Christmas Wrapping
{{Short description|1981 Christmas song by the Waitresses}}
{{For multi|the Kurtis Blow single|Christmas Rappin'|the wrapping of gifts|Gift wrapping}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Christmas Wrapping
| cover = Single Waitresses-Christmas Wrapping cover.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = the Waitresses
| album = A Christmas Record
| B-side =
- "Hangover 1/1/83"
| released = 1981
| recorded = 1981
| studio = Electric Lady (New York City)
| genre =
| length =
- {{Duration|m=5|s=18}} (album version)
- {{Duration|m=4|s=30}} (single version)
- {{Duration|m=4|s=21}} (radio edit)
| label = ZE
| writer =
| producer =
- Chris Butler
| chronology = The Waitresses
| prev_title = I Know What Boys Like
| prev_year = 1980
| next_title = I Know What Boys Like
| next_year = 1982
| misc =
}}
"Christmas Wrapping" is a Christmas song by the American new wave band the Waitresses. First released on ZE Records' 1981 compilation album A Christmas Record, it later appeared on the band's 1982 EP I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts and numerous other holiday compilation albums.{{Cite web |title=I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-could-rule-the-world-if-i-could-only-get-the-parts-mw0000840400 |access-date=December 23, 2012 |website=Allmusic |archive-date=December 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206045459/http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-could-rule-the-world-if-i-could-only-get-the-parts-mw0000840400 |url-status=live }} It was written and produced by Chris Butler, with vocals by Patty Donahue.{{YouTube|PsuRpGQPAMk|NME TV Song Stories - The Waitresses, 'Christmas Wrapping'}}
"Christmas Wrapping" received positive reviews and AllMusic described it as "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded". It has been covered by more than a dozen acts, including the Spice Girls.
Writing
In 1981, ZE Records asked each of its artists to record a Christmas song for a compilation album, A Christmas Record. The Waitresses were in the middle of a difficult tour and the Christmas song commission was "the last thing we wanted", Butler said later.{{Cite news |last=Pouncey |first=Edwin |date=March 6, 1982 |title=The Waitresses: What The Butler Said |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-waitresses-what-the-butler-said |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 17, 2018 |work=Sounds |via=Rock's Backpages}}{{Cite web |last=Simpson |first=Dave |date=December 13, 2020 |title=Christmas Wrapping: The Waitresses on how they made a festive classic |url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/dec/13/christmas-wrapping-waitresses-how-we-made-festive-classic |access-date=December 18, 2020 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}
Butler wrote the song that August, assembling it from assorted unused riffs. He finished the lyrics in a taxi on the way to the recording studio,{{Cite web |date=December 13, 2020 |title=Christmas Wrapping: the Waitresses on how they made a festive classic |url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/dec/13/christmas-wrapping-waitresses-how-we-made-festive-classic |access-date=December 14, 2020 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village.{{Cite web |last=Price |first=Mark J. |title='Christmas Wrapping,' an unlikely hit for The Waitresses, spreads cheer 40 years later |url=https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/lifestyle/2021/12/05/christmas-wrapping-the-waitresses-chris-butler-song-1981/8769307002/ |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=Akron Beacon Journal |language=en-US |archive-date=December 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207014322/https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/lifestyle/2021/12/05/christmas-wrapping-the-waitresses-chris-butler-song-1981/8769307002/ |url-status=live }} Butler said the lyrics came from his hatred of Christmas: "Everybody I knew in New York was running around like a bunch of fiends. It wasn't about joy. It was something to cope with."{{Cite web |last=Petrick |first=John |date=December 22, 2005 |title=How an obscure 80s punk band created a Christmas classic |url=http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/22/music/20051222113008&sec=music |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722232706/http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2005%2F12%2F22%2Fmusic%2F20051222113008&sec=music |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |access-date=December 23, 2012 |website=The Star}} The bassist, Tracy Wormworth, was inspired by Bernard Edwards' bassline on the recently released "Good Times" by Chic.
Written while hip hop music was beginning to gain prominence, "Christmas Wrapping" is "almost rapped" by Donahue. Its title, a pun on "rapping",{{Cite web |last=McNultey |first=Bernadette |date=December 16, 2012 |title=Christmas songs advent calendar: Day 16. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/musicvideo/9745168/Christmas-songs-advent-calendar-Day-16.-The-Waitresses-Christmas-Wrapping.html |access-date=December 23, 2012 |website=The Telegraph |archive-date=December 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224005110/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/musicvideo/9745168/Christmas-songs-advent-calendar-Day-16.-The-Waitresses-Christmas-Wrapping.html |url-status=live }} alludes to the 1979 song "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow.{{Cite news |last=Spears |first=Steve |date=December 5, 2016 |title=The story behind ... 'Christmas Wrapping' by the Waitresses |url=https://www.tampabay.com/the-story-behind--christmas-wrapping-by-the-waitresses/2305061/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218103308/https://www.tampabay.com/the-story-behind--christmas-wrapping-by-the-waitresses/2305061/ |archive-date=December 18, 2019 |access-date=December 18, 2019 |work=Tampa Bay Times}} Butler said he did not really think of Donahue's performance as a rap, as it was a new musical form, but said: "It was OK for a white guy to tell a story but tell it in rhythmic verse. And, it does have a melody, just three notes because Patty was no belter, but she’s a good enough actress that she could act it out."{{cite web |last=Abram |first=Malcolm X |date=December 23, 2022 |title=How the Waitresses turned 'Christmas Wrapping' into a holiday classic and saved Akron songwriter Chris Butler's life |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/12/how-the-waitresses-turned-christmas-wrapping-into-a-holiday-classic-and-saved-akron-songwriter-chris-butlers-life.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 17, 2024 |website=Cleveland.com}} Butler said he also liked the meaning of "wraparound", as the story is circular.
Lyrics
"Christmas Wrapping" is told from the perspective of a busy single woman adamant not to participate in the exhausting Christmas season. On Christmas Eve, she runs to a grocery store to buy cranberries, where she meets an attractive man she has been interested in for a year, bringing her Christmas "to a very happy ending". In the final refrain, she admits that she "couldn't miss this one this year".{{Cite news |last=Urycki |first=Mark |date=December 24, 2014 |title=Couldn't Miss This One: Behind 'Christmas Wrapping' |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/12/24/372662676/couldnt-miss-this-one-behind-christmas-wrapping |access-date= |newspaper=NPR |publisher=NPR |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402015136/https://www.npr.org/2014/12/24/372662676/couldnt-miss-this-one-behind-christmas-wrapping |url-status=live }}
Release
"Christmas Wrapping" was released as a single in the UK in 1981 on Island Records. It did not initially make the charts, but was reissued in 1982 and reached No. 45 on the UK Singles Chart that December.{{Cite book |last=Betts |first=Graham |title=Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 |publisher=Collins |year=2004 |isbn=0-00-717931-6 |edition=1st |location=London |page=829}} It remains the Waitresses' highest-charting single in the UK,{{Cite web |title=Waitresses Chart History |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/19934/waitresses/ |access-date=April 11, 2017 |website=Official Charts |publisher=Official Charts Company |archive-date=January 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107224514/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/19934/waitresses/ |url-status=live }} and despite its modest chart placing, the song was certified platinum by the BPI in 2024.
Butler said the reception was a rejuvenating gift for the band: "We do the Christmas song, forget about it and go back on the road. The next thing I know when calling back to New York is that it's all over the radio and much to our surprise it leaps over our heads and hits all the cities where we're heading and all of a sudden we're back on an upswing again."
Legacy
In 2005, Guardian journalist Dorian Lynskey called the song "fizzing, funky dance-around-the-Christmas-tree music for Brooklyn hipsters".{{Cite web |last=Lynskey |first=Dorian |date=December 23, 2005 |title=Readers recommend: alternative Christmas songs |url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,16373,1672678,00.html |access-date=December 23, 2012 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=December 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221124448/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,16373,1672678,00.html |url-status=live }} In 2012, the Daily Telegraph writer Bernadette McNulty called it "one of the most charming, insouciant festive songs ever". The AllMusic reviewer Andy Hinds called it "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded".
During the 2016 Christmas season, it re-entered the UK singles chart at number 96. The song appears in numerous holiday-music compilations, including The Edge of Christmas, Dr. Demento's Holidays in Dementia, and Now That's What I Call Christmas!: The Signature Collection.{{AllMusic|class=song|id=mt0034986244|tab=Overview|label=Christmas Wrapping|accessdate=2019-12-21}} Each festive season, Butler makes a donation to the Akron-Summit County children's library in the name of the first person to tell him they heard "Christmas Wrapping" on the radio.
Covers
"Christmas Wrapping" was covered by the English pop group Spice Girls as a B-side for their 1998 single "Goodbye",{{Cite web |date=December 18, 2017 |title=18 Alternative Festive Songs To Freshen Up Your Christmas Playlist |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/alternative-christmas-playlist-ariana-grande_uk_5a37a8ace4b040881bec3788 |access-date=December 26, 2022 |website=HuffPost |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226165617/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/alternative-christmas-playlist-ariana-grande_uk_5a37a8ace4b040881bec3788 |url-status=live }} with lyrics altered to include a reference to British supermarket chain Tesco instead of the American chain A&P. It has also been covered by Save Ferris (with lyrics altered for a Jewish perspective),{{Cite news |last=Jane |first=Ally |date=December 6, 2013 |title=Video Vault, Episode 15: Save Ferris "Christmas Wrapping" |url=http://333sound.com/2013/12/06/video-vault-episode-15-save-ferris-christmas-wrapping/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225164930/http://333sound.com/2013/12/06/video-vault-episode-15-save-ferris-christmas-wrapping/ |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |access-date=December 24, 2013 |work=333sound}} Kate Nash,{{Cite web |date=January 7, 2008 |title=Artist Of The Week: Kate Nash |url=http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2008/01/07/artist-of-the-week-kate-nash/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109083541/http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2008/01/07/artist-of-the-week-kate-nash/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 9, 2008 |access-date=December 24, 2013 |website=Buzzworthy |publisher=MTV}} the Front Bottoms,{{Cite news |last=Staff |date=December 20, 2011 |title=MP3: The Front Bottoms Get In The Holiday Spirit With "Christmas Wrapping" |url=http://filtermagazine.com/index.php/media/entry/mp3_the_front_bottoms_get_in_the_holiday_spirit_with_christmas_wrapping_fil |access-date=December 24, 2013 |work=Filter |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225082818/http://filtermagazine.com/index.php/media/entry/mp3_the_front_bottoms_get_in_the_holiday_spirit_with_christmas_wrapping_fil |url-status=live }} Devon Kay & The Solutions,https://www.bringthenoiseuk.com/202112/news/music-news-devon-kay-the-solutions-release-cover-of-the-waitresses-christmas-wrapping the Donnas,{{Cite news |date=December 3, 2010 |title=Summer Camp Cover "Christmas Wrapping" |url=http://www.stereogum.com/591481/ |access-date=December 24, 2013 |work=Stereogum |archive-date=December 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226233208/http://www.stereogum.com/591481/ |url-status=live }} Summer Camp, the cast of the Broadway musical Wicked,{{Cite news |last=Gans |first=Andrew |date=November 11, 2004 |title=Stars From Avenue Q, Wicked, Hairspray and More Featured on "Carols for a Cure Volume 6" |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/89526-Stars-From-Avenue-Q-Wicked-Hairspray-and-More-Featured-on-Carols-for-a-Cure-Volume-6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225121236/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/89526-Stars-From-Avenue-Q-Wicked-Hairspray-and-More-Featured-on-Carols-for-a-Cure-Volume-6 |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |access-date=December 24, 2013 |work=Playbill}} comedian Doug Benson,{{Cite web |year=2010 |title=Comedy Death-Ray Christmas CD |url=http://www.earwolf.com/store/cdr-xmas-cd.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205014245/http://www.earwolf.com/store/cdr-xmas-cd.html |archive-date=December 5, 2010 |access-date=December 5, 2010 |publisher=Earwolf.com}} Martha Wainwright,{{Cite web |title=A Not So Silent Night |url=http://www.revfilms.co.uk/music-dvd/223-rufus-wainwright-a-friends-a-not-so-silent-night.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225101648/http://www.revfilms.co.uk/music-dvd/223-rufus-wainwright-a-friends-a-not-so-silent-night.html |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |access-date=December 24, 2013 |publisher=Revelation Films}} the cast of the TV show Glee (with Heather Morris on lead vocals),{{Cite news |last=VanDerWerff |first=Emily |date=December 14, 2011 |title=Glee: "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" |url=http://www.avclub.com/review/glee-extraordinary-merry-christmas-66462 |access-date=December 24, 2013 |work=The A.V. Club |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225084626/http://www.avclub.com/review/glee-extraordinary-merry-christmas-66462 |url-status=live }}and Disney Channel star Bella Thorne.{{Cite news |last=Crooks |first=Amy |date=October 16, 2013 |title=Disney "Holidays Unwrapped" Details |url=http://www.dis411.net/2013/10/16/disney-holidays-unwrapped-details/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027063823/http://www.dis411.net/2013/10/16/disney-holidays-unwrapped-details/ |archive-date=October 27, 2021 |access-date=December 24, 2013 |work=Dis411}} British/Irish girl band the Saturdays covered the song for the film Get Santa.{{Cite news |date=December 3, 2014 |title='Get Santa' Soundtrack Released |url=http://filmmusicreporter.com/2014/12/03/get-santa-soundtrack-released/ |access-date=October 19, 2018 |publisher=Filmmusicreporter.com |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725114826/http://filmmusicreporter.com/2014/12/03/get-santa-soundtrack-released/ |url-status=live }} Kylie Minogue recorded the song with Iggy Pop for her 2015 album, Kylie Christmas.{{AllMusic |class=album |id=mw0002889898 |tab=Overview |label=Kylie Minogue: 'Kylie Christmas' |first=Tim |last=Sendra |accessdate= November 17, 2018 }}
Sinkane, studying a Masters in composition, produced a cover for Christmas 2020. It featured Nancy Whang (LCD Soundsystem) singing lead, Nick Millhiser (Holy Ghost!) on drums, and Money Mark (The Beastie Boys) on Moog.{{Cite web |title=Christmas Wrapping, by SINKANE |url=https://sinkane.bandcamp.com/track/christmas-wrapping |website=SINKANE |access-date=December 21, 2020 |archive-date=December 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221175704/https://sinkane.bandcamp.com/track/christmas-wrapping |url-status=live }} Profits from this release went to The Food Bank for New York City.
Track listings and formats
- "Christmas Wrapping" – 3:55
- "Hangover 1/1/83" – 4:30
- "Christmas Wrapping" (Long Version) – 5:23
- "Hangover 1/1/83" – 4:30
- "Christmas Wrapping" (Single Edit Version) – 4:30
- "Christmas Wrapping" (Long Version) – 5:23
- "Hangover 1/1/83" – 4:30
Credits and personnel
Credits and personnel are adapted from "Christmas Wrapping" vinyl liner notes.{{Cite AV media notes |title=Christmas Wrapping |year=1982 |others=The Waitresses |publisher=ZE Records |id=WIP 6821 |type=UK 7" Vinyl liner notes}}
- Patty Donahue – vocals
- Tracy Wormworth – bass, vocals
- Billy Ficca – drums
- Dan Klayman – keys
- Chris Butler – guitars, producer
- Mars Williams – sax, horn arrangements
- Dave Buck – trumpet
- Mike Frondelli – engineering, mixing, coproducer
Charts
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Waitresses|title=Christmas Wrapping|award=Platinum|relyear=2009|certyear=2024|id=15400-4845-1|access-date=December 6, 2024}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{YouTube|ZYE7UJSA7k0|The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping (single edit)}}
- {{YouTube|0BIBvul7_jg|The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping (long version)}}
- [https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/couldnt-miss-this-one-this-year-the-surprising-complex-story-of-the-waitresses-christmas-wrapping-212336258.html "Couldn't miss this one this year: The surprisingly complex legacy of the Waitresses' 'Christmas Wrapping'," by Lyndsey Parker, Dec. 21, 2021]
{{Authority control}}
Category:American Christmas songs