AMERICANWAY

CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT: Jimi Hendrix's holiday album; Elvis Presley's first Christmas album; one of the A Very Special Christmas compilations; The Beach Boys' 1964 album T WO ASPIRING EAST COAST SONGWRITERS had no idea they were going to be part of rock 'n' roll history when they sat down in the late 1940s to w rite a Ch ristmas song. Jay Joh nson a nd Billy Hayes were simply — and shamelessly — trying to pick up some of the sales magic of Irving Berlin's beloved "W hite Christmas." Their lyrics about a guy missing his girlfriend during the holidays even referenced Berlin's song: "You'll be doin' all right, with your CHRISTMAS OF WHITE, but I'll have a blue, BLUE CHRISTMAS." "Blue Christmas" generated only modest attention in the pop field and would probably have faded into obscu- rity if not for the power of radio in a future legend's life. In 1949, Elvis Presley — then a junior-high-school student in Memphis, Tennessee — heard Ernest Tubb's country version of "Blue Christmas" on the radio and loved it. Eight years later, when the 22-year-old Presley was the biggest sensation in the music business, he thought im- mediately of the song when he headed into a studio in Holly wood to record the first rock 'n' roll Christmas album. In retrospect, it's surprising that Elvis' label, RCA Records, didn't have Elvis rush out a Christmas album in 1956 because the new King of Rock had topped the pop charts for a remarkable 25 weeks with five different songs that year. His fans were eager to get their hands on anything he recorded. Trying to jump-start their own careers, future pop star Bobby Darin and TV music-show host and publisher Don Kirshner wrote a Christmas novelty in 1956 titled "I Want to Spend Christmas with Elvis," complete with a line inspired by "Hound Dog " — " You ain't nothing but a reindeer." TOP: GETTY IMAGES 8 0 D EC E M B E R 2 01 4 A A .CO M/A M E R I C A NWAY

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