Paul's twenty-fifth solo single.
Credited to "Paul McCartney"
Paul's first solo single since 1971 was a festive release, and was actually recorded in the summer, in July 1979,
when Paul laid down over twenty solo recordings some of which ended up on "McCartney II".
This was not Paul's first Christmas composition as he had written two Christmas songs for the Beatles fan-club records.
The B-side was recorded in 1976 and features a mystery violinist.
A mystery because Paul had ordered a violin which was delivered as he was rehearsing the song, and thought it would be a good idea for the man delivering it to participate !
The single was released in a picture sleeve, and features the Parlophone label in all it's glory.
Christmas messages are carved into the run-out grooves,
"To lift a glass ... Xmas 79" on the A-side and
"Love from Rudi! ... 79 Xmas" on the B-side.
In the year 2007 the Official Singles chart rules were changed to allow internet music downloads to be counted for chart purposes.
Due to the effects of the Christmas market and the ease of downloads this track re-entered the official singles charts (although, of course, there is now no longer any "B-Side").
It didn't quite make the Top 75 in it's first appearance:
9th December 2007 - Wonderful Christmastime is suddenly noted as being just outside the chart as it went from 130 to number 77.
16th December 2007 - Wonderful Christmastime climbed seven places and entered the official chart at number 70.
23rd December 2007 - Wonderful Christmastime climbed twenty-six places to number 44.
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