Behind the Blue Christmas: How Elvis Was Coaxed into Recording a Christmas Album

On this episode of Our American Stories, Elvis Presley’s Christmas album has become a holiday staple, but the story behind it is more surprising than you might think. Greg McDonald was there in the early days, when Colonel Tom Parker was just beginning to shape the Elvis brand. Here’s Greg sharing the story of how the King of Rock and Roll was convinced to lend his voice to Christmas music, changing the season forever.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Greg McDonald got his start in show business as a
teenager after meeting Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker,
while changing their air conditioning filters in Parker's Palm Springs,

(00:30):
California home. Greg went on to manage Ricky Nelson for
seventeen years and worked under Colonel Parker and Elvis. Shortly
after Parker began managing Elvis in the nineteen fifties. Here
was Greg with the Colonel and Elvis Christmas story.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Colonel Parker loved Christmas. He had always had a Santa
suit and he loved entertaining kids and families. Even at
the Las Vegas Hilton. He would sit out there in
the Santa suit and entertain all of the Hilton employees
children several thousand. And the bad news was he passed

(01:11):
that satasuit down to me and he had me do
the Santa Claus routine every year, which is very and
if you've ever played Santa Claus you know it's very hard.
It's not easy. It's a tough day. But he did that.
He always had a little present for the kids, you know,
we'd give him an Elvis Teddy Bear, all kinds of

(01:32):
different trinkets that the Colonel. Colonel loved to make up,
little merchandising gadgets. In nineteen seventy one, RCIA had set
up and the Colonel had set up a session in
Nashville at RCIA Studio B, and they wanted a Christmas album. Well,

(01:55):
Elvis wanted to record, but he wanted to do other songs.
He wanted to go in to do some Bob Dylan
covers and some Peter Paul and Mary stuff which was
hotter at that time. And Elvis, of course, his Christmas
album in nineteen fifty eight was the biggest Christmas album ever.
And a lot of people don't realize that. Elvis recorded

(02:20):
his version of White Christmas and they sent the dub
up to New York and they played that dub for
Irving Berlin who wrote that song White Christmas in it.
But at that time it was the biggest Christmas song
ever and been sung by Bing Crosby, and it was huge.

(02:42):
Dream Oh A, what.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Christmas?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Georg Irving Berlin hates. He tells them, don't put it out.
It's my song. You can't put it out. Well, of
course they could, and they did so. Irving Berlin hires

(03:10):
a room full of people to call radio stations and
tell them not to play the record. It's sacrilegious. So well,
obviously the album comes out. You know, Blue Christmas is
on it, White Christmas is on it. Huge record. At
the end of Irving Berlin's career, disc jockey asking mister Berlin,

(03:34):
what was the biggest royalty check and on what song
was it? During your life? What was your most profitable hit,
and he said Elvis Presley's version of White Christmas, So
you know it was that particular album is the biggest
selling Christmas album, including Mariah Carey and all of those,

(03:56):
it's the biggest selling. Still you can't get an elevator Christmas.
Not here Blue Christmas. The Colonel it was his idea one.
Elvis didn't want to do it. He was doing blowing
in the wind.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
The answer is voy in how many times musta Beck
before he came?

Speaker 2 (04:31):
He did some great songs, but they weren't what was
planned for the session. And the Colonel was almost never
went to recording sessions. So we were in Nashville and
that chet Atkins office actually at RCA, and we could
hear what Elvis. There was a speaker in the conference room,
we could hear what they were recording in the studio. Well,

(04:53):
chet Atkins was calling New York and giving us up
and he'd say, you know, Elvis is they're singing, but
he ain't doing Christmas and could they call the Colonel
and go you got to have him record. We got
it scheduled for a release at Christmas. Colonel would send
his right hand man, Tom Diskin into the studio to
get Elvis, because Colonel would never walk in there that

(05:17):
was there separate turfs. So he bring Elvis out into
the parking lot where I was recently, and you could
see them friendly talking, the Colonel saying you got to
sing Christmas Elvis, and Elvis sing, Yeah, but I wanted
he wanted to do gospel songs. So this was going
on for a week. It called it the Marathon, and

(05:41):
he cut some of the greatest songs Elvis ever cut.
So he'd sing three Christmas songs and then he went
back in the studio because he knew we were listening,
and he recorded a song called He Touched Me, which
was one of his biggest records and became one of
his gospel album that he got the only Grammy for
And how great thou art. Anyway, during those Nashville sessions,

(06:07):
Elvis was having so much fun. He and Red West
had a karate demonstration and they ended up breaking a
classic guitar and Red had put a Christmas tree in
the studio. This is summertime, and he put a Christmas
tree just to get him into the Christmas move, to
get him to record. Anyway, the Colonel didn't mind the

(06:29):
gospel stuff, but he wasn't ready for the Bob Dylan songs.
He wanted the Christmas songs. So the battle between the
two super egos was going on, and that was a
real it was friendly. That was in the real friendly days,
those two. But they were nose to nose over what
he was going to record, and they ended up recording

(06:49):
thirty forty songs and I think they all became chart records.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hanglo and a special thing thanks
to Greg McDonald. He's the author of Elvis and the
Colonel and Insider's look at the most legendary partnership in
show business. And his co author on that book was
Marshall Terrell. And what a story he told. Elvis didn't
want to do this Christmas record in nineteen seventy one,

(07:17):
and yet here was Colonel Parker's instincts keeping Elvis relevant
with this hugely popular record. The story of how it
got made here on our American Stories. Leh Habib here
and I'm inviting you to help our American Story celebrate
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(07:37):
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(07:58):
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