Why there’s no Springsteen Christmas album

I never thought about this before. With so many artists of every genre who put out Christmas albums over the years (heck even Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond put out Christmas albums) why not Bruce Springsteen?

Some insight came during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night. He spoke of a series of December shows he’d done in Asbury Park back in the early 2000’s.

“I tried to piece something together from those shows ... but we'd have to go into a studio. The thing is, you only want to do it around Christmas time but you don 't want to do it then either because it's around Christmas time and you don't feel like working. Christmas time goes away and then summertime. You got to do it in the summertime when you just don't feel like it.” See the video below.

I love Bruce’s honesty here. He basically was never in the mood at the right time. If it had ever happened he had some obvious material. One of the best upbeat rock Christmas songs has always been his live version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

It was recorded live on December 12, 1975 at C.W. Post College in Brookville, New York. It served as a B side to the single "My Hometown" in 1985.

Then there was "Merry Christmas, Baby" recorded live at Nassau Coliseum in 1980. It’s a cover of an R&B standard written by Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore and first recorded in 1947.

Maybe a bonus track could even be the Big Man, Clarence Clemons’ ‘There’s Still Christmas’, a real beauty.

And here’s a final treat, and one that will choke you up. Here’s a version of "Blue Christmas" recorded December 7, 2010 on the boardwalk in Asbury Park at the Carousel House in front of a very small crowd of about 60 people.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.