BEATLESQUE
CHRISTMAS
Sleigh up for the 'BEATLESQUE Christmas' party;
a music playlist of 190 holiday songs influenced by The Beatles, done in all their musical styles.
We hope you have fun..."
Shortcut link:
• 1) MUSIC PLAYER
• 2) Songs list
• 3) Beatlesque Christmas history
• 1963-esque
• 1964-esque
• 1965-esque
• 1966-esque
• 1967-esque
• 1968-esque
• 1969-esque
• 1970-esque
• 'REUNION' 1970-Now
Music Player:
BEATLESQUE Christmas Songs
BEATLESQUE: Christmas
by Tym Stevens
of alternative Beatles sounds!
BEATLESQUE
Christmas songs:
The List
• "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", Jackie And The Cedrics (1996)
• "All I Want For Christmas", Shonen Knife (1999)
• "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Joy To The World", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Christmas Time", Frank Lee Sprague (2006)
• "Baby, It's Christmas", The Singles (2006)
• "Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree", The Smithereens (2007)
• "Regifting", The Alice Project (2008)
• "Merry Christmas All", The Grip Weeds (2011)
• "It's Almost Christmas Time", Karen Basset (2013)
• "This Christmas", Color TV (2016)
• "Wake Up Christmas", Lisa Mychols (2017)
• "Biggest Bells", Dressy Bessy (2020)
• "Power Pop Christmas", Sue Bachner + Super 8 (2023)
• "I Want A Beatle For Christmas", Becky Lee Beck (1964)
• "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer", The Ventures (1965)
• "Blue Christmas", The Ventures (1965)
• "Foi Numa Noite Clara", Os Santos (1967)
• "Angela Christmas", The Toms (1979)
• "Christmas Time", The dB's (1985)
• "Merry Christmas Loopy Lu", The Kaisers (1996)
• "Christmas Boy", The Spongetones (2001)
• "Christmasland", The Spongetones (2001)
• "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Winter Wonderland", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Feliz Navidad", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Winter Gold", Frank Lee Sprague (2006)
• "Christmas Time", Frank Lee Sprague (2006)
• "Plump Righteous", The King Khan And BBQ Show (2007)
• "Under The Mistletoe", The Silhouettes (2013)
• "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", The Silhouettes (2013)
• "Winter Trees", Wild Balbina (2014)
• "Chanukah Guy", The Goldbergs (2015)
• "I Feel Fine (It's Christmas Time)", The Connection (2016)
• "I Believe In Santa Claus", Colleen Green (2017)
• "Won't Be Alone Tonight", Mike Krol (2019)
• "She’s Comin’ Home", The Wailers (1965)
• "Hazy Shade Of Winter", Simon And Garfunkel (1968)
• "Holiday Spirit", The dB's (1985)
• "Hazy Shade Of Winter", The Bangles (1987)
• "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", The Jigsaw Seen (1989)
• "Christmas All Over Again", Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (1992)
• "Christmas Is The Only Time", Wes Lachot (1993)
• "Silent Night", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Good King Wenceslas", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Silver Bells", Cuckooland (2005)
• "Don't Cry On Christmas", Frank Lee Sprague (2006)
• "Peace On Earth", Frank Lee Sprague (2006)
• "It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas", Sam Phillips (2009)
• "Christmas Dream", The Grip Weeds (2011)
• "For The Holidays", The Grip Weeds (2011)
• "Could It Be Christmas?", Jon Lindsay (2011)
• "The Christmas Fit", The Charlie Watts Riots (2013)
• "Christmas In The Sun", Shake Some Action! (2015)
• "Christmas Day", Shantih Shantih (2016)
• "Winter Is Here", Lisa Mychols (2017)
• "In Love With Love", Lisa Mychols (2017)
• "Green Christmas", The Essex Green (2019)
• "Snowing In My Heart", Bobkat'65 (2019)
• "When The Cold Winds Blow", Lolas (2019)
• "A Very Merry Christmas", The Beatophonics (2020)
• "Hanukkah Snook Up On Me", The Yule Logs (2021)
• "Big Surprise", Colleen Green (2022)
• "Christmas Day", The Weeklings (2024)
• "The Holy In Everything", Thee Holy Brothers (2024)
• "Navidad", Los Brincos (1966)
• "2000 Miles", Pretenders (1984)
• "Let It Snow", Luscious Jackson (1999)
• "Jingle Bells", The Fab Four (2002)
• "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Angels We Have Heard On High", The Butties (2005)
• "Fall In Love On Christmas", Frank Lee Sprague (2006)
• "Waking Up On Christmas Morning", The Smithereens (2007)
• "Candy Cane", The Jigsaw Seen (2008)
• "Round Christmas Time", The Smoking Trees (2014)
• "Christmas Morning", Jim Babjak (2019)
• "It's Christmas Eve", Groovy Uncle (2023)
• "Macy’s Window", Paul Revere And The Raiders (1967)
• "Holiday", Bee Gees (1967)
• "Christmas On My Mind", Hep Stars (1967)
• "Suddenly Winter", The Tremeloes (1967)
• "Snow", Claudine Longet (1968)
• "Winter", Family (1968)
• "Holiday", Jason Falkner (1999)
• "Christmas Time Is Here Again", Ringo Starr (1999)
• "I Can See My House From Here", The Glands (2000)
• "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", The Fab Four (2002)
• "A Jolly Old St. Nicholas", The Butties (2005)
• "Christmas Time Is Here Again", The Smithereens (2007)
• "The Gift That Keeps Giving Again", Super Furry Animals (2007)
• "Mister Kringle's", Dressy Bessy (2011)
• "Christmas Snow", Greg Pope (2010)
• "First Day Of The New Year", The Jigsaw Seen (2011)
• "What About Christmas?", The Jigsaw Seen (2011)
• "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", Elephant Stone (2013)
• "Through The Snow", Balduin (2015)
• "House Of Broken Gingerbread", The Monkees (2018)
• "Christmas Eve, Without Your Love", Jim Babjak (2019)
• "It's Christmas Time", Blake Collins (2020)
• "Noche Buena", The Stan Laurels (2020)
• "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", Spoon (2021)
• "Merry Christmas Lonely People", Arthur Satan (2021)
• "Mr. Make Believe", Ken Sharp (2022)
• "Toytown Suite", Ken Sharp (2022)
• "Deck The Halls", The Lumineers (2023)
• "Another Year Gone", Elephant Stone (2023)
• "La Révolution Des Lutins", Les Pommes de Lune (2024)
• "Last Call For Peace", Rotary Connection (1968)
• "If Peace Was All We Had", Rotary Connection (1968)
• "Christmas At The Zoo", The Flaming Lips (1995)
• "Angel In The Snow", Elliott Smith (1995)
• "Maybe This Christmas", Ron Sexsmith (2002)
• "Sleigh Ride", The Fab Four (2002)
• "What Child Is This?", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Blue Christmas", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Father Sgt. Christmas Card", Guided By Voices (2002)
• "Coventry Carol", The Butties (2005)
• "What About Christmas?", The Jigsaw Seen (2006)
• "Come Chase The Snow", The Pearlfishers (2009)
• "Christmas, Bring Us", The Grip Weeds (2011)
• "It's Christmas", Piney Gir (2013)
• "Revolution Wonderland", The Weeklings (2017)
• "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year", Totaro (2018)
• "Christmastime Heist", Mikal Cronin (2019)
• "Christmas In The Wasteland", Groovy Uncle (2023)
• "Must Be Santa", The Weeklings (2024)
• "Manda Christmas", Los Diablos (1971)
• "Remember (Christmas)", Harry Nilsson (1972)
• "Hades", Sleepy Hollow (1972)
• "Icicles", Badfinger (1973)
• "Christmas For The Free", Argent (1973)
• "Merry Xmas Everybody", Slade (1973)
• "She's Right On Time", Billy Joel (1982)
• "Peace On You", Three Hour Tour (1996)
• "Merry Xmas Everybody", Oasis (2000)
• "There's A Star", The Spongetones (2001)
• "Dear Santa", The Fab Four (2002)
• "The Little Drummer Boy", The Fab Four (2002)
• "The First Noel", The Fab Four (2002)
• "Christmas Lights Of Blue", The Come Ons (2005)
• "Christmas Again!", The Superimposers (2009)
• "Blue Christmas", British Invasion All-Stars (2010)
• "Merry Christmas Everyone", British Invasion All-Stars (2010)
• "Christmas Is For The Free", The Zombies (2011)
• "Christmas' Sun", Cirrone (2011)
• "Holiday", Locksley (2012)
• "All I Wish Every Christmas", Tracy Bonham (2013)
• "December 25", Sloan (2016)
• "It's Christmas Day", BROS (2017)
• "Ho Ho Ho", Whitehorse (2018)
• "Cheers To Another New Year", Whitehorse (2018)
• "A Place For Peace", Sam Phillips (2019)
• "All You're Dreaming Of", Liam Gallagher (2020)
• "Merry Xmas Everybody", Sohodolls (2022)
• "Crimble Medley", Caleb Nichols (2023)
• "Today", Kai Danzberg (2023)
• "Christmas '96", Wife Patrol (2023)
• "When Winter Comes Around", The Lemon Twigs (2023)
• "Morning Star", Billy Preston (1969)
• "Love", John Lennon (1970)
• "What Is Life", George Harrison (1970)
• "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", John Lennon + Yoko Ono (1971)
• "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)", George Harrison (1973)
• "Winter Song", Yoko Ono (1973)
• "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", George Harrison (1974)
• "Bless You", John Lennon (1974)
• "I'll Still Love You", Ringo Starr (1976)
• "Bells", Billy Preston (1976)
• "Wonderful Christmastime", Paul McCartney (1978)
• "Love Comes To Everyone", George Harrison (1979)
• "Winter Rose / Love Awake", Wings (1979)
• "Hard Times Are Over", Yoko Ono (1980)
• "Pipes Of Peace", Paul McCartney (1983)
• "This Is Love", George Harrison (1987)
• "Hope Of Deliverance", Paul McCartney (1993)
• "Beautiful Night", Paul McCartney, w/ Ringo Starr(1993)
• "Come On Christmas, Christmas Come On", Ringo Starr (1999)
• "Peace Be With You", Ringo Starr (1999)
• "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)", Paul McCartney (2012)
• "Snow", James McCartney (2013)
• "Great Expectations", The GOASTT (The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger) (2014)
• "Sleep For England" (X-Mas Version), Stephen Emmer + Julian Lennon (2014)
• "Give More Love", Ringo Starr (2017)
• "People Want Peace", Paul McCartney (2019)
• "Better Days", Ringo Starr (2019)
• "Winter Bird / When Winter Comes", Paul McCartney (2020)
🍏 "Now And Then", The Beatles (2023)
BEATLESQUE
Christmas history:
A) The Beatles
Do The Beatles have an actual Christmas song album? No. Do they have an actual full-length Christmas song? Yes, (if you can find it).
From 1963 to 1969, The Beatles mailed out flexi discs to their Fan Club as exclusive Christmas presents. Just as a 45rpm record was a hard vinyl disc with the music imprinted on both sides in circular bands of sound, a flexi was a flexible plastic sheet pressed on one side with a ring of music grooves. A hole in the middle allowed the flexi to spin on a record player while the stylus played it. Each Beatles holiday flexi came with a wraparound picture sleeve, like a 45 record. (Though fragile, lightweight flexis were an economical way to distribute music from the 1960s up through the '90s.)
They were not music records as much as comedy records. In the same spirit as the band's early appearances on TV variety shows, the first recordings were loose skits, goofy banter, and quick snatches of songs that spoofed holiday standards or their own hits. The length slowly snowballed from four minutes to six to eight over time. As the band became more ambitious in the studio, the flexis from 1966 and 1967 grew more surreal and freeform. The final 1968 and 1969 flexis, tellingly, had separate messages from each member collected together.
The 1967 flexi was like an absurdist broadcast, laced with a repeating refrain of a lysergic chant called "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)". This would later be edited together into a full form to constitute the only official Beatles Christmas song.
From the beginning, the Beatles holiday flexis were a rarity. Because of the tight turnaround time from recording to pressing, the British fans got the benefit of these seven annual gifts, while USA fans generally received a photo postcard instead. To the present, many music fans have never heard or even heard of them.
The chances to do so have been fleeting. As a final parting gift, all of the flexis were compiled onto one LP album in 1970, which went out of print. The full song "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" was the surprise B-side to the reunion 45rpm single, "Free As A Bird', in December 1995. In 2017, each flexi was remastered and pressed into individual color vinyl 45s for an expensive limited edition box set, nabbed by lucky high-end collectors. With these temporary windows, few have had access to these recordings and there has yet to be a single compilation for the general public.
Today, Christmas albums are ubiquitous. They give an artist guaranteed annual royalties and presence, and some legacy artists even have a few. In retrospect it seems inconcievable to us that The Beatles don't have a full Christmas record. But the reasons make sense; pumping out two albums, singles, tours, films, and TV appearances a year left the band no time (or inspiration) for that extra move. Plus, many '60s Rock bands considered holiday records too hackneyed and commercial, with very few of them making one. (Fine exceptions are the Motown family, many Jazz artists, The Beach Boys, Paul Revere And The Raiders, Booker T And The MGs, and Rotary Connection.)
B) Beatlesque
2) The Bangles; The Smithereens
3) Dressy Bessy; Shonen Knife
4) The Essex Green; Spoon
So what was a Beatles fan to do but make their own?
The Beatles were the gift that kept giving; a renaissance in themselves, transmuting all of their influences into new sounds and wider possibilities which musicians have expanded upon exponentially ever since. Now that the group are as perennial and joyous to everyone as the holidays, many artists have tributed both at the same time with songs or full albums, giving us a world of Beatlesque music beyond era or limits.
This Music Player is The Beatles Christmas album you always wanted and but didn't expect.
With a lot of help from these friendlies...
✭ 1960s peers like The Wailers (Seattle), Simon And Garfunkel, The Monkees, Nilsson, Bee Gees (Australia), Hep Stars (Sweden), and Los Brincos (Spain)
✭ Classic Rock from Badfinger, Argent, Slade, Billy Joel, and Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (with Jeff Lynne)
✭ the instrumentals of The Ventures, Os Santos (Brazil), Jackie And The Cedrics (Japan), and The King Khan And BBQ Show
✭ the Beatlemania of devotees like The Toms, The Spongetones, The Kaisers, The Fab Four, Frank Lee Sprague, The Weeklings, Groovy Uncle, and The Beatophonics
✭ the Power Pop of The Smithereens, Shonen Knife (Japan), Colleen Green, and Lisa Mychols
✭ the Jangle Pop of The dB’s, Pretenders, The Bangles, Dressy Bessy (Canada), and Shake Some Action!
✭ the Garage Revival and Neo-Psyche of The Flaming Lips, The Jigsaw Seen, The Grip Weeds, Elephant Stone (Canada), Bobkat'65 (Spain), and Wild Balbina (Spain)
✭ the BritPop of Oasis, Locksley, and The Singles
✭ the Indie variety of Sam Phillips, Luscious Jackson, Elliott Smith, Guided By Voices, Tracy Bonham, Super Furry Animals (Wales), Mikal Cronin, and Spoon
... and many more!
Note: the actual 1967 Beatles holiday song, "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", can be heard here in cover versions by Ringo Starr himself, The Smithereens, Elephant Stone, and Spoon.
Bonus list:
To enjoy full Beatlesque holiday albums, check these out...
• Hep Stars, 'Jul med Hep Stars' (1967)
• Rotary Connection, 'Peace' (1968)
• The dB’s and friends, 'Christmas Time Again' (1985)
• Ringo Starr, 'I Wanna Be Santa Claus' (1999)
• The Spongetones, 'Mersey Christmas' (2001)
• The Fab Four, 'Hark!' (2002)
• The Butties, '12 Greatest Carols' (2005)
• Frank Sprague, 'Mersey Beat Christmas' (2006)
• The Smithereens, 'Christmas With The Smithereens' (2007)
• British Invasion All-Stars, 'Abbey Road Christmas' (2010)
• The Grip Weeds, 'Under The Influence Of Christmas' (2011)
• The Jigsaw Seen, 'Winterland' (2011)
• The Monkees, 'Christmas Party' (2018)
• Groovy Uncle, 'This Much Christmas' (2023)
• Ken Sharp, 'Welcome To Toytown, Vols. 1 and 2' (2024)
• The Weeklings, 'Christmas' (2024)
Try Some, Buy Some!
C) John•Paul•George•Ringo
And in the end, we get the real thing. The Music Player climaxes with songs by the actual band members (and family).
As solo artists, the four men had more time to think and made up for lost time. Many are familiar with classic holiday songs like John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", George's "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", and Paul's "Wonderful Christmas Time", as well as Ringo's full album 'I Wanna Be Santa Claus'. But this Music Player expands on them with other Solo songs in the spirit of the season, by each one and by friends and family. A multi-splendored time is guaranteed for all!
Happy Crimble to all Beatle peedles, and a Merry goo year!
O-U-T spells out!"
© Research, Art, and Essay by Tym Stevens
• 1963-esque
• 1964-esque
• 1965-esque
• 1966-esque
• 1967-esque
• 1968-esque
• 1969-esque
• 1970-esque
• 'REUNION' 1970-Now
A splendid time is guaranteed for all!
• BEATLESQUE Albums: 400 Alternate Universe BEATLES Albums You Need!, with 2 massive Music Players!
• LENNONesque: All-Star Homage Playlists To John Lennon's BEATLES And SOLO Styles!, with 2 Music Players
• McCARTNEY-esque: All-Star Homage Playlists To His BEATLES And SOLO Styles!, with 2 Music Players
• • BRIAN WILSON-esque: All The Songs Imitating His BEACH BOYS Music Styles!, with 2 Music Players
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