"Blue Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson. Its tale of unrequited love during the holidays and is a longstanding staple of Christmas music, especially in the country genre.

Initial recordings and major versions [link]

The song was first recorded by Doye O'Dell in 1948,^[3] and was popularized the following year in three separate recordings: one by country artist Ernest Tubb; one by bandleader Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra; 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).^[4] Tubb's version spent the first week of January 1950 at # 1 on Billboard magazine's Most-Played Juke Box (Country & Western) Records chart, while Winterhalter's version peaked at # 9 on Billboard's Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys chart and Morgan's version reached # 11 on Billboard's Best-Selling Pop Singles chart.^[5]

Elvis Presley cemented the status of "Blue Christmas" as a rock-and-roll holiday classic by deleting one verse from Tubb's version and recording the remainder on his 1957 LP Elvis' Christmas Album. Presley's version is notable musicologically as well as culturally in that its backing vocalists (especially in the soprano line) replace many major and just minor thirds with neutral and septimal minor thirds, respectively. In addition to contributing to the overall tone of the song, the resulting "blue notes" constitute a musical play on words that provides an "inside joke" or "Easter egg" to trained ears. Presley's original 1957 version was released as a commercially-available single for the first time in 1964.

American rock band The Beach Boys recorded a version featuring Brian Wilson on lead vocals, releasing it on November 16, 1964, in two separate formats simultaneously: a) the B-side of the "The Man with All the Toys" single and b) a track on The Beach Boys' Christmas Album. The Beach Boys' version reached #3 on the U.S. Christmas charts but did not chart in the U.K.

Cover versions [link]

Following the success of Presley's version, the song has been recorded by a host of rock and country artists, as well as some working in other genres, with over 65 recorded versions^{[citation needed]}:

A version by The Browns peaked at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in December 1960.^[6]

Use in film and television [link]

The song was featured in the children's Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus.
In 2009, Elvis' version was used in a TV commercial for Verizon Wireless.

References [link]

^ Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. ISBN 0-87930-818-4 p. 72
^ Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. ISBN 0-87930-818-4 p. 58
^ Greene, Andy (30 November 2011). "Readers' Poll: The Best Christmas Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Jann S. Wenner. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/readers-poll-the-best-christmas-songs-of-all-time-20111130/7-elvis-presley-blue-christmas-0178356. Retrieved 08 December 2011.
^ https://www.russmorganorchestra.com/russ.html: see table section "Vocalists with Band Included"
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Christmas in the Charts (1920-2004). Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 50,62. ISBN 0-89820-161-6.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Christmas in the Charts (1920-2004). Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 25. ISBN 0-89820-161-6.

External links [link]

Blue Christmas lyrics
Music video featuring Elvis Presley and a superimposed Martina McBride

Elvis Presley singles discography

1950s

1954	"That's All Right" / "Blue Moon of Kentucky" "Good Rockin' Tonight" / "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine" "Milkcow Blues Boogie"

1955	"Baby Let's Play House" "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" / "Mystery Train"

1956	"Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was The One" "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" / "My Baby Left Me" "Don't Be Cruel" / "Hound Dog" "Blue Suede Shoes" / "Tutti Frutti" "Money Honey" "I Got a Woman" "Trying to Get To You" "Blue Moon" "I'll Never Let You Go (Lil' Darlin')" / "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)" "Shake, Rattle and Roll" / "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" "Love Me Tender" "Love Me" "Paralyzed"

1957	"Too Much" "All Shook Up" "Peace in the Valley "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" "Jailhouse Rock"

1958	"Don't" "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" "Hard Headed Woman" "One Night"

1959	"I Need Your Love Tonight" / "A Fool Such as I" "A Big Hunk o' Love"

1960s

1960	"Stuck on You" "It's Now or Never" "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

1961	"Surrender" "I Feel So Bad" "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" / "Little Sister" "Can't Help Falling in Love" / "Rock-A-Hula Baby"

1962	"Good Luck Charm" / "Anything That's Part of You" "She's Not You" "Return to Sender"

1963	"One Broken Heart for Sale" "(You're The) Devil in Disguise" "Bossa Nova Baby"

1964	"Kissin' Cousins" / It Hurts Me" "What'd I Say" / "Viva Las Vegas" "Blue Christmas"

1965	"Do the Clam" / "You'll Be Gone" "Crying in the Chapel "(Such an) Easy Question" "I'm Yours" "Puppet on a String" / Wooden Heart"

1966	"Tell Me Why" "Frankie and Johnny" "Love Letters" "Spinout" / "All That I Am" "If Every Day Was Like Christmas"

1967	"Indescribably Blue" "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)" / "That's Someone You Never Forget" "There's Always Me" "Big Boss Man" / "You Don't Know Me"

1968	"Guitar Man" "U.S. Male" "You'll Never Walk Alone" "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby" / "Let Yourself Go" "A Little Less Conversation" "If I Can Dream"

1969	"Memories" "How Great Thou Art" "In the Ghetto" / "Any Day Now" "Suspicious Minds" "Don't Cry Daddy"

1970s

1970	"Kentucky Rain" "The Wonder of You" "I've Lost You" "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" / "Patch It Up" "I Really Don't Want to Know" / "There Goes My Everything"

1971	"Rags to Riches" "Life" "I'm Leavin'" "It's Only Love" "Merry Christmas Baby" / "O Come All Ye Faithful"

1972	"Until It's Time for You to Go" "He Touched Me" "An American Trilogy" / "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "Burning Love" "Separate Ways" / "Always on My Mind"

1973	"Steamroller Blues" "Raised on Rock" / "For Ol' Times Sake"

1974	"I've Got a Thing About You Baby" "If You Talk In Your Sleep" "Promised Land"

1975	"My Boy" "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" "Bringing It Back" / "Pieces of My Life"

1976	"Hurt" / "For The Heart" "Moody Blue"

1977	"Way Down" "My Way" / "America the Beautiful"

1978	"Unchained Melody" / "Softly as I Leave You"

Book
Category
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v t e Andrea Bocelli singles

Il mare calmo della sera	"Il mare calmo della sera"

Bocelli	"Con te partirò"/"Vivere" "Macchine da Guerra" "Per amore" "Vivo per lei"

Romanza	"Vivo por ella" "Time to Say Goodbye" "Ich lebe für sie" "Je vis pour elle"

Sogno	"The Prayer" "Canto della Terra"

Sacred Arias	"Ave Maria"

Cieli di Toscana	"Melodramma" "Mille Lune Mille Onde" "L'abitudine"

Andrea	"Dell'amore non si sa" "Un nuovo giorno"

Amore	"Somos Novios (It's Impossible)" "Because We Believe" "Ama Credi E Vai"

Vivere	"Dare to live (Vivere)" "Vive Ya"

My Christmas	"White Christmas/Bianco Natale" "What Child Is This"

Other singles	"Bridge over Troubled Water"

Other songs	"The Power of Love" "Bésame Mucho" "Amapola" "Can't Help Falling in Love" "Panis Angelicus" "Adeste Fideles" "Blue Christmas"

Category Media

v t e Clay Walker singles

Clay Walker	"What's It to You" "Live Until I Die" "Where Do I Fit in the Picture" "Dreaming with My Eyes Open"

If I Could Make a Living	"If I Could Make a Living" "This Woman and This Man" "My Heart Will Never Know"

Hypnotize the Moon	"Who Needs You Baby" "Hypnotize the Moon" "Only on Days That End in "Y"" "Bury the Shovel"

Rumor Has It	"Rumor Has It" "One, Two, I Love You" "Watch This" "Then What?"

Greatest Hits	"Ordinary People" "You're Beginning to Get to Me"

Live, Laugh, Love	"She's Always Right" "Live, Laugh, Love" "The Chain of Love" "Once in a Lifetime Love"

Say No More	"Say No More" "If You Ever Feel Like Lovin' Me Again"

A Few Questions	"A Few Questions" "I Can't Sleep" "Jesus Was a Country Boy"

Fall	"'Fore She Was Mama" "Fall" "She Likes It in the Morning"

She Won't Be Lonely Long	"She Won't Be Lonely Long" "Where Do I Go from You" "Like We Never Said Goodbye"

https://wn.com/Blue_Christmas

Blue Christmas (holiday)

Blue Christmas, also called the Longest Night, in the Western Christian tradition, is a day in the Advent season marking the longest night of the year. On this day, some churches hold a church service that honours people that have lost loved ones in that year. The Holy Eucharist is traditionally a part of the service of worship on this day.

References

External links

Blue Christmas Resources - Church Health Reader

Blue Christmas by the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD)

Blue Christmas Liturgy by The Reverend Nancy C. Townely (Cokesbury)

Blue Christmas (Ricky Van Shelton album)

Blue Christmas is the second album of Christmas music by country music artist Ricky Van Shelton. It features one original song and several others that were reprised from his first Christmas album, Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas.