What The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz Thought of Their ‘Naughty’ Christmas Song
Christmas songs generally aren’t risque. Neither are The Monkees‘ songs. Despite their wholesome past, The Monkees released a Christmas song with suggestive lyrics. During an interview, The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz discussed his thoughts on the song. Dolenz and Mike Nesmith had similar opinions of The Monkees’ only Christmas album.
Why The Monkees had to change a song Andy Partridge of XTC wrote for the band so Micky Dolenz could sing it
A handful of rock stars worked on The Monkees’ only Christmas album, Christmas Party. One of them was Andy Partridge of XTC, who wrote a track on the album called “Unwrap You at Christmas.” During an interview with Rhino, Partridge discussed why he wanted “Unwrap You at Christmas” to sound old-school.
“It’s a very old-fashioned chord change and the melody is very old-fashioned,” he said. “That was intentional. Christmas is not a time for the avant-garde. Christmas is old-timey and ancient. It’s older than Christmas — it’s Yule and it’s farther back than Yule, no doubt.
“So if I get asked, ‘Could you write a Christmas song for a potential Christmas album?’ by somebody as big in my make-up as The Monkees, well, I wrote seven songs!” Partridge added. “Or, actually, I wrote six songs and I already had ‘Unwrap You.'” Partridge said he wanted to imitate the 1950s and 1960s music of Phil Spector with “Unwrap You at Christmas.” Partridge originally envisioned a female artist performing the song, but The Monkees had to alter the song’s key so that Dolenz could sing it.
Micky Dolenz liked the ‘naughty’ lyrics of ‘Unwrap you at Christmas’
During an interview with The Monkees’ YouTube channel, Dolenz commented on “Unwrap You at Christmas.” “It’s frankly just a little bit naughty, which I love too,” he said. “That was kinda cool.” Dolenz felt Christmas Party featured several catchy songs. “There are ones that stick in your head, and you start singing them immediately after hearing them,” he added.
Mike Nesmith was pleased with Christmas Party as well. He said making Christmas albums is difficult because artists have to live up to the holiday’s sentimental and cultural importance. Nesmith said Christmas Party was very different from The Monkees’ other albums, but he had a great time recording it.
The way the world reacted to The Monkees’ ‘Unwrap You at Christmas’ and ‘Christmas Party’
“Unwrap You at Christmas” was never released as a single. It never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. In a similar vein, Christmas Party never hit the Billboard 200.
According to The Official Charts Company, “Unwrap You at Christmas” did not chart in the United Kingdom. Neither did Christmas Party. Even if it wasn’t a hit, Dolenz was a fan of “Unwrap You at Christmas” and its naughty lyrics.
