Paul McCartney released “Wonderful Christmastime” in the UK on November 16, 1979. He played every instrument on the recording, making a Christmas party song during the home sessions that also produced material for McCartney II. Wings would join him in the video, while the single carried his own name.
Those sessions gave McCartney room to experiment away from the usual band setup. Recorded in the summer of 1979, the project returned him to the approach he had used on McCartney, building recordings himself at home. “Check My Machine,” the first piece recorded for the project, grew out of testing his equipment. The electronic arrangements became a defining feature of McCartney II. Wings were still active, and work on the album paused for what became the band’s final tour. The album arrived in May 1980 with “Coming Up,” “Temporary Secretary” and “Waterfalls.” “Wonderful Christmastime” came from that same period of work but wasn’t included on the original album.
The song’s subject was rooted in much older memories. In a 2022 Q&A on his official website, McCartney traced it to the Liverpool family parties he remembered from childhood. He wanted the record to suggest people gathering, raising a glass and enjoying each other’s company. “I was trying to capture that party aspect,” he said. He also acknowledged that he’d hoped the song would return each Christmas. The seasonal repetition was something he’d wanted from the beginning.
The video gave that idea a gathering of its own. Wings appeared alongside McCartney, and the film recreated the atmosphere of the family’s Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Recalling the shoot in NME’s December 2012 Christmas feature, he described an evening at a pub, with filming fitted between trips back inside. That relaxed account matched his recollection of making the record alone at home, enjoying the chance to work with synthesizers.
The original single put the instrumental “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae” on the B-side, keeping both sides of the record tied to Christmas. “Wonderful Christmastime” entered the UK singles chart in December 1979 and reached No. 6 in the chart dated January 5, 1980. Its initial chart run lasted eight weeks. The recording had found an audience before the album associated with its sessions reached shops.
The catalog eventually put the single back alongside the music made during those home sessions. The 2011 Archive Collection edition of McCartney II included “Wonderful Christmastime,” with both an edited version and a full-length version in the deluxe track list. McCartney supervised the reissue, and the remastering was carried out at Abbey Road. The expanded release let listeners hear the familiar Christmas single within the larger body of recordings from that period.
McCartney’s own relationship with the song wasn’t entirely straightforward. In the same NME interview, he admitted that hearing it so often had sometimes irritated him. Other people’s enthusiasm made him reconsider what they were responding to, and remember the modest intention behind it. “It’s just a Christmas party song, after all,” he said. He described returning to it for performances around Christmas and finding that he enjoyed it again.
Its video received a separate restoration in 2019, when it was remastered in HD. In 2021, “Wonderful Christmastime” became the first McCartney song released in Dolby Atmos.
