A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime (#SHAWC) an explanation
On Friday night Dean & Britta played an Instagram live stream (that will hopefully be posted online again soon) - and at the beginning they threw in a few bars of Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime, the song has been a part of a long-running battle between me and other fans, and Dean Wareham. I think it’s a joyous Christmas gem, everyone else disagrees…
It became a thing in around Xmas 2005 on The Galaxie 500 Mailing List and cropped up for discussion annually after that, on the list initially, and then on Facebook where quite often fans would get in touch when they first got to hear it in the run up to Christmas.
The song seems to have a very bad reputation (particularly in the US) which I have always found baffling and I guess led to the idea that I was being ironic or contrary but that’s not the case - I truly adore the song and my occasional pestering of Dean & Britta, is genuine. It seemed a little futile and I do understand that when they played the opening few bars of the song on Friday night’s live stream it was as a joke, and I’m fine with that, but I do feel the need to explain why I love the song, and why I feel that it deserves reappraisal; and also, why I think it would fit Dean & Britta better than they seem to realise!
Wonderful Christmastime was recorded during the sessions for Paul McCartney’s 1980 album McCartney II, his second solo album, and the first after he shuttered Wings. McCartney II was a major remove from what he had been doing with Wings. Paul has always been the most experimental of the (ex-)Beatles and McCartney II saw him take his studio experimentation into a more exceptional direction. He’d clearly been listening to, and was excited by, the electronic music of the day - but McCartney II isn’t an 80s sytnthpop album, he was also listening to “things like John Cage, Luciano Berio, Cornelius Cardew” and Talking Heads “I love David Byrne’s eccentricity, that’s very appealing. And I like his not-mainstream attitude” - this was clearly an album with Macca taking full advantage of his studio and his new electronic toys. Because of that, McCartney II is a masterpiece.
The album has three absolute killer singles in Waterfalls, Coming Up, and Temporary Secretary, but there’s plenty more - it doesn’t always hit, but it when you’re being as experimental as Paul is on this album even the misses are interesting!
Wonderful Christmastime is obviously lighter and more fun than most of McCartney II but it clearly has him throwing all his imagination at making a joyous Christmas single.
I like the idea of Christmas songs purely because they only come around at Christmas! They remind us of the fun atmosphere of the whole season, and when I was writing ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ I was trying to capture that party aspect. I did hope it would keep coming back – which it has. Sometimes people will go into a shop and hear it a little too much, but I don’t care! I’m happy!
Paul McCartney - You Gave Me The Answer: ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ Special!
- Don’t watch the video - I love the video, but it’s a distraction and if all you’re seeing is the fun in the pub you might not appreciate what’s going in the song!
- Listen to the instrumentation, listen to the synth intro with the high-pitch synth drone behind it, listen to Paul playing with his new gadgets.
- Now think about what makes a good Christmas - it’s all there - the friends, the drinks, the party - this isn’t about the commercialism of Christmas, it’s not even about the religion, it’s about getting your mates together and forgetting everything else and just getting on with having a good time.
- Now watch the video!
If you Google “Wonderful Christmastime” however you will find plenty of people (like myself) happy to point out that the song deserves more respect than it gets, I don’t think there are many songs that us defenders have to defend quite so vigorously - but that’s because we don’t understand the negative feelings the songs seems to engender. It really does feel like people hate it because that’s what they’re supposed to do. It is so much more worthy.
So, why do I think it would suit Dean & Britta? Well, go listen to their work on Mistress America, or on Britta’s Luck or Magic, and you can hear artists who like to experiment, who aren’t afraid to use modern techniques and technologies to try and make some experimental, yet listenable and enjoyable pop tunes.
Britta clearly loves playing with tech and makes new and interesting music becuse of that - she is doing what Paul did. Mistress America is Dean & Britta edging into McCartney II territory. Also, as I’ve pointed out before they do rather love a Christmas tune - OK, they tend to err on the miserable side of Christmas, but… not always!
I suspect they won’t agree, and I don’t suppose I’ll ever really convince them but Wonderful Christmastime is right up their alley!
If I haven’t won you around with that heartfelt plea - at least go listen to McCartney II it might at least help you to understand why I think the way I do!