If Mull of Kintyre was a Xmas no 1, how come it never gets played at Xmas?

[ManWithARash]

or am I just listening to the wrong stations?
I've only just discovered that it was number one in Xmas 1977, I think.

I heard MoK a few times last week on radio. Including on a programme (good old Radio 2) that also played Mr. Blobby & some mock Italian patische number and basically many dreadful "Christmas" ditties. They issued quite a few warnings & apologies about Blobby.

The Power of Love by Frankie is a (fantastic) song, deemed to be a Christmas song by virtue of the video, but doesn't mention Christmas at all.

Didn't the video for that have a Mary & Joseph theme to it, or am I completely imagining that?

Even Wombling Merry Christmas gets played more than Mull Of Kintyre!

Jonah Lewie is a strange one. I wonder if he knew something very bad about somebody very powerful to help him get as far as he did. That Always Find Him In The Kitchen At Parties thing is a horrific turd of a song.

East 17 is the fellow who ran himself over, a jacket potato was involved iirc?

Paul Macca has recently changed from "embarrassing uncle avec double thumbs aloft" to National Treasure. Weird.

Anyway I LIKE Mull of Kintyre, nice toon. Frog chorus too.

One modern classic that I'm amazed hardly ever gets played is the brilliant That'll Be Christmas by Thea Gilmore. I also think the one by The Darkness is unfairly underrated as a (slightly rude) novelty song, when it's actually really well done.

On a lighter note, Ken Bruce always ensures that he plays Santa's A Scotsman at least once a year. Some don't see the joke, but most seem to find it humorously enjoyable.

Because it's an utter dirge of a song?

@user1471565182

You're wrong and this is why:

ianleslie.substack.com/p/64-reasons-to-celebrate-paul-mccartney

He was the experimental driving force behind The Beatles. His solo stuff is a mixed bag, admittedly, but contains lots of interesting sonic experiments (Temporary Secretary). The Lennon-McCartney dialectic is one of the richest seams in the history of music.

@BestIsWest sorry X-Post

I'd take Mull of Kintyre over Mariah Carey or East 17 anyday, but I can never forgive Paul McCartney for Pipes of Peace or The Frog fucking Chorus. Bastard.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
Didn't the video for that have a Mary & Joseph theme to it, or am I completely imagining that?

Yes, the video was nativity themed, which is why I said it became regarded as a Christmas song by virtue of its video (and the time of year it was released). However, the lyrics have nowt to do with Christmas. It's a brilliant song anyway.

Wonderful Christmas Time does not feel festive at all to me. If we're talking guilty Fab Macca ThumbsAloft pleasures, then I love No More Lonely Nights.

It was the first vinyl single I ever bought to play on my new birthday record player. I was 9.

I love it and it always makes me cry when I hear it.

Those saying it is crap have no heart!

[quote MargotLovedTom1]@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
Didn't the video for that have a Mary & Joseph theme to it, or am I completely imagining that?

Yes, the video was nativity themed, which is why I said it became regarded as a Christmas song by virtue of its video (and the time of year it was released). However, the lyrics have nowt to do with Christmas. It's a brilliant song anyway.

Wonderful Christmas Time does not feel festive at all to me. If we're talking guilty Fab Macca ThumbsAloft pleasures, then I love No More Lonely Nights.[/quote]
The lyrics have religious overtones though “the power of love a force from above cleaning my soul” “dreams are like angels they keep bad at bay” “purge the soul make love you goal”, put that with the nativity style video and I think it fits in well with the spirit of Christmas despite Christmas itself not being mentioned in the lyrics.

and maybe Whitney's I Will Always Love You

Whitney's cover of Dolly Parton's 'I will always love you'

Rage against the machine was Xmas no1.....but I think it's pretty clear why you don't hear that played

I've hardly heard any Christmas songs played this year.

Those of you who think Macca's masterpiece Hey Jude isn't great?

Naa naa naa naanaanaa NAH

Not a Christmas one at all, but sticking with Paul McCartney, he released a song some years ago called From A Lover To A Friend. I haven't heard it for years and years, but I still find it going around in my head quite a bit. It's a nice and underrated song, I think.

@moodymarshall My 22 year old son sent me that - he’s been waiting ages for McCartney 3 to come out. He’s into a lot of avant garde and obscure stuff and really rates McCartney 2.

My family is from Kintyre - a beautiful area that really didn't deserve to be forever associated with that bloody dirge.

Without going into too much outing detail, the McCartneys were NOT popular with the locals...

The song is awful. Paul McCartney has a pretty awful voice and it's the last thing we would need to hear at any time of the year let alone Christmas! Thankfully the Beatles songs are rarely played on the radio.

@MoodyMarshall - totally agree.

Paul’s brilliant. He was the driving force in the Beatles, and he worked harder than any of them. He’s a genius who has written the songbook of the 20th Century and perhaps of all time. The morons on here who don’t understand that are just ignorant and sad.

I wonder if the hatred on here towards Paul is fuelled by the fact that he’s British and from a white, working class background - a northern one no less. God forbid that we should ever be proud of our own.

@BestIsWest He has a great taste in music - you've mentored him well! McCartney II is phenomenal. I'm delighted for Macca that he's got a #1 album, it's about time people recognised his genius.

@deepbluesea18

I think hatred of Macca on here - and in general - is linked to the lionisation of Lennon. It's easy to preserve your reputation when you're not destroying it by creating new music

Lennon once said that 'avant garde is French for shit', although I think 'Walking On Thin Ice' is evidence that things were looking up for him, artistically speaking, when he died.

@MoodyMarshall

To some extent, I agree with that. Paul’s critical reputation was definitely trashed by the John and Yoko hate campaign of the 70s and beyond. I’m not sure that the average Mumsnet commentator would know much about that however. Most of them seem pretty clueless about the music industry pre 1990.

Does anyone know why 'Ring Solstice Bells' by Jethro Tull never gets any Christmas airtime?

It's one of my absolute faves. I'm assuming some artists decline the royalties?

The irony is that John was totally in awe of Paul’s ability to pluck music out of thin air. He knew how extraordinary Paul was/is.