Released December 1973 Genre Glam rock, Christmas | Format 7" single Length 4:48 | |
B-side "Rob Roy's Nightmare (A Bit More H.A.)" Recorded August 1973, Phonogram Studios, Stanhope Place, Marble Arch, London | ||
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a Christmas song recorded by British glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was written and produced by the band's frontman Roy Wood — formerly of The Move and a founding member of ELO. Despite the song's strong, long-lasting popularity, it has reached no higher than number four on the UK Singles Chart, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks from December 1973 to January 1974. The song was famously beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 spot by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" which remained at the top of the charts for five weeks, from December 1973 to January 1974.
Contents
Roy Wood sings lead vocals. The backing vocals for the single are by "The Suedettes", augmented by the choir of Stockland Green Bilateral School First Year. The original sleeve of the single credits "Miss Snob and Class 3C" with "Additional noises". The basic track for the single was recorded in August 1973, so to create a wintry feeling engineer Steve Brown decorated the studio with Christmas decorations and turned the air conditioning down to its coldest setting. Wood wore a woollen hat found in lost property. The schoolchildren were brought down from the Midlands to London by bus during the autumn half-term to add their contributions.
At the time of the single's release, Wizzard's contract with EMI was close to expiration. Promotional copies were pressed by Warner Brothers, with whom the band had just signed for future releases. Only then was it discovered that EMI were legally entitled to the track after all, so the Warner Bros. Records pressings were halted and the record appeared on the Harvest label, but with the same picture sleeve.
Although Wood had arranged for the members of the Stockland Green School choir to sing at the Top of the Pops television recording, their place was taken by children provided by a local London stage school.
Music video
The video shows the band dressed up in winter-themed studio and are then joined by a group of children who play instruments and join in with the singing.
Re-releases
With the failure of its first release to top the UK Singles Chart in 1973 – it was kept from number one by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" – it was decided to re-release the single in 1981. It was then found that the original tapes had been lost, so the song was re-recorded by the band and a new choir, from Kempsey Primary School in Worcester, was used. It is this version that has been used since. The single reached number 41 on the UK Singles Chart, and was released again in 1984, this time with an additional extended 12-inch version, getting as far as number 23.
As downloads as well as physical sales became eligible for the weekly Top 75, from January 2007 onwards, and with the help of additional exposure thanks to an Argos television advertisement, the song charted again in November and December 2007, this time reaching number 16, despite the absence of any physical release. In the week of 13 December 2008, the song peaked at number 31. In the week of 14 December 2009, it peaked at number 45. In the week of 11 December 2010, it peaked at number 46. In the week of 12 December 2011, it peaked at number 28 (its highest position since December 2007). In the week of 16 December 2012, it charted at number 29. In 2013 it reached number 31 in the UK Singles Chart.
Background and release
On 23 October 2013, it was announced that the six 1990s and early 2000s pop bands who reunited for the ITV2 series The Big Reunion - Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Blue, Honeyz and Liberty X-would be releasing a cover version of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", with all proceeds split between six Text Santa charities: Age UK, Barnardo's, BeatBullying, the British Heart Foundation, CLIC Sargent and Help the Hospices. The recording of the charity single, which was produced by Danish producer and songwriter Cutfather (The Saturdays and One Direction), was the subject of a behind-the-scenes documentary broadcast on ITV2 on 12 December 2013. The song was released on 15 December 2013.
Music video
The official music video for the Big Reunion version of the song was uploaded to YouTube on 2 December 2013.
Other cover versions
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" has since been covered by many artists including:
The song was also re-recorded again in 2000 & released as a medley with Wombling Merry Christmas as a novelty record when it was re-released as "I Wish It Could Be a Wombling Christmas Everyday" by The Wombles with Roy Wood. This version reached the UK Top 40, peaking at #22.