Everyone thinks they know the song. You hear those first few bars—that iconic, low-register "I'll have a..."—and suddenly you’re in a 1950s fever dream of tinsel and heartache. Elvis Presley Blue Xmas is basically the national anthem of holiday loneliness. But here’s the thing: Elvis didn't even want to record it.
He thought it was a joke. Seriously.
When the session rolled around in September 1957 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, Elvis told his backing singers, the Jordanaires, to make it as "silly" as possible. He wanted to parody the country-western style of the original. Millie Kirkham, the soprano whose "woo-hoo-hoo" vocals haunt the track, was actually trying to sound like a joke. She thought they were just messing around.
The result? A masterpiece of accidental melancholy that has outlasted almost every other Christmas record from that era.
The Weird History of a Holiday Titan
Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson wrote the song back in the late 40s. It wasn't written for a rock and roll star. It was a country tune. Ernest Tubb did a version in 1948 that went to number one on the country charts. It was fine. It was twangy. It was safe.
Then came Elvis.
He was 22. He was the most dangerous man in America. Putting out a Christmas album in 1957 was a calculated move by Colonel Tom Parker to make "Elvis the Pelvis" look like a nice boy who loved his mama and Jesus. But Elvis couldn't help himself. He brought that R&B-inflected, slow-burning swagger to the booth. He took a standard country lament and turned it into a "blue" soulful growl.
That Iconic Soprano Hook
Let's talk about Millie Kirkham for a second. If you listen closely to the recording, her vocals are almost operatic but slightly off-kilter. That was intentional. She was mimicking the "high lonesome" sound of bluegrass, but with a pop twist.
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"Elvis told us, 'Let's just get this over with,'" Kirkham later recalled in various interviews. "He said, 'Just do something silly.' So we started doing those 'woo-woos' and we thought it was hilarious."
They did one or two takes. They laughed. They moved on to the next track. They had no idea they were creating the definitive version of the song that would define December for the next seventy years.
Why Elvis Presley Blue Xmas Still Hits Different
There’s a specific psychological weight to this song. Most Christmas music is aggressively happy. It’s jingle bells and roasting chestnuts. It’s suffocatingly cheerful.
Elvis Presley Blue Xmas gives you permission to be sad.
The lyrics are brutally simple. You’ve got "decorations of red on a green Christmas tree," which sounds like a holiday postcard until he hits you with the fact that they "won't be the same, dear, if you're not here with me." It’s the contrast that kills. The world is festive, but the narrator is stuck in a monochromatic blue funk.
Musicologists often point to the tempo. It’s a slow shuffle. It mimics a heartbeat. It’s got that Bill Black bass line that just plods along like someone walking home through the snow with their head down. It’s not a dance track. It’s a "sit in the corner with a drink" track.
The Controversy You Forgot
Believe it or not, Elvis' Christmas Album caused a massive stir. Irving Berlin, the guy who wrote "White Christmas," actually tried to get the album banned from the radio. He hated Elvis’s version of his song so much that he called it a "sacrilegious parody."
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Berlin’s camp went on a crusade. They called radio stations. they begged DJs not to play the record. Most stations ignored him, but a few actually pulled it. In 1957, Elvis was still a polarizing figure. To the older generation, his "Blue Christmas" wasn't just a song; it was a threat to the sanctity of the holiday.
Of course, the ban backfired. It made the album a massive hit. It stayed at number one for four weeks. Today, it remains the best-selling Christmas album of all time in the United States, according to the RIAA.
Recording Details and Nerd Stuff
If you’re a gearhead or a music history buff, the technical side of the 1957 session is fascinating. They were recording in mono. There was no "fixing it in post."
- The Studio: Radio Recorders, Studio B.
- The Mic: Likely an RCA 77-DX or a Neumann U47. You can hear the warmth.
- The Band: Scotty Moore on guitar, Bill Black on bass, D.J. Fontana on drums. The "Blue Moon Boys" plus the Jordanaires.
Scotty Moore’s guitar solo is deceptively simple. It’s just a few licks, but they’re perfectly placed. He uses a lot of "slapback" echo, which was the signature Sun Records sound that followed Elvis to RCA. It gives the song a hollow, echoing feel—like he’s singing in an empty room. Which, given the lyrics, makes total sense.
The 1968 "Comeback Special" Version
While the 1957 studio version is the one we hear on the radio, the 1968 performance is the one you have to watch.
Elvis hadn't performed live in years. He was stuck making bad movies. He was nervous. He’s dressed in that black leather suit, sitting in a circle with his old friends. He picks up a guitar—which he rarely did in public by that point—and he plays "Blue Christmas."
It’s raw. He forgets some of the lyrics. He laughs. He tells the audience, "This is my favorite Christmas song."
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Watching that footage, you see the real Elvis. Not the polished movie star, but the guy who grew up on gospel and country. He sings it with a bit more grit than the '57 version. It’s less of a "silly" joke and more of a genuine tribute to his roots. If you haven't seen the "Sit-Down" sessions from the '68 special, go find the clip of this song. It explains the Elvis phenomenon better than any biography ever could.
Comparing Versions: Who Did It Best?
Dozens of artists have covered this song.
- The Beach Boys (1964): It’s a wall of sound. Beautiful, but maybe too polished? It lacks the grit.
- Bruce Springsteen (Live): He leans into the rockabilly vibe. It’s fun, but it’s a tribute to Elvis, not a reinvention.
- Celine Dion & Elvis (2008): They used technology to create a "duet." It’s... technically impressive, I guess? But it feels a bit hollow.
Kinda feels like everyone is just trying to capture that 1957 lightning in a bottle. Most fail because they try too hard to make it "Christmasy." Elvis succeeded because he treated it like a blues track.
How to Listen Properly
Look, you can play this on a loop while you’re decorating. Most people do. But if you really want to "get" the song, you need to hear it on vinyl or a high-quality lossless stream.
Listen for the breathing. In the original 1957 pressing, you can hear Elvis take a sharp breath before the bridge. You can hear the wooden "thwack" of Bill Black’s upright bass. You can hear the slight hiss of the tape.
That "air" in the recording is what makes it feel human. Modern holiday pop is so compressed and autotuned that it feels like it was made by a computer. Elvis Presley Blue Xmas feels like it was made by a group of guys in a room who were slightly bored, slightly tired, and accidentally brilliant.
Actionable Steps for the Ultimate Elvis Holiday Experience
If you want to dive deeper into this specific piece of Americana, don't just stop at the Spotify link.
- Watch the 1968 'Sit-Down' Session: Search for the raw takes. Seeing Elvis fumble the intro makes the song feel much more relatable.
- Compare Mono vs. Stereo: The original 1957 release was Mono. Many modern "re-masters" try to fake a stereo field. Stick to the Mono version for the punchy, centered sound Elvis intended.
- Check out the 'Blue Suede Shoes' of Christmas: If you like this, listen to "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" from the same album. It’s the uptempo counterpart to Blue Christmas and shows Elvis’s range.
- Visit Graceland in December: Honestly, if you're a superfan, seeing the blue lights on the driveway at Graceland is a bucket-list item. They still use the same style of blue decorations that Elvis favored.
The legacy of this song isn't just about sales figures or radio play. It’s about the fact that 70 years later, we still use Elvis’s voice to articulate a feeling that is universal but hard to talk about. The holidays aren't always great. Sometimes they're blue. And that’s okay.
The King said so himself.