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Paul McCartney‘s “Wonderful Christmastime” stands as both one of the most beloved and most hated Christmas songs of all time. Whether you enjoy it or not, it’s easy to argue that the track was state-of-the-art. Here’s why a silly Christmas song was cutting-edge music back in 1979.

Paul McCartney’s Christmas song came out when disco was dying

Firstly, some background. Disco was massive in the late 1970s. Some disco tracks like Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and the Bee Gees’ “Tragedy” used synthesizers, which paved the way for the synth-pop boom of the 1980s. 1979 was the year that a lot of people were starting to get sick of disco. It was also the year M’s “Pop Muzik” became one of the first synth-pop hits.

In 1979, Paul put out “Wonderful Christmastime.” Earlier Christmas songs were often traditional pop numbers. Others borrowed from the Wall of Sound technique found in the seminal Yulteide record A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. On the other hand, Paul decided to play around with some synthesizers to try to capture the Christmas mood. The tune might have sounded more futuristic if not for Paul’s decision to use jingle bells in its instrumentation. 

Because of its release date, “Wonderful Christmastime” was a bit of a trendsetter. It paved the way for the most famous Christmas synth-pop song: Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” Though “Wonderful Christmastime” is divisive, “Last Christmas” seems to be universally loved.

But does that make “Wonderful Christmastime” any good? Well, not really. It doesn’t have much of a melody and the lyrics don’t pick up any slack. While other Christmas tunes like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” are masterpieces, “Wonderful Christmastime” is passable at best, lazy at worst. If the latter has any appeal, it’s that it has a mellow mood — and some people prefer to celebrate the holidays in a mellow way.

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Paul McCartney said the song gets played too much and he doesn’t care

During a 2022 interview with PaulMcCartney.com, the “Silly Love Songs” star was asked if he ever went Christmas caroling. “I can’t remember ever having done it, so I probably didn’t,” he replied. “The fun thing about Christmas caroling, that probably would have influenced my decision not to do it, was that my dad always used to make fun of them. 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!”

Paul discussed going on to write his own Christmas carol. “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!””

“Wonderful Christmastime” is far from the best pop Christmas song — but it has some merit for being ahead of the curve. 

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