(KTLA) — Each holiday season, our ears are inundated with Christmas music—and though many songs have become beloved classics, other, more contemporary ones fade away and are forgotten. Paul McCartney’s 1979 hit, “Wonderful Christmastime” falls into neither category.
As much as you’re likely to hear the former Beatles’ kooky synth-pop track or see it on Christmas playlists, it’s a particular holiday song that few people agree on. So far this season, the polarizing track has already been spotlighted by the Boston Globe, NPR, and Parade. A post of the NPR article on the r/Music subreddit sparked a massive dialogue just one week ago.
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A detailed internet search yielded many “Wonderful Christmastime” critiques over the years, many placing it at the top of a “worst” ranking. But here’s the thing: it’s a great song for many of the reasons people hate it.
This is a defense of Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.”
Criticism no. 1: It’s repetitive and lacks structure
While some listeners are turned off by the tune’s simplistic lyrics, which are, yes, somewhat repetitive, with McCartney singing the chorus, “Simply having a wonderful Christmastime,” six times throughout the song. Typical pop and rock songs only have around 3-4 chorus reprises, for comparison.
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The choruses also stick out a lot more, considering how short the verses are, in addition to how many of them there are. While most pop songs stick to having 2-3, “WC” has four four-line verses, which adds to the off-kilter feeling of the song’s structure…