Posted out to members of their fan club from 1963 to 1969, The Beatles’ Christmas flexi-discs provided bespoke festive messages for the band's most loyal devotees. From Today’s perspective, however, these discs provide a fascinating insight into the Fab’s rapid year-by-year progress, developing from innocent pop larks through expanded consciousness and, finally, their growing apart.
Originally conceived by PR manager Tony Barrow, the discs were thin and cheaply made so fans were advised to stabilise them with a coin for playback. They became increasingly sought-after, 30,000 were distributed in 1963. By 1965, the number of fan club members receiving a record had increased to 70,000. In 1970, after the band split, all the messages were compiled onto a vinyl LP, From Then To You. As a festive treat from us to you, MOJO have catalogued the Fabs’ end of year addresses…
The Beatles’ Christmas Record
1963
(Recorded 17 October 1963, Studio Two, EMI Recording Studios, Abbey Road)
Recorded in October 1963 at the end of a session for I Want To Hold Your Hand, The Beatles’ first fan club Christmas disc begins with the band larking through a rendition of Good King Wenceslas featuring references to film star Betty Grable and BBC bandleader Henry Hall. “Hello, this is John speaking with his voice…” kicks off Lennon, going on the detail some of the “gear things” that happened to the band in 1963, including their bill-topping live TV performance on Sunday Night At The London Palladium. George thanks the fan club’s secretaries, including “Anne Collingham,” a name in fact invented by Barrow to represent staff working at the group’s London offices. Paul, meanwhile, tries to quell fans habit of chucking Jelly Babies at the band onstage. “We’ve gone right off Jelly Babies…” he pleads. “But we still like Peppermint Creams, Chocolate Drops and Dolly Mixtures.”
Another Beatles Christmas Record
1964
(Recorded 26 October 1964, Studio Two, EMI Recording Studios, Abbey Road, London)
Taped during the final sessions for Beatles For Sale, The Beatles’ second seasonal missive beings with an even dafter version of Jingle Bells, accompanied by a kazoo-ing paper and comb (predating its use on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by three years). Paul thanks fans for buying their records – “I don’t know where we’d be without you, really.” “In the army, perhaps,” quips John before thanking fans for buying his book In His Own Write. “There’s another one out pretty soon, it says here. Hope you buy that too. It’ll be the usual rubbish, but it won’t cost much. That’s the bargain we’re going to strike up!”
The Beatles Third Christmas Record
1965
(Recorded 8 November 1965 – Studio Two, EMI Recording Studios, Abbey Road, London)
It’s the turn of The Beatles own Yesterday to be lampooned at the start of 1965’s Christmas message. The band’s first run at their now traditional message, scripted by Barrow, was scrapped, not least because George wasn’t present. Instead, having finished recording Rubber Soul’s Think For Yourself the group took to ad-libbing around the mic late at night. Auld Lang Syne is also performed in the croaky vocal style of Barry McGuire’s US hit Eve Of Destruction, John put words to a traditional Scottish air (complete with some of-their-time comedy accents), before a reprise of Yesterday showed that even when goofing around – and possibly stoned – they still sounded great.
Pantomime – Everywhere It’s Christmas (The Beatles Fourth Christmas Record)
1966
(Recorded 25 November 1966, Dick James Music, New Oxford Street, London)
“We thought it was time we had an entirely different approach,” said Paul McCartney of The Beatles’ fourth festive disc. Having taken a three-month break following their North American tour, fans were starting to speculate whether they might be getting their now customary gift. “Naturally, the big question in everyone’s mind is ‘Will The Beatles be giving us a fourth Christmas Record this year?’” asked the November 1966 edition of The Beatles Monthly Book. Thankfully, the answer was yes. Recorded the day after Strawberry Fields Forever on 25 November, it presented a more ambitious, scripted pantomime featuring three original songs – Everywhere It’s Christmas, Orowayna and Please Don’t Bring Your Banjo Back – amongst the skits. One of which was a curious dialogue about matches, candles and buns with John and Paul playing the parts of “Podgy The Bear” and “Jasper”. Again, grass may have been involved.
Christmas Time (Is Here Again) – (The Beatles Fifth Christmas Record)
1967
(Recorded 28 November 1967 – Studio Three, EMI Recording Studios, Abbey Road, London)
It says a lot about The Beatles’ attitude towards their fan club that even at this post-Pepper point in their career they spent nine hours in Abbey Road working on their annual Christmas gift. Even more ambitious than the previous year’s Goons-inspired panto, and pre-dating the release of The Who’s The Who Sell Out by several weeks, it was a pop art collage featuring spoof radio and TV broadcasts and jingles and a send up of BBC Light Programme’s daily request show Housewives’ Choice (George cues up “for all the people in hospital, Plenty Of Jam Jars by The Ravellers”). It also featured three bursts of Christmas Time, a song that was later remixed for inclusion on the 1995 reunion single Free As A Bird. Ringo also revived the track for his 1999 album I Wanna Be Santa Claus, and the following year R.E.M. recorded it for their own annual fan club-only Christmas single.
The Beatles Sixth Christmas Record
1968
(Recorded at various times and locations)
The Beatles had met radio DJ Kenny Everett during their 1966 North American tour and were interviewed by him again in 1967 and 1968. Sensing a fellow anarchic spirit and no doubt impressed by Everett’s groundbreaking use of tape editing, they invited him to mix together the individually recorded items that made up what would be their penultimate Christmas message. A head-spinning collage of skits, poems and a short Paul original sending wishes for Christmas, Easter, Autumn, the New Year and Michaelmas are tied together by manipulated White Album cuts and sound effects. Much as you might think listening to Revolution 9 after Love Me Do, it’s hard to square this with the more showbiz laffs of four years previously.
Last Year: The Beatles Seventh Christmas Record
1969
(Recorded at various times and locations)
Everett returned to mix The Beatles’ final Christmas flexi (credited under his real name Maurice Cole). While Paul contributes a brief but soulful Christmas ditty on his acoustic guitar and Ringo’s segment mentions The Magic Christian, in which he starred alongside Peter Sellers out that December (“it’s just a plug for the film, Ken. Try and keep it in!”), the majority of the material was provided by the recently married John and Yoko, singing a warped Xmas duet and interviewing each other as they walked around the gardens Tittenhurst Park. Tellingly, George is heard for just six seconds. In four months’ time McCartney would officially announce that The Beatles were no more.
With thanks to Kevin Howlett whose feature on The Beatles’ Christmas records originally appeared in MOJO 291.
Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix