A blues song, "MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY," as sung by Elvis... see last line.

Merry, merry Christmas baby
Sure did treat me nice
I said merry Christmas baby
Sure did treat me nice
Gave me a diamond ring for Christmas
Now I'm living in paradise

Well I'm feeling might fine
Got good music on my radio
Well, I'm feeling might fine
Got good music on my radio
Well, I want to kiss you baby
While you're standing beneath the mistletoe

I said, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas baby
You sure did treat me nice
Yes, you did, yes, you did
Yes, you did, yes, you did
I said merry, merry Christmas baby
Sure did treat me nice
Gave me diamond ring for Christmas
Now I'm puttin' it through Al's mike

What the heck does that mean? Was he stoned or what? I can't imagine the songwriter's writing that. Crappy lyric anyway but that last line, huh? When I heard it thought "Did he sing THAT and then every lyric site I saw showed 'puttin it through Al's mike.' Anyone know?

"To get in the Christmas spirit on a hot May night in Nashville, the group began to jam around the old R & B warhorse 'Merry Christmas Baby'. It had first ridden the Billboard charts in 1949, when it had appeared on an old Exclusive 78 by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, with a vocal by Charles Brown. Elvis knew the arrangement from his early Memphis days and worked it into a relaxed piece that ran almost six minutes. 'I'm puttin' it through Al's mike,' he ad libs at one point, referring to RCA engineer Al Pachucki; 'Wake up Put,' he calls to bass player Norbert Putnam. The final performance was good, but needed more bite, so at a later date Jarvis brought in James Burton to overdub a gritty guitar solo... a version without the Burton solo later came out on the LP 'Memories of Elvis'." from http://filmsgraded.savantnetworks.com/elvis/1971/f171.htm

Elvis was always the joker, whether in the studio or live on stage... anything to lighten another's day.

Cheers,
Rich

Rich, thanks for sharing this fasinating bit of trivia. This kind of song background info provides terrific 'song introduction' patter to further engage the interest of the audience, making the song that much more memorable. - Thanks. - Scott

Thanks, I googled and could find nothing. That proves that is was an ad lib. Problem is, I still have no clue what he means. How do you put a diamond ring through a mic? How corny is that? That's the reason I asked was he high or what cuz it makes no sense.

I assume he means he's layin' down blues (it) tracks in Al's studio.

Hi,
I remember, he sang a song and I tried to recognize the song name, he sang "itch now or never" or "each now or never", could this be the song's name?
No, it was "It's now or never".


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Regards
RF