Another Great Blog from Mike Macaluso, this one is about Bruce’s version of the Christmas classic, Blue Christmas.
Blue Christmas- “Blue Christmas” was written by Jay W. Johnson and Billy Hayes. It was first recorded by Doye O’Dell in 1948. It was truly made popular by Elvis who recorded it in 1957 and released it on his blandly titled Elvis’ Christmas Album, and later as a single in 1964. It’s also been released in popular versions by Ernest Tubb, Johnny Mathis, the Beach Boys, Celine Dion, Michael Buble’, and Cindy Lauper.
Bruce Springsteen played the song for the first time with the Max Weinberg 7 at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ on December 17, 2000 in Asbury Park, NJ and again the next night at Bruce’s first stand of Holiday shows.
It won’t be played by Bruce for another ten years. Bruce performs the song in front of a small crowd of contest winners for a video shoot on December 7, 2010 at the Asbury Park Carousel House, to record live performances of various songs from the recently released set. The performance was included as part of the 30 minute streaming video titled, “Songs from the Promise,” that was made available to various streaming video sites around the world for less than three weeks, officially, ending availability on January 1, 2011.
For this one-time concert event, Springsteen and members of the E Street Band lineup—Clarence Clemons, Steve Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, and Gary Tallent—were joined by keyboardist Charles Giordano, a full horn section—Ed Manion, Barry Danielian, Curt Ramm, Clark Gayton and Stan Harrison—and special guest David Lindley, who played violin during the original recording sessions. Directed and edited by Zimny and mixed by Emmy-winner Bob Clearmountain, the concert features the only live E Street Band performance of the song. This live version of the song is released on May 3, 2011 as part of the single DVD / Blu-ray of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Blue Christmas”
