Writer: Paul McCartney
Producer: Paul McCartney
Recorded: July 1979 at McCartney's farmhouse in Scotland
Released: November 1979
| Players: | Paul McCartney — all instruments and vocals |
| Album: | Back To The Egg (EMI, 2000) |
“Wonderful Christmas Time” was Paul McCartney's first solo single since 1971, as he spent the interim working with his band, Wings.
The song was written and recorded during the same sessions that produced the music for his 1980 solo album, McCartney II.
“Wonderful Christmas Time” made it to Number Six on the British pop chart but did not chart in the U.S., where it was not released as a commercial single.
The vinyl single bears two messages on its run-out grooves–“To lift a glass…Xmas 79” on the A-side, and “Love from Rudi! Xmas 79” on the B-side. That B side was “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae,” a play on “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” that McCartney recorded in 1976.
“Wonderful Christmas Time” didn't appear on a McCartney album until EMI rereleased Wings' Back To the Egg in 2000. It can also be found on a variety of holiday compilations.