John Lucas

For some reason, I have been seeing a lot of online discourse about “Wonderful Christmastime” this year. It seems, shockingly, that not everyone loves it. Some have even suggested that it’s one of the worst Christmas records ever made.

Bah! Humbug! I won’t hear it! In a world—this ever-changing world in which we’re living—where Wham!’s “Last Christmas” exists, Paul McCartney’s 1979 single could never be the worst. Truth be told, I was never a fan of “Wonderful Christmastime” until recently. It grew on me. But, seriously, listen to those late-’70s synthesizers! Listen to that choir of children singing their song! They’ve practiced all year long!

Fun fact: there is no children’s choir on the track at all. In fact, every sound heard on the song was performed by McCartney himself. All the members of Wings do appear in the video, which suggests that McCartney’s idea of having a wonderful Christmastime involves getting plastered at the local pub. Hard to argue with that, I guess.