Paul McCartney Reveals His Favorite Christmas Song
Everyone has a favorite Christmas song they love to listen to during the holiday season. While Paul McCartney has a hit Christmas tune with “Wonderful Christmastime,” the former Beatle’s favorite song is another old-school hit that most people will recognize.
Paul McCartney made a Christmas record for his family
McCartney is a fan of the Christmas season and has many cheery traditions with his family. In an interview with his website, Paulmccartney.com, the “Band on the Run” singer discussed how his family listens to holiday music. While his father would play holiday tunes on the piano, McCartney decided to make a record featuring “straightforward Christmas songs.”
“I made a record when the kids were little because I realized it was very hard to buy a record that just had the Christmas songs,” he explained. “You would either get Nat King Cole sings Christmas or Phil Spector’s Christmas record – which I’ve got, and we use – but I just wanted straightforward Christmas songs [sings ‘Jingle Bells’ to us]. So I went into my studio and made loads of tracks. I have a little CD actually, called ‘Christmas Songs,’ and it’s just all stuff I’ve made up. I multi-tracked them all in the studio, and they’re kind of nice! So rather than sitting around a piano, normally we would play that CD while everyone’s cooking. It’s a nice little CD actually, it’s got a sort of sentimental value because all the kids have grown up with it.”
McCartney says ‘The Christmas Song’ is his favorite holiday tune
Many classic holiday hits could be one’s favorite, but McCartney has an easy time selecting his. The British singer-songwriter reveals his favorite Christmas track is “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole. While the song has been covered numerous times, McCartney prefers the original.
“Nat King Cole’s. So that is called ‘The Christmas Song’, but known by a lot of people as ‘Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire’,” McCartney told his website. “I think that’s my favorite. Nat King Cole’s version is so atmospheric. Not a bad singer, and I used his microphone at Capital Studios in LA for ‘Kisses On The Bottom’. And the guy came up to me and said, ‘Did you know that this is the microphone that Nat used?’ [Inhales heavily] ‘Ah, so no pressure!’”
McCartney shares the most unique gift he ever received
Paul McCartney, 80, still recalls the most unique gift he received for Christmas. With little electronics, kids had to find different ways to entertain themselves, and McCartney could do that with a fort built for him by his uncle. The former Beatle said he would play with his toy soldiers in the fort and considered the fort a “major gift.”
“When I was a kid, my Uncle Joe built me a fort. It was like a little den where I could play with my tin soldiers,” McCartney elaborated. “And I really loved it. It was like a major, major gift. It was made of wood; he was a plumber, so he was a kind of tradesman. And yeah, he just made this little fort with a little castle. I think it was most unique because in your childhood, you know, things just seem more amazing. And so, one Christmas morning, this arrived. So it was my little fort.”
