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Some Christmas songs warm our hearts year after year. On the other hand, Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” is a constant earsore in November and December. While Paul is one of the most popular musicians who ever lived, a lot of people seem to hate his Yuletide tune. Here’s a look at this controversial standard.

‘Wonderful Christmastime’ represents the worst of Paul McCartney

Widely loved Christmas sons include Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” What do all of those songs have in common? They display a lot of musical texture. For example, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” starts out as a ballad before morphing into an upbeat boogie-woogie song.

“Wonderful Christmastime” is surprisingly static. Its beat doesn’t have a lot of variation. Like much of Paul’s worst work, it manages to be stiff and perky at the same time. That’s a rancid combination.

‘Wonderful Christmastime’ was the beginning of the end

Beyond that, “Wonderful Christmastime” is connected to Paul’s reputation. During his Beatles years, he made many of the best songs in the history of popular music. His 1970s output with Wings was far more scattershot. While he gave us classics like “Band on the Run” and “Jet,” he also released embarrassments like “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

“Wonderful Christmastime” came out in the late 1970s, right around the time the quality of Paul’s music entered an abyss from which it has not returned. It’s easy to see “Wonderful Christmastime” as the song that ruined everything for Beatles fans.

Beyond that, the tune is way overexposed. If “Wonderful Christmastime” was just a filler track on a Wings album, it might be a pleasant enough slice of nothing. But because everyone has to hear it a dozen times around the holiday season, it becomes intolerable.

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Why Paul McCartney wrote the song

During a 2022 interview with PaulMcCartney.com, the “Silly Love Songs” singer discussed “Wonderful Christmastime.” “I like the idea of Christmas songs purely because they only come around at Christmas!” he said. “They remind us of the fun atmosphere of the whole season, and when I was writing ‘Wonderful Christmastime,’ I was trying to capture that party aspect. I did hope it would keep coming back — which it has. Sometimes people will go into a shop and hear it a little too much, but I don’t care! I’m happy!”

Paul revealed whether a line in the song is “the moon is right” or “the mood is right.” “It’s ‘the mood,'” he said. “And you know what, I’m thinking about Liverpool Christmas parties, that’s really all I’m doing with that song. ‘The mood is right, let’s raise a glass, the spirit’s up’ — you know, all the stuff you do at Christmas. Particularly with my old Liverpool family parties.”

Paul revealed that his father wasn’t a fan of Christmas songs. “My dad always used to make fun of them,” the cute Beatle recalled. “He’d say, ‘Here’s a shilling to go sing in the next street.’ He was not a big fan of Christmas carols. I quite like them! “Maybe Paul’s father was onto something!

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