How the Fab Four wished us a merry Christmas

December 16, 2:58 PMBeatles ExaminerSteve Marinucci

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From 1963 to 1969, the Beatles gave the members of their official fan club a little Christmas present each year. It was a flexi record with a special recording made specially for the occasion to send their fans some seasonal cheer in the form of Christmas wishes Beatle-style.

The recordings were real treasures. The early records were innocent fun, reminiscent of "A Hard Day's Night. On the very first recording, which was sent to British fans in 1963 and American fans in an edited version in 1964, they stumbled through a comic version of "Good King Wenceslas" and a chorus of  "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo" while saying holiday wishes to fans. A similar format was heard on the 1964 recording, where they attempted to say their Christmas greetings amidst lots of giggling and choruses of "Jingle Bells."

The structure on the early recordings, though, fell by the wayside as the years went by and the later records became more off the cuff. Like the albums at the time, they also reflected the fact that the Beatles had become individuals. The final fan club recording in 1969 was basically four separate contributions edited together. The seven recordings were later compiled into a vinyl album that was mailed to fan club members. The flexis and the albums are worth a real premium today, though many counterfeit copies are in circulation.

Here's a YouTube fan video of the Beatles 1964 Christmas record.

The 1967 recording contained an actual new Beatles song, "Christmastime Is Here Again." A shortened version was released as one of the tracks on the "Free As A Bird" single in 1995. It's the only part of the Christmas recordings released outside of the fan club. The 1968 recording, meanwhile, featured a guest appearance by none other than Tiny Tim, singing his version of "Nowhere Man."

Here's the full 1967 recording, from a fan-made YouTube video.

Though they're very much in collector's circles (and all of them are on YouTube), the complete Christmas recordings have not been released on authorized CD. This would seem to be one of those things that would be a big hit in the market place. Meanwhile, Beatle radio shows and many local stations will play them at this festive time of year. Call and request them.

And as John Lennon would say, "Merry Crimble!"