Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, be plenteous in mercy is to have the real spirit of Christmas. Calvin Coolidge.

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Wonderful Christmastime



«Wonderful Christmastime» is a 1979 Christmas song by Paul McCartney. It enjoys significant Christmas time popularity around the world. The notable synthesiser riff was played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. The song was later added as a bonus track on the 1993 CD reissue of Wings' Back to the Egg.
Background and recording
McCartney recorded the song entirely on his own during the sessions for his solo project McCartney II. Although the members of Wings are not on the recording, they do appear in the promotional music video.
Fellow ex-Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison had already released festive singles, and Ringo Starr made a Christmas album in 1999. Of all of the former Beatle seasonal offerings, Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" have become two of a canon of Christmas songs played year after year. "Wonderful Christmastime" can be heard in the 1998 animated film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie during Santa's takeoff on Christmas Eve. Wings performed the song during their 1979 tour of the UK, and McCartney included the song as an encore during his Good Evening Europe tour.

(Paul McCartney)

The moon is right
The spirits up
We're here tonight
And that's enough

Simply having a wonderful christmastime
Simply having a wonderful christmastime

The party's on
The feelin's here
That only comes
This time of year

Simply having a wonderful christmastime
Simply having a wonderful christmastime

The choir of children sing their song
Ding dong, ding dong
Ding dong, ding Ohhhh
Ohhhhhhh

Simply having a wonderful christmastime
Simply having a wonderful christmastime

The word is out
About the town
To lift a glass
Ahhh don't look down
Simply having a wonderful christmastime
Simply having a wonderful christmastime

The choir of children sing their song
They practiced all year long
Ding dong, ding dong
Ding dong, ding dong
Ding dong, ding dong

The party's on
The spirits up
We're here tonight
And that's enough

Simply having a wonderful christmastime
Simply having a wonderful christmastime

The moon is right
The spirits up
We're here tonight
And that's enough

Simply having a wonderful christmastime!

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5 comments:

  1. Anastasia Streltsova11 December 2012 at 10:35

    Cover versions

    Martin Sheen, John Spencer, and Stockard Channing covered the song on the NBC Celebrity Christmas album in 2000.
    Barenaked Ladies has a short synthesised instrumental cover on their 2004 album Barenaked for the Holidays.
    De La Soul sampled "Wonderful Christmastime" on the track "Simply" from their album AOI: Bionix.
    Jump5 covered and remixed the song for their Christmas album All The Joy In The World.
    Earthsuit covered the song for Happy Christmas Vol. 3.
    Hilary Duff did a cover of this song on her Christmas album Santa Claus Lane.
    Tom Mcrae contributed a cover of this song on a various artists album called Maybe This Christmas Tree.
    Jars of Clay recorded a cover on their 2007 release, Christmas Songs.
    Demi Lovato did a cover on the 2008 All Wrapped Up! album.
    Irene Grandi covered the song for her 2008 Christmas album Canzoni per Natale.
    Cale Parks covered the song for the compilation Suburban Sprawl Holiday Sampler 2008.
    Bonnie Pink covered the song on her mini-album Chain, released in 2008.
    Peter Serafinowicz did a parody of it called "Sexual Christmas Time" in episode 6 of The Peter Serafinowicz Show.
    Family Force 5 covered the song on their 2009 Christmas album Family Force 5 Christmas Pageant.
    Overboard covered the song in their 2008 holiday album, Tidings.
    Beatallica covered the song on their 2009 album Winter Plunderband.
    Amy Grant covered the song for her primetime Christmas special entitled Amy Grant: A Christmas to Remember, which aired on 15 December 1999 on CBS.
    Rahsaan Patterson covered this song on his 2008 album The Ultimate Gift.
    Helix covered the song on their 2008 Christmas album A Heavy Mental Christmas.
    The Venture Bros. co-creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer released a version of the song, performed as the characters 21 and 24, for the website Quick Stop Entertainment as part of the 2008 holiday season.
    Kelly Rowland recorded a version of the song for the 2010 release Now That's What I Call Christmas!
    The Ready Set released a version in 2010 on his holiday EP Regifted.
    Chicago featured Dolly Parton on their own version on Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three released in October 2011.
    Ted Leo covered the controversial song on an episode of The Best Show on WFMU on December 20, 2011.
    Eli Young Band covered the song on the 2011 compilation The Country Christmas Collection. Their version peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in January 2012.
    The Shins covered the song for the Starbucks 2012 holiday cover album, Holidays Rule (Paul McCartney also appeared on the album).

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  2. Unknown11 December 2012 at 11:43

    Though McCartney has since gone on to state that he is now embarrassed about this record,it continues to receive substantial airplay every year. Including royalties from cover versions, it is estimated that Paul McCartney makes $400,000 per year from this song, which puts its cumulative earnings for this song at near $15 million.
    Although the song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, it reached #6 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart. The video was filmed at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex.

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  3. Елизавета14 December 2012 at 00:45

    The release

    The single was issued in the United Kingdom on Parlophone as R 6029 on Friday 16 November 1979, and reached number six in the charts. The b-side was Rudolph The Red Nose Reggae, a novelty version of the Christmas classic which McCartney had recorded in 1975.

    In the United States it was issued as Columbia 1-11162 on Tuesday 26 November, and peaked at number eight. In the run-out groove of the single's a-side was the message "To lift a glass ... Xmas '79", while the b-side read: "Love from Rudi! ... Xmas '79".

    Wonderful Christmastime was the first single credited solely to McCartney since Another Day in 1971, and was the first signal that Wings' time together might be drawing to a close.

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  4. Maria Sergeevna Pavlova16 December 2012 at 14:43

    A seasonal parody

    I check the lights,
    They're all burnt out.
    I slip and fall,
    On icy ground.

    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.

    It's so darn cold,
    This is a bore.
    The tree won't fit,
    Through our front door.

    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.

    I fall off of the roof, oh no.
    Bang, Bong, Bing, Clang
    Crash, Boom, Ouch.
    Ouuuuch.

    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.

    I'm on the roof,
    Put up the sleigh.
    Plastic Santa,
    A nice display.

    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.

    I fall off of the roof, oh no.
    Bang, Bong, Bing, Clang
    Crash, Boom, Ouch.
    Ouuuuch.

    It's so darn cold,
    This is a bore.
    The tree won't fit,
    Through our front door.

    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.

    I check the lights,
    They're all burnt out.
    I slip and fall,
    On icy ground!

    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.
    Having trouble, putting up Christmas lights.

    Ohhhhhh, ohhhh.
    Christmas lights.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maria Sergeevna Pavlova16 December 2012 at 14:44

    Although it has a Christmas theme, it was recorded most likely in the summer of 1979, during Paul’s sessions for his McCartney II album. Like the other songs from these sessions, Paul plays all the instruments, although his band Wings are present in the video. While the McCartney II album was not released in final form until May of 1980, a double album test pressing version, prepared in extremely limited quantities, was out in late 1979. However, “Wonderful Christmastime” was not on it, or on the final version of the album. It was only issued as a single on November 16, 1979. Years later, in 1993, it appeared on the U.K. remaster CD of the Wings album Back To The Egg as a bonus cut. More recently two different edits of it appeared on the June 2011-issued deluxe edition of McCartney II (along with a DVD that contains this featured video). The video was filmed at the Fountain Inn, located in Ashurst, West Sussex, U.K.

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