The Train Ride and Early Evolution of Elvis Presley’s Holiday Hit “Blue Christmas”

Recorded in September of 1957, Elvis’ Christmas Album has remained the best-selling Christmas album of all time.

Throughout the album, Elvis Presley owned each song, from his renditions of previous holiday classics like “White Christmas,” already made famous by Bing Crosby 15 years earlier, to “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Silent Night,” and more, along with two original tracks: “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me,” written by Aaron Schroeder and Claude Demetrius, and the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller-penned “Santa Claus Is Back in Town.”

An additional cover on Elvis’ Christmas Album was a song originally released nearly a decade earlier by country singer and Western actor Doye O’Dell.

A Train Song

Jay W. Johnson, a script and commercial jingles writer for radio, was inspired to write more holiday ditties while riding his commuter train from his home in Stanford, Connecticut to New York City. On the train, Johnson pulled out a piece of old hotel stationery and began writing the bones of “Blue Christmas.”

Taking a cue from Irving Berlin’s 1942 hit “White Christmas,” Johnson went in the opposite direction, with “Blue” for the more somber tune. After bringing the song to his friend and composer Billy Hayes to complete, the two had some difficulty shopping it around the Nashville circuit until it was picked up for O’Dell to record in 1948.

[RELATED: Elvis Presley Still Has the Best-Selling Christmas Album of All Time]

From there, “Blue Christmas” was covered by everyone and their orchestra throughout the ’40s including Hugo Winterhalter and His Orchestra, who took their version to the Top 10 before country singer Ernest Tubb popularized “Blue Christmas” even more with his 1950 rendition. Tubb’s “Blue Christmas” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart and encouraged more country covers of the song throughout the mid-’50s.

When Presley was recording his Christmas album, he initially didn’t want to record “Blue Christmas” but ended up taking the song to another level. Presley’s “Blue Christmas” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Christmas Singles chart, No. 12 on the Holiday 100 chart, and peaked at No. 24 on the Hot 100.

Unrequited Love

Unlike the merry and bright sentiments of “White Christmas,” Johnson and Hayes’ “Blue Christmas” lyrics center around the sadness of an unreciprocated love interest during Christmastime.

I’ll have a blue Christmas without you
I’ll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won’t be the same dear, if you’re not here with me

And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That’s when those blue memories start calling
You’ll be doing all right
With your Christmas of white
But I’ll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas

A ‘Blue’ Graceland

Presley remained connected to the song long after its release and even performed it for the first time on his ’68 Comeback Special and even adorned his home Graceland in blue Christmas lights during the holidays.

Following Presley’s death in 1977, his father Vernon put a stop to the annual tradition because it was “just too sad” and reminded him of his son’s holiday recording. In 1982, the blue lights returned to Graceland, and Presley’s estate is still decorated for the holidays, annually for visitors.

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images