How John Lennon Accidentally Created a Christmas Hit for Another Band
Many artists have their own Christmas hit that brings in royalties every year. Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everyone” was a holiday hit in 1973 and continues to be played by many every holiday season. However, the band’s successful Christmas tune may not have even happened if it weren’t for John Lennon.
John Lennon accidentally helped Slade make their Christmas hit
“Merry Xmas Everybody” is a famous holiday hit, written and recorded by the British band Slade. The song was the band’s last No. 1 hit and is their best-selling single. However, the band almost lost the chance to record the song until John Lennon delivered a Christmas miracle happened. In an interview with Jackie Brambles on her Greatest Hits Radio show, guitarist Dave Hil said the only reason they were able to record in a U.S. studio was because of a last-minute cancellation by the former Beatle.
“We were in New York in the summer of 1973 – it was 100 degrees, it certainly wasn’t Christmas!” the guitarist explained (per Express). “And we didn’t really know this song, but when John Lennon cancelled his time in Record Plant Studios we went in just to do this Christmas number. The studio is in an office block, so we were all in the foyer at half nine in the morning trying to get the vocals going and singing ‘So here it is Merry Christmas…’ in front of a load of American businessmen.”
Slade used an instrument Lennon had left behind
Lennon canceling his studio time wasn’t the only gift he delivered to Slade. He also left behind an organ that Slade used for the record. According to Hill, the organ can be heard toward the beginning of the track.
“John Lennon had this organ in the studio and if you listen to the intro of the record you can hear his organ on it which is really nice. None of us knew the immensity of that song – we just recorded it and let our manager take the tapes back to England and mix it. We hadn’t heard it for months and when it finally did come out, I thought ‘Oh that sounds really good’ but we didn’t know how big it would be. Although 1973 was a massive year for us with ‘Cum On Feel the Noize’ – we had so many big songs that year, but the Christmas song was something special. As soon as the public got to hear it, it just flew.”
Lennon had his own Christmas hit
Slade was able to capitalize on their Christmas song thanks to John Lennon. Fortunately for the former Beatle, he already had his own holiday single. In 1971, Lennon released “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” which he made with Yoko Ono, Plastic Ono Band, and the Harlem Community Choir. At the time, the song was made as a way to protest the Vietnam War.
Over the years, the song has become a Christmas staple, even with the anti-war message at its core. The song peaked at No. 4 on the U.K. singles chart but reemerged at No. 2 following Lennon’s death in 1980.
