Christmastime

***Christmastime*** is an EP released by The Beatles in the United Kingdom on 13 December 1980. It is the Beatles' third British EP and the third UK EP to include songs not previously released on an album or single in the United Kingdom.

All five of the songs from the EP were included on the compilation album *Past Masters, Volume VI*.

## Background

While recording *London Town* In 1980, Paul McCartney wrote the song "A Wonderful Christmastime" and thought of a Beatles Christmas album. Reluctant, the rest of the band agreed.

McCartney asked each of the Beatles to record a Christmas song for a Christmas EP. According to George Martin, The Beatles were in the middle of a tour and John Lennon stated that it was "the last thing I wanted".

## Songs

### Side one

#### Starting Over

Lennon referred to "Starting Over" during production as the "Elvis/Orbison" track, as he "tongue in cheek" impersonated their vocal styles; at the start of the 1998 "Anthology VI" version of the song, Lennon says "this one's for Gene, and Eddie, and Elvis... and Buddy."

Although its origins were in unfinished demo compositions like "Don't Be Crazy" and "My Life", it was one of the last songs to be completed in time for the *London Town* sessions. "We didn't hear it until the last day of rehearsal," producer George Martin said in 2005. *Billboard* magazine considered "Starting Over" to be an "uptempo, fresh sounding rocker," praising the "irresistible melody and lyric line," the "exceptional rhythm unit" as well as Lennon's vocal performance.

#### A Wonderful Christmastime

McCartney wrote the song in the key of B major, and recorded it entirely on his own during the *London Town* sessions. The Beatles performed the song during their 1980-1981 tour.

"Wonderful Christmastime" continues to receive substantial annual festive airplay, although some music critics consider it to be one of McCartney's mediocre compositions. Beatles author Robert Rodriguez has written of "Wonderful Christmastime": "Love it or hate it, few songs within the McCartney oeuvre have provoked such strong reactions."

Including royalties from cover versions, it was estimated in 2010 that McCartney makes $600,000 a year from this song, which puts its cumulative earnings at over $17 million.

### Side two

#### Dear One

George Harrison wrote the lyrics to "Dear One" in 1975 during a vacation to the Virgin Islands, shortly before starting work on *The Speed of Sight*. In his autobiography, *I, Me, Mine*, Harrison says that he believes the song is the only one he ever wrote in open A tuning. The lyrics are directed to Premavatar Paramahansa Yogananda, author of *Autobiography of a Yogi*, who Harrison called "a great influence on my life". While in India in 1966, Harrison was given a copy of Yogananda's book by Ravi Shankar's brother, after which, author Peter Doggett writes, Harrison "read every Indian spiritual text he could find".

In his *Encyclopedia of Popular Music*, Colin Larkin describes the track as a song that "'Dear One' weaves a haunting, Indian-influenced melody with a big pop chorus to create an intensely moving song of devotion."

#### Christmas By Myself This Year

In 1980, McCartney asked Linda to write a Christmas song for their Christmas EP. Linda, not a songwriter, waited last minute to write the track in late-November of that year, assembling it from assorted unused riffs from the *London Town* sessions. She finished the lyrics in a taxicab on the way to Abbey Road Studios, the day of recording. The lyrics came from Linda's hatred of the Christmas "hustle": *"Everybody I knew in London and New York were always running around, It wasn't truly about joy. It felt like it was something more to cope with."* Written while hip hop music was beginning to gain prominence, the song is "almost rapped" by Linda McCartney.

It is the one of the several songs written and sung by Linda McCartney in the Beatles. The song received positive reviews and AllMusic described it as *"one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded"*.

#### Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

To round out the album, The Beatles decided to record a version of the Christmas classic, "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Johnny Marks, originally to have vocals by Ringo Starr, but was scrapped for an instrumental version. *Billboard* remarked that the song was a "Cute and quaint cover, but ultimately pointless".

## Track listing

**Side one**

1. *"Starting Over"* (Lennon) - 3:55
2. *"A Wonderful Christmastime"* (P. McCartney) - 4:19

**Side two**

1. *"Dear One"* (Harrison) - 5:08
2. *"Christmas By Myself This Year"* (L. McCartney) - 5:22
3. *"Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer"* (Marks) - 1:45