December 14, 2006

1968 Beatles fan club Christmas recording


  • Recorded: Separately, Autumn 1968
  • Released: December 20, 1968
  • Total Time: 7:55
  • Transcript

    The first Beatles Christmas album to be recorded separately, the 1968 offering is a collage of odd noises, musical snippets, and individual messages. McCartney's song "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year" is featured, along with John's poems "Jock and Yono" and "Once Upon a Pool Table." Also notable is a barely-recognizable rendition of "Nowhere Man" by the ukulele-playing Tiny Tim.


    How very "White Album" this one is! Besides the fact they recorded their bits separately (as The Beatles was pretty much done), you have Paul's acoustic "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year" (very much along the lines of "Mother Nature's Son" or "Blackbird" or "I Will") and John's "Revolution #9"-esque contribution. I like how you can hear them (probably just George) laughing at Tiny Tim at the end.

    Looking in different directions


    Information and album cover picture from the Wikipedia entry for The Beatles' Christmas Album

  • 1963
  • 1964
  • 1965
  • 1966
  • 1967
  • 1969
  • 2 comments:

    J. Herzog said...

    I found your blog randomly a month or two ago, and it seems that you share my first big pop culture obsessions (Trek and the Beatles).

    Thanks alot for the Beatles Xmas stuff (haven't heard that stuff in years), and I really like your photos of old buildings, they're quite artfully done. Keep it up....

    Chris said...

    Come back anytime, j. herzog - I appreciate your complimentary words!