Did The Beatles record the most irritating Christmas song ever made?
14 December 2024, 08:00
The Beatles - Christmas Time (Is Here Again) (Free as a Bird Single Version)
How could the Fab Four they inflict this on us? Take a listen to one of the strangest festive ditties ever released.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Interest in The Beatles is at an all-time high again, thanks to the release of the "final" Fab Four song, Now & Then, last year and the reissue of a new documentary about the band's landmark US tour of 1964.
Being a fan of The Beatles in the 1960s must have been incredibly exciting. Imagine each new single and album release: all those great songs, each LP getting more and more interesting…
And one of the best things about being a Beatles fan at the time was the Beatles Fan Club. Every Christmas, paid-up members of the official club were sent a unique “flexidisc” record featuring the Fab Four giving their fans seasonal wishes.
As the Beatles’ music became more elaborate, so did the fan club records. Instead of John, Paul, George and Ringo offering all the best for the New Year, 1967’s offering was titled Christmas Time Is Here Again and featured a series of surreal sketches and songs.
And it had a theme song. Oh, yes… it had a theme song.
The mind-bogglingly repetitive track - called Christmas Time Is Here Again, naturally - only appeared sporadically during the finished production, but the original version lasted a mind-boggling six minutes!
See how long you last.
