Search results
From December 1963 to December 1969, English rock group the Beatles sent out spoken and musical messages on flexi disc to members of their official fan clubs in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) each Christmas.
Dec 22, 2014 · "Wonderful Christmastime" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" tend to get all the airplay, but the Beatles were releasing Christmas records before anyone in the U.S. knew who they were. The group...
Dec 17, 2022 · The Beatles shared a 1963 Christmas message to their fan club. What did it mean and what was included in the limited edition 45?
- The Beatles Christmas Record
- Another Beatles Christmas Record
- The Beatles’ Third Christmas Record
- Pantomime: Everywhere It’S Christmas
- Christmas Time Is Here Again!
- The Beatles’ 1968 Christmas Record
- The Beatles’ Seventh Christmas Record: Happy Christmas 1969
The Fab Four released their first Christmas record to fan club members in an effort to make up for not being able to respond to their innumerable letters in a timely manner. The 1963 recording featured a wacky a cappella rendition of the traditional carol, “Good King Wenceslas,” in which the four go around ad-libbing the verses, all hilariously out...
Kazoos and harmonicas buzz out “Jingle Bells” as a member mumbles the words to the tune in the opening of their 1964 fan homage. “Don’t know where we’d be without you,” McCartney says to fans in the recording with Lennon remarking, “In the army, perhaps.” The jokes are flung, raspberries are blown, and random background clattering can be heard thro...
Opening in a blunder of their tune “Yesterday,” the band spouts off thank you’s in between renditions of “Auld Lang Syne” and the Four Tops’ “It’s the Same Old Song.” They go around thanking fans for the gifts they’ve received throughout the year, especially the “chewed up pieces of chewing gum” and the “playing cards made out of knickers.”
The Beatles’ fourth Christmas message was more of a production than a free-for-all. The group dropped their ad-libbing, performing as distinct characters for a glimpse at what next year and their next album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, would bring.
Another elaborate recording, their fifth fan club Christmas release expanded on the one from the year before. An original holiday recording, “Christmas Time (Is Here Again),” was added to the mix.
Rising growing pains and extremely busy schedules meant each Beatle had to record their part of the 1968 Christmas album separately. The fan record was a collage of noise between messages, poems, and brief snippets of their songs. McCartney gave a performance of the song, “Happy Christmas, Happy New Year.”
By Christmas of 1969, The Beatles were virtually no more. Their final fan club Christmas record was made much the same as the previous, recorded separately and then pieced together. The result is a Beatles variety show of messages, well wishes, and songs, as well as a conversation between Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono about peace in the approaching ...
- Staff Writer
- 5 min
Dec 23, 2012 · Beginning in 1963, the Beatles started a holiday tradition of recording Christmas messages for their fans. The recordings were edited and issued on flexi-discs during the 1963 through 1969 holiday seasons.
Dec 15, 2017 · By 1965, the Beatles were beginning to take control of the content of their Christmas messages, becoming more and more elaborate as the years went on.
Dec 6, 2023 · He even performs a faux Christmas message to young Beatles fans — which they promptly satirise. That The Beatles could show such invention for what was widely considered a trifle is remarkable.
