This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires.
Keeping the forest fire-resistant synonymous with keeping the forest healthy, and we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management. It's a long-term commitment. Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity?
They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don't sleep on osa.com. This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company.
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Products are underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, Independence American Insurance Company, or MS Transverse Insurance Company and administered by Pets Best Insurance Services LLC. $1 a day premium based on 2024 average new policyholder data for accident and illness plans, pets age 0 to 10. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star. and the American people. Craig McDonald got his start in show business as a teenager after meeting Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, while changing their air conditioning filters in Parker's Palm Springs, California home.
Greg went on to manage Ricky Nelson for 17 years and worked under Colonel Parker and Elvis shortly after Parker began managing Elvis. in the 1950s. Here's Greg with the Colonel and Elvis Christmas story. Colonel Parker loved Christmas. He had always had a Santa suit, and he loved entertaining kids.
and families, even at the Las Vegas Hilton, He would sit out there in the in the Santa suit and entertain all of the Hilton employs children. Several thousand of them. And the bad news was he picked it up. Passed that Santa suit down to me, and he had me do the Santa Claus routine every year, which is very and if you've ever played Santa Claus, you know it's very hard. It's not easy, it's a tough day.
But he did that he always had a little present for the kids. You know, we'd give him an Elvis teddy bear, all kinds of different trinkets that the Colonel Colonel loved to make up little uh Merchandising Gadgets Um In nineteen seventy one, RCA had set up, and the colonel had set up a session in Nashville. At RCA Studio B, And they wanted a Christmas album.
Well, Elvis wanted to record. But he wanted to do other songs. He wanted to go in and do some Bob Dylan covers and some Peter Paul and Mary stuff, which was hotter at that time. And Elvis, of course, his Christmas album in 1958 was the biggest Christmas album ever. And a lot of people don't realize that Elvis recorded uh His version of White Christmas And they sent the dub up to New York.
And they played that dub for Irving Berlin, who wrote that song, White Christmas. And at that time, it was the biggest Christmas song ever and had been sung. by uh Ben Crosby. And it was huge. Fine.
Uh Dreaming of a white Christmas So Just like the one like Two. No. Irving Berlin hates it. He tells them, don't put it out. It's my song.
You can't put it out.
Well, of course they could, and they did.
So, Irving Berlin hires a room full of people to call radio stations. and tell them not to play the record. It's sacrilegious.
So, well obviously the Halb comes out. you know blue christmas is on it white christmas is on it Huge record. At the end of Irving Bruyne's career, Disjockey asking, mister Berlin, What was the biggest royalty check, and on what song was it during your life? What was your most profitable hit? And he said, Elvis Presley's version of White Christmas.
It's that fine. Uh So, you know, it was that particular album is the biggest selling Christmas album. including Mariah Carey, And all of those it's the biggest selling still. You can't get in an elevator, Chris was not here. Blue Christmas.
The colonel It was his idea one hundred per cent. Elvis didn't want to do it. He was doing uh blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the Oh How many times must embrace? Before you can see We did some great songs, but they weren't what was planned for the session.
and the Colonel was and almost never went to recording sessions.
So we were in Nashville and that Chet Atkins' office actually at RCA. And We could hear what Elvis there was a speaker in the conference room. we could hear what they were recording in the studio.
Well Ched Atkins was calling New York. and giving us up. And he'd say, You know Elvis is in there singing, but he ain't doing Christmas. And they'd call the colonel and go, You've got to have him record. We've got it scheduled for a release at Christmas.
Colonel would send his right-hand man, Tom Diskin, into the studio to get Elvis because Colonel would never walk in. That was there at separate turfs.
So he'd bring Elvis out into the parking lot where I was recently. And You could see them, friendly. Talking, and the colonel saying, You got to sing Christmas, Elvis. And Elvis saying, Yeah, but I want it. He wanted to do.
Gospel songs.
So This was going on for a week. He called it the Marathon. And He cut some of the greatest songs albums ever cut.
So. He'd sing three Christmas songs And then he went back in the studio because he knew we were listening, and he recorded a song called He Touched Me. which was one of his biggest records. And became one of his gospel albums that he got the only Grammy for. And How great thou art.
Anyway. During the those the Nashville sessions, Elvis was having so much fun. He and Red West had a karate demonstration, and they ended up breaking a classic guitar. And Red had. Put a Christmas tree.
In the studio, and this is summertime. And he put a Christmas tree just to get him into the Christmas mood, to get him to record. Anyway. The Colonel didn't mind the gospel stuff, but He wasn't ready for the Bob Dylan songs. He wanted the Christmas songs.
So the battle between the two superegos. Was going on, and it was a real, it was friendly. That was in the real friendly days, those two. But they they were nose to nose over what he was going to record, and they ended up recording thirty, forty songs. And I think they all became chart records.
And a terrific job on the production, editing, and story telling by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to Greg McDonald. He's the author of Elvis and the Colonel, an insider's look at the most legendary partnership in show business. And his co-author on that book was Marshall Terrell. And what a story he told.
Elvis didn't want to do this Christmas record in 1971. And yet here was Colonel Parker's instincts. Keeping Elvis relevant with this hugely popular record, the story of how it got made. Here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here, and I'm inviting you to help Our American Stories celebrate this country's 250th birthday, only a short time away.
If you want to help inspire countless others to love America like we do, and want to help us bring the inspiring and important stories told here to millions for years to come, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Our American Stories. Go to OwlAmericanStories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Any amount helps. Go to OwlAmericanStories.com and give.
This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation.
Learn more at don'tsleep on OSA.com. This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company. Yeah. Shhh. You won't believe what my new friend just told me about dinosaurs.
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Max $100 cash back per month. See terms at venmo.me slash stash terms. What a matchup we got, y'all. This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non-stop action, the bed is rocking and the crowd lit.
Chants echo, drum beat, everybody's showing that school pride. Game like this? Yeah, it calls for an ice-cold Coca-Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.
Mmm, yeah. That taste always hits the right note, just like a band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice cold Coca-Cola, that's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard, everybody knows.
Fan work is thirsty work, so grab a Coca-Cola and keep that HBCU pride going. Amazon Five-Star Theater presents real customer reviews performed by Ed Helms. Tonight's review, Tactical Jacket. I was living a simple life. Didn't get out much.
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
