Wednesday, December 15, 2010

On the third day of Christmas . . .

This one is for Julia - because we spent a hilarious day together in Granby, because she made her Didi smile when he was so very sad, because we heard this song while in the car and mostly, because although she laughs at my 'old music', she still knew the words to the song!

Last Christmas - Wham!

Wow. This song generates hype, both good and bad, even after all this time. Written by George Michael (half of Wham!) and released in 1984, it lost out 1st place to Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? (see my first post in this series of two days back). Since then, it keeps making holiday appearances on various countries' singles charts, often making it into the single digits. This year, it has been voted the most annoying Christmas song in a poll in Bulgaria, beating Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You'. Go figure. Mariah Carey not being voted most annoying anything. Will wonders never cease!

The video to 'Last Christmas' saw George and Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at their home in some unspecified ski resort. The cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fée, Switzerland. It was clear early on that Andrew's girlfriend had previously been in a relationship with George, and it was to her character that the song was aimed.

Due to perceived similarities between 'Last Christmas' and the song 'Can't Smile Without You' as popularized by Barry Manilow, an out-of-court settlement was reached in which the first year's royalties were donated to the one-year-old Band Aid Charity.

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