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1.36pm
31 March 2008
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Recorded: 28 November 1967
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 4 December 1995
John Lennon: vocals, bass drum
Paul McCartney: vocals, piano
George Harrison: vocals, acoustic guitar
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums, tap dancing
George Martin: vocals
Victor Spinetti: vocals, tap dancing
Mal Evans: spoken word
Available on:
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10.58pm
15 May 2015
Offline Interestingly, Joe’s discography above lists the songwriters in this order:
“Written by: Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey”.
Meanwhile, the album credits for Ringo’s 1999 album, I Wanna Be Santa Claus (as catalogued on the Discogs website), lists them like so:
“Written-By – George Harrison , John Lennon , Paul McCartney , Richard Starkey”.
Was this Ringo’s unassuming way of restoring the proper order of who was responsible for this song’s writing?
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Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Ringo’s is alphabetical, Joe’s is in order of how they joined and the most common way when reciting their names. I doubt George was most responsible for the song.
Interesting alphabetically it’s the same going by surname and forename when listing the Beatles in such a way.
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1.16pm
15 May 2015
Offline meanmistermustard said
Ringo’s is alphabetical, Joe’s is in order of how they joined and the most common way when reciting their names. I doubt George was most responsible for the song.Interesting alphabetically it’s the same going by surname and forename when listing the Beatles in such a way.
One problem with that theory: some other songs on that same album on that same discography site don’t list songwriter names alphabetically. Examples:
Winter Wonderland
Written-By – Richard B. Smith*, Felix Bernard
The Little Drummer Boy
Written-By – Harry Simeone, Henry V. Onorati*, Katherine K. Davis
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1.39am
Moderators
27 November 2016
Offline So I was just listening to this song, because I felt like it (even though there’s still at least 50 days…)
I don’t know of other versions, but the one from the Free As A Bird EP is the one I was listening to.
It sounds like a monitor mix – is it, and if so, was there ever an actual mix of it made, or was it only ever this mix?
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2.44am
18 October 2013
Offline Remember very clearly in ’67 playing along to this with my mum’s knitting needles…. slapping out the simple drum pattern on a leather pouffe….. a very satisfying sound.
I recall thinking after packing cases and the like………. Ringo should try the knitting needles and pouffe combination.
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Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline The 1995 mix is not a monitor mix, @The Hole Got Fixed. It was newly created for the Anthology project, with Christmas greetings originally recorded for a couple of radio stations in 1966 clumsily “flown-in”.
There is a mix of the song on bootleg that was done the day after recording by GM, and from which extracts were taken to edit together the 1967 Christmas fan-club flexi. This original mix has never been officially released.
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6.21am
Moderators
27 November 2016
Offline Ok, thank you @Ron Nasty. It’s fairly poor quality, which led me to believe the only thing that existed was a monitor mix. Very interesting to learn, thank you very much.
Ron Nasty said
There is a mix of the song on bootleg that was done the day after recording by GM, and from which extracts were taken to edit together the 1967 Christmas fan-club flexi. This original mix has never been officially released.
Food for thought…
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8.02am
5 December 2018
Offline Christmas Time Is Here Again could maybe have become a classic Christmas song, if the Beatles had worked more with it. The song was used on the Christmas record distributed to the members of the official Beatles fan club.
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Richard, Beatlebug12.07pm
22 December 2013
Offline EchoNov said
Christmas Time Is Here Again could maybe have become a classic Christmas song
It IS “a classic Christmas song”… would’ve closed out Side One of the ‘Magical Mystery Tour ‘ album ahead of ‘I Am The Walrus ‘ quite nicely… or, anywhere else on Side One for it’s crystal clear where all of these, including ‘Blue Jay Way ‘ and especially ‘Flying ‘, blast off of from the Launchpad… the same ‘Magical’ ingredient when life was never the same again afterwards… “RINGO!!!”…:-)
11.41am
18 April 2013
Offline Ringo’s version of the song on I Wanna Be Santa Claus is much better than the original.
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2.58pm
11 September 2018
Offline As it’s nearly Christmas (!) I thought I should admit that this is the only Beatles song I’ve never heard (well, that and Carnival Of Light ).
12.07am
18 October 2013
Offline Tony Japanese said
As it’s nearly Christmas (!) I thought I should admit that this is the only Beatles song I’ve never heard (well, that and Carnival Of Light ).
Merry Christmas
2.37am
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1 May 2011
Offline "I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
9.04am
10 March 2017
Offline For all of you who are interested, the song is now on The Beatles Rock Band:
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1 May 2011
Offline This is an unexpected and weird one. Had no idea Rock Band was still in existence never mind releasing new material, and it’s a track that seems to have been forgotten about for 25 years. Very cool and welcome to see tho as it is a really enjoyable Christmas song – and I love John’s Scottish poem.
Edit: Wait a minute. This is a fan project so not legit which makes far more sense. No idea how it’s done but still very cool if it allows people to play new songs and keep the game alive and active.
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4.03pm
4 September 2019
Offline Paul’s first “Ain’t been round since you know when” really sounds like Wings to me.
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William Shears Campbell8.03am
13 November 2021
Offline Hello everybody, this is my first post in the forum. Thanks to all who share your love for the Beatles.
I’m looking for the original version of the song Christmas Time (Is Here Again). I have one that is 6’12” long. I’ve read that on 23 April 1976, a full version running 6:42 was mixed for mono. Is that version anywhere?
And if you have info about that recording session it will be welcome!
Thanks
Leon, from Argentina
9.26pm
26 January 2017
Offline Hey @Leon
There are a few copies for sale here of varying quality. You could get lucky at a local record shop as well, although Im not aware of what the availability of Beatles vinyl is in Argentina.
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12.51am
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17 December 2012
Offline 
That’s the fan-club flexi, @sir walter raleigh, not the full unedited take of the song.
So far as I’m aware, @Leon (and welcome to the forum), the full 6:37 take of the song hasn’t leaked, only the 6:12 edit, with a 3:03 edit being released on the Free As A Bird single. You can read more about the song in Joe’s song article here, and the 28 November 1967 recording session here.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
