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
Best way to make a Xmas video. Down some booze run around in a video and down more booze and repeat the process. lol
I don’t mind this track actually but my all time fav is Bruce’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yea I like that one as well. I do like Lennon’s Christmas song more than this one but it’s grown on me through the years.
LikeLike
I agree, this is not the best Christmas song. You say he wrote it in ten minutes? It shows…
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yea…not the best one at all. It has grown on me after repeated times.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like John said, I can utterly believe he wrote it in just ten minutes! Too repetitive. That said, used sparingly it’s a nice song. Only yesterday afternoon my sweetie and I heard it on the car radio and we both said almost simultaneously ‘I think this is the first time I’ve heard this , this year!’. I grew very tired of it about 10 years ago when you heard it in every store for months.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yea…I didn’t start liking it until I heard it so many times and then I didn’t anymore…
LikeLike
This is a very nice Christmas song. Micky Dolenz is the last living member of the Monkees.
LikeLike
I remember when it was released. I always liked it. I thought it was Wings. I didn’t realize he’d gone solo. Eh…1979. It is catchy & I haven’t heard it in years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You did hear it all of the time but now you don’t hear it much.
LikeLike
True.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Merry Christmas Vic!
LikeLike
Merry Christmas, Max! 🎄🎁🎉🎀
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘The Grinch here.’ The bop- bop- bop -structure irks the Christmas Hell out of me. It’s like ‘Snoopys Christmas’ though; You know, some time in December, at some manic Mall or corner gas station you’re gonna hear it and weep.
Still, the sentiment is there and I’ll go along with Paul’s ‘a merry Christmas to all.’
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t hear it much anymore at all….maybe that is the reason I don’t mind as much now. Merry Christmas Obbverse!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And, sincerely, to you too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The festive spirit is strong in this one.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Never liked that song and for some reason it didn’t seem worthy of Paul McCartney. Like he got lazy and just wanted to throw something out there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with you on this one…he wrote it in 10 minutes…that was the problem.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And it sounds like it. Just because you’ve “made it” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep putting effort into making your music the best it can be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree!
LikeLiked by 1 person