As a group, The Beatles never released an “official” Christmas song, though the members of their fan club received a recording of Christmas Time Is Here Again in 1967. After the band broke up, all four of the members recorded Christmas songs on their own. Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime is probably the most remembered. I don’t know if I would say it was the most popular but anyone who has ever had to rush out to do some last minute Christmas shopping has heard it playing in countless stores on December 24th. Whenever I’ve been in a store while Wonderful Christmastime was playing, I’ve always felt as if the song was taunting me but it is definitely a part of the season.
McCartney recorded this song at his farm. He was just getting into what was then known as “electropop,” which is why he used a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer in the song. More than anything, that weird bouncing noise probably explains why this song is so well-known. Whenever I hear this song, I imagine that this is what Christmas sounds like on Mars.
The video was shot at at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex. Though the members of Wings had nothing to do with recording the song, they all appeared in the video because they were all hanging out with McCartney on the night that it was filmed.
Reportedly, Paul McCartney receives $400,000 a year in royalties from Wonderful Christmastime.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 