simplyeighties.com

Wonderful Christmastime was actually recorded in the summer of 1979 as part of a solo project by Paul McCartney. I can imagine that it would have been pretty difficult to get into the festive spirit in July! Even though members of the band Wings appear in the video, they did not contribute in any way to the recording.

Released on 16th Nov 1979, this festive song reached #6 in the UK singles chart  during December, although it did not chart in the U.S. It is estimated that McCartney still receives around £400,000 per year in royalties from the tune, which is played regularly during the Christmas period on TV and radio.

For those of you into synthesizers, that riff was created by a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. It's a pretty basic song and Sir Paul himself has stated that he is embarrassed by the recording.