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Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
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11 November 2014
1.36pm
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Joe
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The Beatles

Written by: Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey

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

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15 April 2018
10.58pm
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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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16 April 2018
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meanmistermustard
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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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17 April 2018
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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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31 October 2018
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The Hole Got Fixed
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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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31 October 2018
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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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31 October 2018
2.48am
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Ron Nasty
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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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31 October 2018
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The Hole Got Fixed
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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.  

ahdn_george_01ahdn_george_01ahdn_george_01 Food for thought…

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9 December 2018
8.02am
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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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9 December 2018
12.07pm
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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!!!”…:-)

10 December 2018
11.41am
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Ringo’s version of the song on I Wanna Be Santa Claus is much better than the original.

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20 August 2019
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Tony Japanese
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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 ).

21 August 2019
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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

https://youtu.be/lxJu5jjFogM

21 August 2019
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25 December 2020
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Dark Overlord
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For all of you who are interested, the song is now on The Beatles Rock Band:

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26 December 2020
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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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3 January 2021
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Paul’s first “Ain’t been round since you know when” really sounds like Wings to me.

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13 November 2021
8.03am
Leon
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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

1 December 2021
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sir walter raleigh
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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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2 December 2021
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Ron Nasty
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a-hard-days-night-ringo-8 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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