Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
By:
The Beatles
Lead vocals:
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Star
Songwriter(s):
George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey)
First released on:
From Then To You
Release date:
December 15, 1967
Length (≈):
6:06
Label:
Apple
Label:
Lyntone
Produced by:
George Martin
Recording date(s):
November 28, 1967
Recorded at:
Abbey Road Studios (EMI)
Musicians :
- Paul McCartney – vocal, piano
- John Lennon – vocal, bass-drum
- George Harrison – vocal, acoustic guitar
- Ringo Starr – vocal, drums
- George Martin – vocal
- Victor Spinetti – vocal
Album(s):
From Then To You On November 28, 1967, The Beatles produced a fan club disc called Christmas 1967 (a "flexi-disc" pressed by Lyntone Records). It contained the expected mélange of patter, commentaries and jokes. It also contained the highly improvisational Christmas Time (is Here Again), a song credited to all four of the Beatles.
All four joined in the vocals, as did producer George Martin and a visitor, actor Victor Spinetti. The song is interrupted at various times by small skits, mainly parodies of television personalities and advertisements.
Starr and Spinetti do a tap dance, an ad for "Wonderlust" appears, and John narrates a nonsense poem of his own authorship, accompanied by Auld Lang Syne on the organ.
The original version was over 6½ minutes long, but was shortened considerably by removing coarse language and laughter. This track remained a little-known relic of the Beatles era until it was released again in 1995 on the single, Free as a Bird.
This version also includes some fragments from the 1966 Christmas greeting as well. (This was the last Christmas greeting from the Beatles as a group; the 1968 & 1969 messages were recorded separately and blended together.)
Ringo recorded a version of this song in 1999 with Joe Perry (from Aerosmith) on guitar for his Christmas album, I Wanna Be Santa Claus.
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