Wonderful Christmastime
{{Short description|Christmas song by Paul McCartney}}
{{redirect|Wonderful Christmas Time|Diana Ross' 2018 Christmas album reissue|A Very Special Season}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Wonderful Christmastime
| cover = 62331wct.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = Paul McCartney
| B-side = Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae (Instrumental)
| released = {{Start date|1979|11|16|df=y}}
| recorded = 30 August 1979
| studio = Lower Gate Farm (Sussex)
| genre = * Christmas
| length = 3:45
| label = * Parlophone
| writer = Paul McCartney
| producer = Paul McCartney
| prev_title = Eat at Home
| prev_year = 1971
| next_title = Coming Up
| next_year = 1980
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|94Ye-3C1FC8|"Wonderful Christmastime"}}}}
}}
"Wonderful Christmastime" is a Christmas song by English musician Paul McCartney. Recorded during the sessions for his solo album McCartney II (1980), it was released as a single in November 1979 following Wings' final album Back to the Egg earlier that year. It was McCartney's first solo single in over eight years since "Eat at Home" in 1971. "Wonderful Christmastime" has charted within the top 10 in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom as well as the top 20 in Canada, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland. It is a lauded song during Christmas{{Cite web |date=2024-12-11 |title=Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” Climbs Billboard Charts Again in 2024 |url=https://comonewsandradio.com/2024/12/10/wonderful-christmastime-billboard-charts/ |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=COMO News and Radio |language=en-US}} and has been covered throughout the years by numerous artists.
"Wonderful Christmastime" was added as a bonus track on the 1993 CD reissue of Back to the EggStephen Thomas Erlewhine, [http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/back-to-the-egg-bonus-tracks-mr0001633694 "Paul McCartney/Wings Back to the Egg (Bonus Tracks)"], Allmusic (retrieved 30 December 2012) and on the 2011 "Special Edition" and "Deluxe Edition" reissues of McCartney II; a longer, unedited version was also included on the Deluxe Edition. The track was also mixed into 5.1 surround sound for inclusion on the 2007 DVD release The McCartney Years.
Background and recording
McCartney wrote the song in the key of B major, and recorded it 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,Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium, 44.1 Productions (Chesterfield, MO, 2000; {{ISBN|0-615-11724-4}}), p. 251. which was filmed at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2007/dec/06/bars.top10|title=Top 10 cosy pubs|last=Sawday|first=Alastair|date=6 December 2007|work=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media Ltd|access-date=13 December 2009}}
It also includes footage filmed at the Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne, where McCartney rehearsed his 1979 UK tour. {{citation needed|date=December 2016}} Wings performed the song during their 1979 tour of the UK.Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium, 44.1 Productions (Chesterfield, MO, 2000; {{ISBN|0-615-11724-4}}), p. 254.
Reception and legacy
Following its release as a stand-alone single in the United Kingdom, "Wonderful Christmastime" peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart on the week ending 5 January 1980.{{cite web|title=Official Charts: Paul McCartney|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/paul%20mccartney/|publisher=The Official UK Charts Company|access-date=13 October 2011}} In the United States, the single peaked at number 83 on the Cash Box Top 100 chart (week ending 12 January 1980) and at number 94 on the Record World Singles Chart (week ending 29 December 1979), but it did not initially make the Billboard Hot 100 chart.{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |date=2015 |title=The Comparison Book |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |publisher=Record Research Inc. |page=333 |isbn=978-0-89820-213-7}}
In the US "Wonderful Christmastime" first appeared on a Billboard magazine music chart in December 1984, when it peaked at number 10 for two straight weeks on the magazine's special Christmas Singles chart.{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Christmas in the Charts (1920–2004)|publisher=Record Research Inc.|year=2004|location=Wisconsin|page=48|isbn=0-89820-161-6}} Its next appearance on a Billboard music came on the week ending 6 January 1996, when the song both debuted and peaked at number 29 on the magazine's weekly Hot Adult Contemporary chart. "Wonderful Christmastime" finally debuted on the main Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 2018, at position number 47.{{cite magazine |title=John Lennon & Paul McCartney Holiday Classics Hit Hot 100 at Last, Among 20 Seasonal Songs on the Chart |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8491544/john-lennon-paul-mccartney-holiday-songs-debut-hot-100 |magazine=Billboard|access-date=25 December 2018}} It peaked at number 26 on the week ending 6 January 2024.
"Wonderful Christmastime" continues to receive substantial annual festive airplay, although some music critics consider it to be one of McCartney's mediocre compositions.Craig Outhier, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100327063207/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2010-03-25/music/paul-mccartney-s-worst-songs/ "Paul McCartney's Worst Songs"], Phoenix New Times, 25 March 2010 (retrieved 30 December 2012).Alan Clayson, Paul McCartney, Sanctuary (London, 2003; {{ISBN|1-86074-486-9}}), pp 192–93. Beatles author Robert Rodriguez has written of "Wonderful Christmastime": "Love it or hate it, few songs within the McCartney oeuvre have provoked such strong reactions."Robert Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980, Backbeat Books (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2010; {{ISBN|978-1-4165-9093-4}}), p. 191.
Including royalties from cover versions, it was estimated in 2010 that McCartney makes $400,000 USD a year from this song, which puts its cumulative earnings at over $15 million USD.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2010/12/23/paul-mccartney-continues-to-have-a-wonderful-financial-christmas-time/|title=Paul McCartney Continues to Have a Wonderful (Financial) Christmas Time|first=Zack O'Malley|last=Greenburg|magazine=Forbes|date=23 December 2010|access-date=15 December 2011}}
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, jingle bells, production
Charts
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|title=Wonderful Christmastime|artist=Paul McCartney|type=single|award=Gold|certyear=2023}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Denmark|title=Wonderful Christmastime|artist=Paul McCartney|type=single|award=Platinum|id=11928|certyear=2022|access-date=14 December 2022}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|title=Wonderful Christmastime|artist=Paul McCartney|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1979|certyear=2025|access-date=10 January 2025}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|title=Wonderful Christmastime|artist=Paul McCartney|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1979|source=radioscope|access-date=2024-11-20|certyear=2024}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|title=Wonderful Christmastime|artist=Paul McCartney|type=single|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=2008|certyear=2022|id=15390-22-1|access-date=6 January 2023}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
Kylie Minogue version
{{Infobox song
| name = Wonderful Christmastime
| cover =
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = Kylie Minogue and Mika
| album = Kylie Christmas: Snow Queen Edition
| released = {{Start date|2016|12|9|df=y}}
| recorded = 2016
| studio =
- Angel Recording Studios (London, England){{cite AV media notes |title=Kylie Christmas |others=Kylie Minogue|year=13 November 2015 |first= Kylie|last=Minogue|type=Liner notes |publisher=Parlophone. Warner Music Group |location=Worldwide}}
- Sarm Music Village (London, England){{cite AV media notes |title=Kylie Christmas |others=Kylie Minogue|year=13 November 2015 |first= Kylie|last=Minogue|type=Liner notes |publisher=Parlophone. Warner Music Group |location=Worldwide}}
| venue =
| genre = Christmas
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=43}}
| label = Parlophone
| writer = Paul McCartney
| producer = Steve Anderson
| chronology = Kylie Minogue
| prev_title = At Christmas
| prev_year = 2016
| next_title = Dancing
| next_year = 2018
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = Mika
| type = single
| prev_title = Hurts (Remix)
| prev_year = 2016
| title = Wonderland Christmastime
| year = 2016
| next_title = It's My House
| next_year = 2017
}}
{{External music video|{{YouTube|HdnmMrzu6-E|"Wonderful Christmastime"}}|header=Audio video}}
}}
Australian singer Kylie Minogue and British singer-songwriter Mika covered the song for Minogue's reissue Kylie Christmas: Snow Queen Edition (2016). The song was released as the album's second single on 9 December 2016 by Parlophone.{{cite web | url=http://www.earone.it/news/kylie_minogue_wonderful_christmastime_with_mika_radio_date_09_12_2016_21710850/ | title=Kylie Minogue – Wonderful Christmastime (with MIKA) (Radio Date: 09-12-2016) | date=9 December 2016 | access-date=9 December 2016}}
The song was performed on 6 December 2016 by Minogue and Mika on the Italian programme Stasera Casa Mika.{{cite web|url=http://tvzap.kataweb.it/news/185618/mika-per-natale-duetto-con-kylie-minogue-e-poi-a-stasera-casa-mika/|title=Mika, per Natale duetto con Kylie Minogue e poi a Stasera Casa Mika|work=tvzap.kataweb.it/|date=28 November 2016|access-date=1 December 2016}}
=Charts=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |
| scope="col"| Chart (2016)
! scope="col"| Peak |
|---|
| {{single chart|Flanders Tip|23|artist=Kylie Minogue & Mika|song=Wonderful Christmastime|rowheader=true|access-date=24 December 2016}} |
=Release history=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" |
| scope="col"| Region
! scope="col"| Date ! scope="col"| Format(s) ! scope="col"| Label ! scope="col"| Ref. |
|---|
| scope="row"| Italy
| 9 December 2016 |
Other cover versions
- Diana Ross on the 1994 album A Very Special Season which reached No. 37 in the UK and was certified Gold.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
- Hilary Duff in 2002 on her debut album Santa Clause Lane.[http://www.bustle.com/articles/126937-hilary-duffs-christmas-album-santa-claus-lane-will-always-be-a-timeless-classic-worthy-of-another Hilary Duff’s Christmas Album Is A Classic ]
- Jars of Clay, on its 2007 Christmas Songs album, released the song as a single.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
- 2013: The a cappella group Straight No Chaser (with Paul McCartney) on their EP Under the Influence: Holiday Edition{{cite news |title=Paul McCartney, Straight No Chaser Tackle 'Wonderful Christmas Time' |date=16 October 2013 |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/paul-mccartney-straight-no-chaser-tackle-wonderful-christmas-time-20131016 }}
- 2023: Blessing Offor, and later released on the Snow Globe EP. It hit No. 1 Billboard Airplay and Adult Contemporary charts.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
- 2018: The Monkees Christmas Party (sung by Micky Dolenz)
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/wonderfulchristmastime.shtml Sold on Song] (BBC Radio 2)
- {{discogs master|type=single|141511}}
{{Paul McCartney singles}}
{{Kylie Minogue songs}}
{{Mika}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wonderful Christmastime}}
Category:British Christmas songs
Category:Songs written by Paul McCartney
Category:Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney
Category:Columbia Records singles