Elvis Christmas Music

A friend requested a post about the top Elvis Christmas songs.  During his lifetime, Elvis recorded two Christmas albums and only 19 Christmas songs.  The first, Elvis’ Christmas Album, was released on October 15, 1957.  Side one has 6 secular Christmas songs while side two has two Christmas carols and four hymns that don’t have anything to do with Christmas other than appearing on a Christmas album.  The second album, Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, was released on October 20, 1971.  It originally consisted of 11 Christmas songs, with Blue Christmas being added to reissues.

I remember a family friend that had Elvis’ Christmas Album, but I never heard them playing side two.  It wasn’t until many years later that I realized that all the good stuff one on that side. My favorite Elvis Christmas songs are the ones that capture that rebellious spirit of his early music. Here are the ones that think are the best:

Blue Christmas – In my opinion, this is the best Elvis Christmas song and possibly the best secular Christmas song ever. We get a song with a genuine Elvis feel and the Jordanaires bluesy background wailing putting emphasis on the “Blue” in the title.  Elvis was not the first person to record this song, but no other version would ever come close to matching how good this is. 

Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me – This is another song that has the same rock feel as Elvis’ early non-Christmas records. Like the best of Elvis’ Christmas songs, this is a great rock and roll record that happens to mention Santa. 

Santa Claus is Back in Town – Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote some Elvis’ most famous songs like Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock.  Santa Claus is Back in Town was written by them to open Elvis’ first Christmas album. The title of the song isn’t as familiar as the Jordanaires repeating “Christmas” in the opening bars of the song and throughout the whole song. 

Merry Christmas Baby – This song is the only one that I selected as a favorite off the second Christmas album.  It is the only song from that album that captures Elvis’ early energy.  It sounds like Elvis is having fun again. Probably the main reason it sounds different is that it was recorded in 1968 around the time of the Comeback Special.

There are a couple of songs from the second album that represent the worst of Elvis’ Christmas output:

I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day – The lyrics to the song have a meandering style.  It sounds like Elvis is just making it up as he goes along.  He seems to be uninterested in the song.  This could be the low point of the album.

If I Get Home on Christmas Day – This song seems to get a lot more airplay than it deserves. Elvis has gone into full on lounge singer mode.  There are lots of strings and a haunting female voice to give it a solid, easy listening feel.  This is the kind of music that Elvis would play in the 1970’s for a less than rocking crowd in Vegas.  Many Elvis fans love this kind of stuff, but it showed how tame he became.

I have an Elvis Christmas CD called If Every Day Was Like Christmas that has all 19 of his Christmas songs along with a couple of alternate versions of some of the songs.  Another CD released later was called Elvis Christmas that includes all 23 songs from both Christmas albums including the hymns.  As of this writing, you can find both original Christmas albums on streaming services like Spotify.  Do you have other Elvis Christmas songs that you prefer?  I hope I didn’t dump on your favorite Christmas songs so bad that you hold it against me.