“Blue Christmas” has special meaning for E Street Nation.
Beyond its status as a perennial holiday classic, I mean, although that’s significant in and of itself.
“Blue Christmas” was first recorded and released in 1948 by Doye O’Dell.
By the following year, there were three separately-charting Top 20 covers, including one by Ernest Tubb that went all the way to Number One on Billboard’s Most Played Jukebox (Country & Western) Records chart.
But it was Elvis Presley’s 1957 cover, of course, that clinched a spot on holiday playlists forevermore when he released it on Elvis’ Christmas Album.
Bruce Springsteen first covered “Blue Christmas” in December 2000, when he used the song as an opportunity to welcome his audience to the first of what would become an annual tradition of eclectic holiday benefit shows in Asbury Park.
With Garry Tallent on standup bass and Soozie Tyrell on a very prominent fiddle, Bruce’s arrangement felt similar to O’Dell’s original, but he was sure to audibly wink at Elvis around the 2:45 mark.
But if that pair of performances in 2000 had been the only times Bruce covered “Blue Christmas,” the song wouldn’t hold such special meaning for his fans.
The sentimental status of “Blue Christmas” comes from Bruce’s most recent performance of it, at a special, intimate, private concert with the E Street Band (plus guest violinist David Lindley) for an audience of sixty at the Asbury Park Casino’s Carousel House.
Filmed and recorded for a webcast and packaged with The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town the following year, “Blue Christmas” was one of eleven songs performed that night.
It was the last of the eleven-song set, in fact, and the last song Clarence “Big Man” Clemons would ever perform with the E Street Band. Six months later, Clarence passed away following fatal complications from a stroke.
Ten years on, “Blue Christmas” performance remains a poignant annual reminder of both his absence and presence.
Blue Christmas
First performed: December 17, 2000 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: December 7, 2010 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Was this the only time David Lindley played with Bruce? He’s a brilliant guy.
Max’s hair deserves its own credit. Always flawless.
Poignant indeed. The light was all but out in Clarence’s eyes.
Kinda sorta. Bruce played with Jackson Browne and Lindley once in 1980 but that was at Jackson’s show.
Much enjoy Bruce and Soozie’s (and Garry’s)12.17.00 “Blue Christmas”. A great way to open the show and celebration. Appreciate The Boss’s “wink” to The King at the mentioned 2:45 mark, but I must say, nobody can match Elvis’s 1957 version.