Paul McCartney Has a Secret Christmas Album for His Family’s Ears Only
Paul McCartney has a secret Christmas album, but only his family gets to hear it every year. Since his holiday classic “Wonderful Christmastime” earns him the big bucks, a whole album of festive tunes would’ve surely contributed a handsome sum to Paul’s billion-dollar net worth.
His family’s album isn’t the former Beatle’s only secret Christmas album, either.
The former Beatle has never missed a Christmas with his family
In 2015, Paul answered fans’ Christmas-related questions on his website.
Paul revealed that he’s never spent Christmas on the road. He said, “No! I have always tried to be off. We always kind of specified that we wanted to be home.”
The only time Paul came close to being on the road on Christmas was during his time with The Beatles, before he had a family. “We used to have a Christmas show,” Paul said. “We used to get dressed up! And actually it was really cool because it was a sort of like a panto, but with musical people. A musically packaged show but with all sorts of little Christmassy things.
“It was great because we would just show up in our car – at the stage door – in our overcoats and everything. We’d jump out, go to the dressing room, and about five minutes later we were on!
“What we would do is the opening of the show, where they had a fake helicopter set. That came and appeared to land, and someone would introduce us: ‘Ladies and Gentleman…’ to all the screams. We would walk down, ‘Yay!’ and wave, wave, wave… and then walk off! Go back to our dressing room, and then come on again later!
“So anyway, I don’t even think that was Christmas day! It would have been the week of Christmas. So that was fun. But no, Christmas has always been kind of sacrosanct.”
Paul has never been on the road during Christmas, so he had all the time he needed to play his secret Christmas album for his family.
Paul McCartney recorded a secret Christmas album for his family only
In 2019, People reported that Paul recorded a whole Christmas album full of original songs, but only for his family’s ears. The former Beatle said he recorded the album because he wanted new Christmas songs to listen to; he was sick of the Christmas songs on the radio.
As one of the best songwriters in the world, it wasn’t hard for Paul to whip up an entire album of festive holiday songs. He wrote “Wonderful Christmastime” in 10 minutes, after all.
“It just gets brought out each year,” Paul told BBC Radio 4’s World at One. “Years ago, I thought, there’s not very good Christmas records. There’s a Phil Spector record I like. But I thought I’d quite like to do something traditional and simple and easy with all the ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and all of that. So, I actually went into my studio over a couple of years and I made one. But it’s just for the family.”
Paul’s secret Christmas album doesn’t contain any previously released songs. However, he did hum “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night” during his interview on the BBC.
“It’s just for the family,” Paul said. “It just gets brought out each year. I just have a little demo of it but you know the kids like it. Now, it’s kind of traditional. It’s something they’ve heard through the years, you know. Now it’s the grandkids getting indoctrinated with my carols record.
“It’s fun. We have a few little things like that. Then there’s the booze — and it’s all very jolly.”
Paul also recorded a secret Christmas album for his former bandmates
The McCartney family aren’t the only ones who have been gifted the gift that keeps on giving. In 1965, Paul also recorded a secret Christmas album for his bandmates, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
According to Far Out Magazine, Paul only pressed three discs. In 1995, Paul confirmed the album’s existence to Mark Lewisohn. “Yes, it’s true. I had two Brenell tape recorders set up at home, on which I made experimental recordings and tape loops, like the ones in ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.’
“And once I put together something crazy, something left-field, just for the other Beatles, a fun thing which they could play late in the evening. It was just something for the mates, basically.
“It was called Unforgettable and it started with Nat ‘King’ Cole singing ‘Unforgettable,’ then I came in over the top as the announcer. ‘Yes, unforgettable, that’s what you are! And today in Unforgettable…’ It was like a magazine program: full of weird interviews, experimental music, tape loops, some tracks I knew the others hadn’t heard, it was just a compilation of odd things.
“I took the tape to Dick James’s studio and they cut me three acetate discs. Unfortunately, the quality of these discs was such that they wore out as you played them for a couple of weeks, but then they must have worn out. There’s probably a tape somewhere, though.”
So, it doesn’t look like we’ll be privy to any of Paul’s secret albums, but at least we have “Wonderful Christmastime.”
