Christmas Day Playlist 2012

HOUR 1

John & Yoko – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – Single `71/`72

Voice  Break

The Beatles first Christmas 7" flexi record distributed free to their fans

through the fan club….

Once Beatles fans found out about a free flexi disc coming out from the fan-club, more and more people applied. Consequently, the Fan Club was unprepared, so in addition to the thousands of Christmas flexis it mailed out in December of 1963, they also made a complete extra run of the flexi-disks without the sleeves (to save time), which were mailed out in February 1964 with a letter of apology and an explanation from the Club. The total of 1963 Christmas flexis made, both with and without sleeves, was just over 30,000 copies.

*1st  /  Fan  Club  X  Mass  Single  1963  (5:02)  Scripted  by  Tony  Barrow  –  NEMS  Pub.  Manager  /  who  ran  fan  club  

Recorded  Oct.  17th/  Released  Dec.  6th  1963  /@  Abbey  Road  –  1st  day  w/  Four  Track  Recording  Sessions  for  “I  Want  to  Hold  You  Hand”  

Ringo Starr – Come On Christmas; Christmas Come On – I  Wanna  Be  Santa  Claus  

**The  Fab  Four  –  Blue  Christmas  (Revolution)-­‐  /A  Fab-­‐ulous  XMAS  

Ringo Starr – The Christmas Dance – I  Wanna  Be  Santa  Claus  

Voice  Break    

*Beatles  1964  –  2nd  Christmas  Message  ‘Another  

Beatles  Christmas  Record”  –  (4:06)    

Recorded  Monday  Oct.  25th  1964  /  By the time of the release of this flexi the Fan Club membership had risen to 65,000 and Christmas flexi disks were made for every member. It came with a special sleeve and with a Fan Club newsletter. Notice on the label that the 1964 fan club flexi plays at 45 rpm, all the others play at 33 1/3.

Released  Dec.  18th  1964  

Another Beatles' Christmas Record was not sent to American fans. Rather, at Christmastime 1964, US fans received an edited version of The Beatles' Christmas Record, which was sent to British fan club members in 1963.

Also, as opposed to using flexi-discs, the US fan club sent the message in a

tri-fold cardboard mailer, with the "record" embedded in one of the flaps of cardboard

Three Blonde Mice - Ringo Bells (2:27)

Atco REC# 45-6324  

The  Fab  Four  –Rudolph  The  Red  Nosed  Reindeer–  A  Four  Christmas  (17)  

 Dora Bryan - All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle

She also had a Top 20 hit in 1963,  

Voice  Break  

 On  today’s  Beatle  Menu  of  December  releases  will  be  the  following  LP’s:  

 The  Beatles  65  Rubber  Soul  

John’s  Live  Peace  In  Toronto  &  Plastic  Ono  Band    WINGS  –  Wildlife  -­‐  Band  On  The  Run  &  Wings  Over  America    

From  Beatle  George  The  Concert  For  Bangla  Desh  &  Dark  Horse    

And  from  our  friend  Ringo  his  1973  Xmas  favorite  “RINGO”  which  came  out  the  last  week  of  Nov  just  like  MMT….so  they  count  too…  

The Beatles - I Am The Walrus - Magical Mystery Tour

Recorded 5th September 1967 flip of “Hello Goodbye“

John said the first line came from an acid trip one weekend; the second line came from an acid trip the following weekend.

Musicians: John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, Mellotron; Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar; Ringo Starr –

drums; Sidney Sax, Jack Rothstein, Ralph Elman, Andrew McGee, Jack Greene, Louis Stevens, John Gizzard and Jack Richards – violins; Lionel Ross, Eldon

Fox, Brim Martin and Terry Weil – cellos; Gordon Levin – clarinet; Neil Sanders, Tony Unstill and Morris Miller – horns; The Mike Semmes Singers

(Peggy Allen, Wendy Horan, Pat Whitmore, Jill Cutting, June Day, Sylvia King, Irene King, G. Millen, Mike Red way, John O’Neill, F. Yachter, Allan Grant, D.

Griffith, J. Smith and J. Fraser) – backing vocals

The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour/Fool On The Hill - Magical

Mystery Tour Recorded 25th April 1967 Written mainly by Paul directly after recording for Sgt. Pepper had finished.

Lead vocal Paul McCartney .9 / Lennon .1

UK EP

The Beatles - The Word - Rubber Soul (Lennon-McCartney)

Lead vocal: John

Recorded in three takes at a late night session starting on November 10, 1965 that ran until 4 a.m. the next morning. Overdubs include Paul on piano, George Martin on

harmonium, and Ringo playing the maracas. The song is a full collaboration between Lennon and McCartney, and began as an attempt to write a song based around a single

note. On U.S. album:

Rubber Soul - Capitol LP

The Beatles - Girl - Rubber Soul (Lennon-McCartney)

Lead vocal: John Written primarily by John, the song was completed in two takes on November 11, 1965. The song is notable for the naughty backing vocal (Paul and George repeating the word

“tit”) and John’s heavy breathing during his vocal. John called this one of his best. On U.S. album:

Rubber Soul - Capitol LP

Ringo Starr – Have You Seen My Baby – RINGO RINGO LP Big XMAS item 1973

WINGS – Nineteen Hundred & Eighty Five - BAND ON

THE RUN

Voice  Break  

   

     

HOUR  2    

RADIO  SPOT  

Voice  Break  

 

*Beatles  1965  3rd  Christmas  Message  –  (6.26)  

Recorded  Nov.  8th/Released  Dec.  17th,  1965  Sessions  for  Think  For  Yourself  –  Rubber  Soul  

Several off-key, a cappella versions of "Yesterday" are dispersed throughout the record, alongside Lennon's "Happy Christmas to Ya List'nas," "Auld Lang Syne," a

one-and-a-half-line version of the Four Tops' "It's the Same Old Song", which they quickly stop before they violate the copyright, and an original poem titled

"Christmas Comes But Once a Year." A second version of Auld Land Syne segues messily into a cover of Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction

Members of the Beatles' U.S. fan club did not receive this (or any) Christmas flexi-disc in 1965. Rather, they received a black and white postcard, with a photo

of the Fab Four and the message "Season's Greetings -- Paul, Ringo, George, John." The Beatle Bulletin, the publication of the U.S. fan club, explained in its

April 1966 edition that the tape arrived too late to prepare the record in time for Christmas

The  Fab  Four  –  Good  King  Wenceslas  –  A  FAB  Four  Christmas  

Becky Lee Beck - “I Want A Beatle For Christmas,” – Single 1964 Challenge Records  

There were also at least four records released in 1964 that were titled “I Want A Beatle For Christmas,” with versions released by Jackie & Jill, Patty Surby And The Canadian

V.I.P’s, The Fans and Becky Lee Beck. The version released by Becky Lee Beck was written by legendary luthier John Suhr, who has built guitars and basses for such

musicians as Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Lou Reed, and Victor Bailey. When discussing the record, John Suhr recalled: “In the fall of 1964, I took Becky Lee,

and her brother Bobby, to Nashville to do two tracks for a single. We did ‘I Want a Beatle for Christmas.  

The  Fab  Four  –Let  It  Snow  Let  It  Snow…–  A  FAB  Four  Christmas  

Ringo  Starr  –  Rudolph  The  Red  Nose  Reindeer  –    

Paul  McCartney  -­‐  Wonderful  Christmastime  –  Back  To  The  Egg    

Voice  Break  

 

*Beatles  4th  Christmas  Record  1966  (6:40)  

Pantomime  /  Everywhere  it’s  Christmas  Recorded  Nov.  25  in  the  basement  of  Dick  James  Music  /  The  1st  double  A  sided  Beatle  Xmas  disc  

This  time  the  free  disc  given  to  fans  was  in  the  form  of  a  pantomime  written  by  The  four  lads.  It  was  ten  separate  items,  together  with  the  title  song,  which  was  mixed  together  at  Abbey  Road  on  2nd  

December  1966  by  the  writer  of  the  previous  Christmas  outings,  Tony  Barrow.  

Pantomime  sleeve  design  by  Paul  McCartney.  

The  Fab  Four  -­‐  Jingle  Bells  Tomorrow  Never  Knows  2.38

The  Fab  Four  –  Silent  Night  –  Christmas  A  Go  Go  

Tom  Petty  –  X  Mass  All  Over  Again  –  Single  

Chuck  Berry  –  Run  Run  Rudolph  -­‐  Single  

The  Ronnetts  –  I  Saw  Mama  Kissing  Santa  Claus  –  A  Phil  Spector  Chritmas  LP  (Apple)  

Ringo  Starr  –  Winter  Wonderland    -­‐  I  Wanna  Be  Santa  Claus  

Voice  Break  

 

*Beatles  1967  5th  Christmas  Record  –    

Christmas  Time  Is  Here  Again  (6:10)  

Recorded  Nov.  28th  1967  –  EMI  ABBEY  ROAD  

THE ORIGINAL BEATLES with special guest appearance by the feet and voice of

VICTOR U. SPINETTI and Something Else by MALCOLM LIFT-EVANS.

Another little bite of the Apple: Produced by George (Is Here Again) Martin.

FUN  Facts  ABOUT  1967  Message  

Last  Record  recorded  as  a  group.  /  Front  cover  by  Lennon  &  Ringo  /  Back  cover  by  Julian  Lennon  

Also  mentions  the  then  mysterious  Apple  …..  /  Only  song  from  any  Xmas  Message  to  be  copy  written  

The accompanying sketches included, messages, jokes, tap-dancing by Ringo and Victor, the voices of Mal Evans and George Martin, and a snatch of an old song

called "Plenty Of Jam Jars".

HOUR  3    The  Fab  Four  –  Winter  Wonderland  

Darlene  Love  –  White  Christmas  -­‐    A  Christmas  Gift  From  Harvey  Phil  Spector  

Voice  Break  

   

SLADE – Merry Christmas Everybody – Single `73 #1 UK

Roy  Wood/Wizzard  –  I  Wish  It  Could  Be  Christmas  Everyday  #4  UK  bumped  off  by  SLADE…XMAS  a  GO  GO  

George  Harrison  –  Ding  Dong  –  Dark  Horse  `74  

Frank Sinatra – Jingle Bells `57

Voice  Break  

 

 

*  Beatles  1968  6th  Christmas  Message  –  (7:55)  Released  Dec.  20th    /  

The 1968 and 1969 Christmas flexis are double-sided and while all of the previous flexi's had paper record labels, the 1968 and 1969 disks have the information printed on the black flexi disk with white ink

1st  X  Mass  to  be  recorded  individually  by  each  Beatle~~~~  

John  –  Weybridge,  Surrey  

Paul  –  St.  John’s  Wood  

George  –  Southern  Calf.  (During  Electronic  Sounds  recordings)  

And  Ringo  –  Home  at  Ascot  

Cover  Painting  by  Julian  Lennon  

Features / Tiny Tim – Nowhere Man / Compiled by friend and DJ Kenny Everett  

The Fab Four – Joy To The World - HARK!

Ringo Starr – I  Wanna  Be  Santa  Claus  -­‐  I  Wanna  Be  Santa  Claus  

Voice  Break  

Cheap Trick – Come On Christmas – XMAS EP

Elton John – Step Into Christmas – Single

The Lonely Hearts Club Band

*Beatles  Last  (7th)  Christmas  Message  1969  –  (7:42)  

Released  Dec.  19th,  1969  /  

Really  a  very  John  &  Yoko  X  Mass  Message  

Ringo  does  get  in  a  plug  for  his  then  current  film  project  The  Magic  Christian  

The  cover  seen  above  was  designed  by  Ringo  and  his  son  Zak.  

It was edited together by Radio 1 disc-jockey Kenny Everett, but this time credited to his real name, Maurice Cole.  

John & Yoko – Happy Xmas – Single `72