11/12/2022 0 Comments Merry xmas one and all![]() "Merry Xmas Everybody" took five days to finish, but the band disliked the first completed version. The song was recorded in the late summer of 1973, partway through Slade's east coast US tour, at the Record Plant in New York, where John Lennon had just finished working on his album Mind Games. Problems playing this file? See media help. In 2009, PRS for Music announced that up to forty-two percent of the world's population could have listened to the song. After his eventual recovery, he was able to join the band to record the song. His girlfriend Angela Morris was killed, and Powell remained in a coma for almost a week. Ten weeks before the song was recorded, drummer Don Powell was injured in a car accident. Holder presented his lyrics to Lea, and the pair played the song to Chandler on acoustic guitars. So I rang Nod and said what about doing a Christmas song and he said alright, so I played it to him and that was it."Īfter an evening out drinking at a pub in Wolverhampton, Holder worked through the night at his mother's house in Walsall to write the lyrics, which he completed in one draft. I never forgot that chorus, and I was in the shower in America somewhere thinking - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan - and suddenly out came "are you hanging up the stocking on the wall" and I thought that'll go with that chorus Nod did in '67. I don't use tape recorders, I just remember everything and if something's been written 10 or 15 years ago, it stays up there in my head. The verse was naff but then he came to the chorus and went 'Buy me a rocking chair to watch the world go by, buy me a looking glass, I'll look you in the eye' - very Sgt. In those days it was all flower power and Sgt. "Nod had written the chorus of it in 1967. Speaking to Record Mirror in 1984, Lea revealed: "Merry Xmas Everybody" used the melody of this song for the chorus, with Lea's melody as the verse. Entitled "Buy Me a Rocking Chair", it was Holder's first solo work. After coming up with the verse melody, Lea recalled a song Holder had discarded in 1967, which he had written when the band were named the 'N Betweens. Although the other band members were initially against the idea, Lea came up with the basis of the song while taking a shower. During the year, manager Chas Chandler suggested that Slade write and record a Christmas song. These singles had both entered the charts straight at number one, a feat unheard of since The Beatles with " Get Back" in 1969. īy 1973, Slade were one of the most popular bands in Britain, having achieved two number one singles-" Cum On Feel The Noize" and " Skweeze Me Pleeze Me"-in three months. Also, according to the same newsletter, "Merry Xmas Everybody" was in such big demand that Polydor records had to make special arrangements to have 250,000 discs sent from Los Angeles, as well as 30,000 copies a day they were receiving from Germany. Within the first week of release, the single had sold 500,000 copies. Īccording to the Fan Club Newsletter for January and February 1974, the song was awarded a Silver Disc for pre-order sales. In a UK television special on ITV in December 2012, "Merry Xmas Everybody" was voted third (behind " Fairytale of New York" and "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday") in The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song. As of December 2012, it has sold 1.32 million copies in the UK. Since 2007 and the advent of downloads counting towards the UK Singles Chart, it has re-entered the charts each December. The single was certified double platinum by British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in December 2021. It has been released during every decade since 1973 and has been covered by numerous artists. It is Slade's last number-one single and by far their best-selling single. Released at the peak of the band's popularity, "Merry Xmas Everybody" sold over a million copies upon its first release. It remained in the charts for nine weeks until February 1974. Earning the UK Christmas number one slot in December 1973, the song beat another Christmas-themed song, Wizzard's " I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", which reached fourth place. It was the band's sixth and final number-one single in the UK. The song was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and it was produced by Chas Chandler. " Merry Xmas Everybody" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released as a non-album single in 1973. German cover, also used for digital releases ![]()
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