
The Beach Boys singles chronology | ||||
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The rock band The Beach Boys recorded a version featuring Brian Wilson on lead vocals, releasing it in the United States on November 16, 1964, in two separate formats simultaneously:
(a) the B-side of “The Man with All the Toys” single.
(b) a track on The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album.
The Beach Boys’ version reached No. 3 on the US Christmas charts, but did not chart in the UK.
“Blue Christmas” is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and most famously performed by Elvis Presley. It is a tale of unrequited love during the holidays and is a longstanding staple of Christmas music, especially in the country genre.
The song was first recorded by Doye O’Dell in 1948, and was popularized the following year in three separate recordings: one by country artist Ernest Tubb, one by musical conductor and arranger Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra and chorus, and one by bandleader Russ Morgan and his orchestra (the latter featuring lead vocals by Morgan and backing vocals by singers credited as the Morganaires). Tubb’s version spent the first week of January 1950 at No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s Most-Played Juke Box (Country & Western) Records chart, while Winterhalter’s version peaked at No. 9 on Billboard‘s Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys chart and Morgan’s version reached No. 11 on Billboard‘s Best-Selling Pop Singles chart. Both Morgan’s and Winterhalter’s versions featured a shorter pop edit of the original lyrics. Also in 1950 crooner Billy Eckstine recorded his rendition, backed by the orchestra of Russ Case, with these shortened lyrics in a variation close to what is now the common standard for this song; the orchestral backing of this recording has often been wrongly accredited to Winterhalter.
Elvis Presley cemented the status of “Blue Christmas” as a rock-and-roll holiday classic by recording it for his 1957 LP Elvis’ Christmas Album.
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