Continuing my highly-subjective countdown of the 25 best holiday songs. (See previous entry here.)
22. Blue Christmas (Ernest Tubb and His Texas Troubadours, Elvis Presley)
Elvis wasn’t the first person to sing "BlueChristmas." It was recorded by Ernest Tubb in 1948 and became a country standard.
Of course, there’s a reason why people think of the Elvis version. It’s because Elvis was amazing. ("Blue Christmas" starts at around 00:40 in this video.)
21. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy (Bing Crosby & David Bowie)
This duet is terrific — well-arranged, wonderfully sung. It’s almost enough to make one ignore how ridiculous is the dialogue that these two had to wade through to get to the singing bit.
It has always bugged me that David Bowie supposedly doesn’t know who Big Crosby is ("poor relation from America"?), yet he knows that "White Christmas" is Bing’s signature song.
Still, the song is a pretty thing indeed.