It’s Turntable Tuesday…because life is too short not to listen to great music! Turn that TV OFF and listen to some music on your local speaker! Take a break from all that holiday shopping, settle down into an easy chair, and turn up some music to warm your soul! It is time to dream away some time and take a break from all that winter reality! It’s ” Christmas time baby and the snow is on the ground” as Elvis once said. It’s Turntable Tuesday!
Notice the gold foil price tag-shaped “gift giving” sticker attached to the album cover, reading “TO __________, FROM _____________, ELVIS SINGS”, followed by a list of the tracks. This album is a re-press although my Dad had an original copy. The gold sticker is a nice addition to the contemporary release. This is RCA Victor LOC-1035 as you can see in the photo above.
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1957. Just a couple of years before I was born. Elvis recorded most of this album in January of 1957 and in a later session in September of 1957. He was very busy in 1957 with all of the projects he had going on. As you look back at all the movie work, recording, and touring this was one busy man. This album was released in October of 1957 just in time for the Christmas season and to date has sold over 20 million copies. The re-issues keep coming because the product is so good. This is one of the best selling albums of all time and is the best selling Christmas album EVER.
My story. When I was really young living in the delta of Mississippi I watched one of the largest Christmas parades in the country at the time in the early 1960’s in Greenwood, Mississippi. I seem to remember well over 100 bands being in the parade one year. After the parade the town would shoot fireworks over the Yazoo river that ran through town near the confluence of the Tallahatchie and the Yalobusha rivers . The parades would go on for what seemed to be forever on the brick streets that were paved in red back in 1924. The street lights would be festive on the parade route and bands would play in an endless stream of music past my Dad’s glass work door which was a finance company on the main parade route. The marching bands were awesome and many of the bands would come from far way. I remember standing there and watching the candy fly towards us kids from the floats and dreaming of those cool things in the Sears and Roebuck Christmas wish book we might get under the tree on December 25. That special Sears catalog would come to everyone in the late fall and have all of us dreaming of that special toy from a beautiful colored printed catalog. I used to wonder if Santa worked for Sears! Back to the album…My dad had a copy of the Elvis Christmas album. My mother still has that copy. My Dad would play classic country music albums on Sunday morning and very early in the morning I might add on the giant red mahogany wood “stereo” in the “living room” as they called it back then. At Christmas it was time to spin the Elvis Christmas Album and I new every track from beginning to end. When my Dad passed away 32 years ago I started listening to the tracks again every Christmas and I would always make sure a little light was on at his place in the cemetery during Christmas. So you see this album has a real personal connection from many years ago. Elvis Presley…local Tupelo, Mississippi boy done good as “they” say. I can’t go though a Christmas holiday without breaking out my Elvis album and thinking all about my time on this planet.
“Santa Claus is Back in Town.” This is the way to open a record. This is early Rock and Roll and it still rocks 63 years later.
Well, it’s Christmas time pretty baby And the snow is fallin’ on the ground
(Christmas, Christmas)
Well, it’s Christmas time pretty baby
And the snow is on the ground
(Christmas, Christmas)
Well, you be a real good little girl
Santa Claus is back in town
(Christmas, Christmas)
Got no sleigh with reindeer, no sack on my back You’re gonna see me comin’ in a big black Cadillac
Whoa oh, it’s Christmas time pretty baby And the snow is fallin’ on the ground
(Christmas, Christmas)
Well, you be a real good little baby
Santa Claus is back in town
(Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas)
Hang up your pretty stockings, turn off the light Santa Claus is comin’ down your chimney tonight
Whoa oh oh oh, it’s Christmas time pretty baby
(Christmas, Christmas)
And the snow is fallin’ on the ground
(Christmas, wah wah wah wah wah Christmas)
Well, you be a real good little baby
Santa Claus is back in town
(Christmas, Christmas, Christmas)
I am not going to get too technical on this post as most of the historical information on this album is listed somewhere on the internet. I will tell you to listen in to the podcast if you want to hear more about the album and all the players that made it happen. Go get a copy of this album and enjoy it during Christmas. The tracks are great and the vocals are so good. I am posting a photo of my Steely Dan “Rent Party 2009” tour poster which is something I reference as a subject in my podcast related to this album. Tune in to the podcast for my story about rent parties, barrel houses, and juke joints.
Here is another Christmas story. When I was a kid at Christmas we lived so far from our relatives in North Carolina that my grandmother Talbert would ship a Christmas box to all of us living so far away. We always looked forward to the package as it was the brown box with lots of Christmas gifts wrapped inside. There was one issue that would happen at times… My grandmother always gave my Dad some “Old Spice” and sometimes the US Postal Service would break the bottle inside the shipping box. (insert disclaimer here…I worked on the Old Spice brand for a part of my 35 year Procter & Gamble corporate career that supported my music passion and I always swore Old Spice smelled like money. I still use the deodorant, always will, and if you are a guy you should too) BUT there was nothing worse than opening your special gift from Grandma and having to smell that “classic” aftershave for a long time. Even the nuts she would put in a bag sometimes would get saturated and that would render the English walnuts and Brazil nuts inedible! OMG not the nuts too! BUT the memories are awesome and I am so fortunate that I grew up with relatives that cared enough to send my family a gift at Christmas time. Here is a toast to Grandma Blanche Odell Talbert…she rocked.
“Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me” is a favorite Elvis track of mine. The song reminds me of how Santa (also known as my Mom) would leave shoe boxes to me and my brother under the recently live fir before someone hacked it down for a profit that left piles of green needles all over the floor two weeks later tree. This shoe box had nuts, fruit, and hard candy that would stick to the insides of the cardboard shoe box. I am smiling…this is a great memory. This track was recorded on September 7, 1957 and still rocks today. Elvis sung about a “sock filled with candy” and I got the shoe box. I have had a fortunate life. Thanks for the reminder Elvis. This album is a treasure and an annual must play on my passionate musical journey of life.
Merry Christmas all and happy holidays! For the readers and podcast listeners out there from coast to coast in America and down under in Australia to all over Europe I hope Santa is good to you! Until next time I’ll see you , down the road.
I don’t need a lot of presents
To make my Christmas bright
I just need my baby’s arms
Wound around me tight
Oh oh Santa hear my plea
Santa bring my baby back to me
The Christmas tree is ready
The candles all aglow
But with my baby far away
What good is mistletoe
Oh oh Santa, hear my plea
Santa bring my baby back to me
Please make these reindeer hurry
Well their time is drawing near
It sure won’t seem like Christmas
Until my baby’s here
Fill my sock with candy
And a bright and shiny toy
You wanna make me happy and fill my heart with joy
Then Santa, hear my plea
Santa bring my baby back to me
Please make these reindeer hurry
Well their time is drawing near
It sure won’t seem like Christmas
Until my baby’s here
Fill my sock with candy
And a bright and shiny toy
You wanna make me happy and fill my heart with joy
Then Santa, hear my plea
Santa bring my baby back to me
Then Santa, hear my plea
Santa bring my baby back to me