Honouring the King: Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and friends sing ‘Blue Christmas’
Nothing says Christmas like a wholesome video of The Velvet Underground’s very own Lou Reed bringing the festive spirit with his avant-garde pioneering wife, Laurie Anderson. The original power couple of the demimonde are cooler than the North Pole, and when you throw the King into the mix, you reach rarified heights.
The song, originally written by Billy Hayes and Jay W Johnson, gained international fame in 1957 when the great Elvis Presley released his sexy, crooning version of the hit as part of his LP Elvis’ Christmas Album. Dark and moody, the King’s swaggering seasonal classic subverted usual holiday tropes and brought a new sense of liberation to the fore.
Now firmly established as a certified Christmas staple, the song was given a slowed-down Reed revaluation in December 2008 when the man himself performed at the Knitting Factory, which would later be included in the DVD A Not So Silent Night. The stirring performance is sweetened further by the fact that without Elvis, Reed admits he wouldn’t be a rock star at all.
“Rock and roll is so great, people should start dying for it,” the Velvet Underground frontman once proclaimed. “You don’t understand. The music gave you back your beat so you could dream…the people just have to die for the music. People are dying for everything else, so why not for music? Die for it,” he said in his typical questionable style.
Though nettlesome in its own way, that mindset certainly wasn’t one that many would even consider before Elvis Presley came along. But the swaggering sing did come along—and suddenly Reed was liberated from a tough childhood and sent dreaming about a brighter rock ‘n’ roll future. Reed never lost sight of this and continued to rate ‘Mystery Train’ and ‘That’s Alright’ among his favourite songs of all time.
So, when Christmas came along in 2008, it was clear only one song would be covered. Joined on stage by the likes of his wife Laurie Anderson, Rufus Wainwright, the McGarrigle sisters, Martha Wainwright, Chaim Tannebaum, and Joel Zifkin, Reed rocked the red festive cardigan as he played around with the song while looking reassuringly at his new bandmates, ever the consummate bandleader.
“Lou’s songs are full of life and complexity and they’re about people who have names,” Anderson once commented as part of Lou Reed’s inclusion into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “Candy and Caroline and Little Joe and Junior Dad and the Man. So now they’re all here too, the people from his imagination. Along with his rock and roll groove.”
She added: “Lou knew the difference between himself as a writer and himself as a person and as a rock & roll star. He could shift between these roles with such skill. He could take his fame off like one of his leather jackets or he could decide to use it. The fame itself was never that important. Lou was genuinely proud of what he’d done and could really appreciate his own work.”
That work was always pitted with a playfulness. While he might have been a very serious artist, he knew that mirth was all part of rock ‘n’ roll, too, so while a Christmas singalong might seem out of character—having a little bit of a laugh was just another trick up his enigmatic sleeves.
Here take a moment to appreciate some of his finest work in the clip, below, and Merry Christmas!
