Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve. I looked back and I’ve never posted this song before. It’s never been my favorite Christmas song but it has grown on me through the years.

This song was recorded during the sessions for the McCartney II album which featured Coming Up. Paul went to his farm and laid down all the tracks himself. He was experimenting with an early synthesizer called a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which was also used on Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” and the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes.”

Released as a single, it peaked at #6 in the UK, #39 in Canada, and #28 in the Billboard 100 in 1979. It took him just ten minutes to write the song.

Although the members of Wings do not feature on the song, they do appear in the song’s music video, which was filmed at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex. McCartney recalled to NME in 2012… “We went out to some pub somewhere, and so that was a laugh… we just run out of the pub occasionally, filmed a bit, and then went back into the pub. So that was quite a nice evening!”

Diana Ross, Demi Lovato, Kelly Rowland, Hanson and The Monkees have all made their own versions.

The Monkees did a stripped down version of this song without the synth that is really good.

Here is the Monkees version in 2018

Wonderful Christmastime

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 ooo
Ooo ooo toot toot toot toot toot toot

We’re simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The word is out
About the town
To lift a glass
Ah don’t look down

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, dong, dong, dong, dong

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

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
We’re simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The moon is right
The spirits up
We’re here tonight
Oh and that’s enough

We’re simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

Oh oh
Christmastime

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

44 thoughts on “Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime”

      2. It really gives you an insight on who they really were. In spite of the few arguments…you can tell they loved each other like brothers.

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  3. I really hated this song in the 90s because I worked in a mall for much of the decade and it was one song that was played repetitively through the day all December long, as if it wasn’t repetitive enough anyway. But now I don’t mind it, the sentiment is good at least. The Monkees version is kind of a nice change too; I don’t mind that synth on Paul’s but the Monkees sound a wee bit more chipper.

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    1. No I can’t hear it much either. I do like the Monkees simple version. I had the same repsonse from Dave who worked in a mall at Christmas time during the 90s.

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  6. Never been a fave of mine either, and i bought the Monkees version, sounded good when it came out and since. If i was going to play a macca seasonal tune it would be We All Stand Together or Pipes Of Peace, both of which are unusual choices but do have thst xmas vibe. Seriously i love the frog chorus and am proud of it! 🙂

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      2. It was shelved for decades…it was cool seeing Wings at that stage in 1973. It was a good kids movie…I don’t know why they didn’t release it.

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    1. Thank you so much Matt. I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas. We had a great time. The only thing missing for us this year was Bailey…he is in Germany visiting his girlfriend.

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      2. Cheers Matt…. he is having a good time. What meant more to me is her parents told us what a great person he is…that made me happy.

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      4. Yes she is pure German…it’s his first trip out of the country. She goes to University over there.

        I’m about to listen to your Bing story after I finish our family yahtzee game lol….

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      5. ‘Pure German’ lol. Ask her is she likes the song – Wen Du Leibst Feat by Clueso which heads my blog lol

        How cool your son was able to travel outside of the US for the first time!

        Bruce was just telling me about ‘The Small One’ that’s its one of his favourite ever. Same here. I hope you like it. You should listen to it as a family if you can. It’s short, but utterly engrossing.

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      6. They have been talking for 2 years on face time everyday…this was the first time they met each other…..she is coming here in the Summer.
        He won’t be coming back until the middle of January when the semester starts.

        Ok we will do that Matt.

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      7. It sounds like how I met Connie, the mother of my children here. I hope all works out well for them. It’s going to be nice for you all too meet this young lass.

        Make sure you do listen to it together, if you can. You won’t regret it.

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