All I Want for Christmas is...Elvis on an old 78

One comment on my Christmas Music post mentioned Elvis Presley as their Christmas Favorite.

Elvis has been around for as long as I can remember and his unique style and presence would certainly serve to burn those memories deep if your early childhood Christmas was Elvis themed. Amazon.com shows 483 results for the search of "Elvis Christmas" so there is no shortage of material despite his untimely demise over 30 years ago.

More about Elvis's Christmas Music later on but first I want to talk about my first memories of the King.

In the early 60's as a child I spent quite a bit of time with my Grandparents in a flat above a fish and chip shop in Whetstone London N20. In fact I was living there for the year when I first attended school. To help keep me amused while they worked all hours in the shop below one weekend my Grandmother purchased an old wind up gramophone from the junk shop further down the block. Similar to the one shown here it was a portable version, probably from the 1930's and it played old 78 RPM discs. Powered by a spring, if wound tight you could play a whole song at a time. The discs were large, hard and brittle. If dropped onto a hard surface they would chip or smash. Being hard they did not scratch as easily as the softer vinyl LP's I later became familiar with. In fact it was the needles that suffered each time the record was played. The needles were small pieces of soft metal pointed at one end. They had to be inserted and tightened into the arm and they had to be replaced after a few songs as they would bend out of shape.

Possibly purchased with the player from the Junk shop I now had a number of 78's to play. These included Gracie Fields singing "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World", The Laughing Policeman and Elvis Presley's 1957 smash hit Teddy Bear. Shown here on a much later turntable, the copy I had was in a simple paper cover and backed with "Loving You". Now to this day I have a soft spot for Gracie Fields but over the course of the next few years I'm certain that pounds of needles were sacrificed playing Teddy Bear. (they were purchased half an ounce at a time)

Moving on through 45's, LP Albums, Cassettes, CD's and digital downloads this has remained my favorite Elvis song. There was even a time when I created an Elvis mix tape which consisted of 23 straight recordings of Teddy Bear.

Now back to Elvis and Christmas. There are three different types of Christmas Music from the King:-


1. Traditional Carols - Elvis brings his Gospel background to these and sings them straight. So while the voice is unmistakable they are perhaps the least 'Elvis' of his Christmas offerings. Not a lot of hip movement here.

2. Other Christmas songs like Silver Bells where he tries to put his style on a classic. Sort of half traditional and half Elvis. Some hip movement.

3. Then there are the numbers where he goes Elvis all the way. Sometimes when I listen to his version of "White Christmas" it seems so exaggerated to almost be a caricature of himself. But I just have to remind myself that he was the original and back then everything he was doing was revolutionary and not seen through the prism of all the impersonators and imitators that have followed.


Whichever type of Elvis Christmas music you prefer I can certainly see that if your first Christmas Album was Elvis then that would stick with you to this day and for you that would bring back the ghosts of Christmas past...but hopefully in a good way.


Of the 483 options at Amazon.com here are a few to consider listening to again...

Christmas Countdown - Nostalgia Rules!

Christmas music is different. While I still like to find and play new and different albums, it is the familiar and traditional that reigns supreme as far as Christmas music is concerned.

The best Christmas songs trigger happy memories, the further back the memories go the stronger the effect of the music. In my childhood my parents did not have multitudes of different Christmas albums to choose from. In fact I can recall only one. Every Christmas was celebrated to the sound of Johnny Mathis and his 1958 Album. "Merry Christmas" I recall this being played on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, a Grundig and the sound was limited to the 4" speakers in the player. But for all its limitations, this music for me has always been Christmas. It triggers strong memories of years and parents long gone. Years later I picked up a copy on CD and it still has the same effect on me every time I play it. Somehow the Percy Faith arrangements and Johnny's unmistakable voice induce time travel every time.

Later on I meet my LSW (Long Suffering Wife - Kathy) and she brought with her a different musical tradition. So the Bing Crosby Album "White Christmas" became part of a new family tradition. For me this album does not take me back to my childhood but to those first Christmases with Kathy. (or at least the first ones after we purchased a CD Player)

Around that same time of starting a both a Family and a CD collection I added the compilation "A Very Special Christmas" to the yuletide playlist. To me this remains the best of the series of Christmas Albums made to benefit the special Olympics. Some of the tracks remained true to tradition. In particular the Pretenders version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is the best at conveying the sadness that runs beneath the surface lyrics of this song. At the same time John Mellencamp brings a new feel to the classic "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa-Claus". Perhaps it was just the high rotation of the album for those early years but that is the time I go back to when I hear those songs.


But to each his(or her) own. These are the Christmas songs that take me back in time. Everybody else will have their own, based on what was played all the time for their early Christmas holidays. I'm sure some people can't eat turkey without listening to Slade sing "Merry Xmas Everybody" and new traditions are now being created with Lil Wayne and Young Money providing the soundtrack.

So for now particular reason I'll offer up these two versions of "Sleigh Ride". Merry Christmas whichever version you prefer. Leave a comment at the bottom of the post. What is your favorite Christmas Album or song?

Johnny Mathis


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